480 Edward Livingston Youmans. 



to their processes. What it has done for Navigation, Teleg- 

 raphy, and War, it will also do for Culture. The true 

 method of proceeding may be regarded as established, and 

 many important results are already reached, though its 

 systematic application is hardly yet entered upon. Al- 

 though there is undoubtedly a growing interest in the 

 scientific aspects of the subject, yet what Mr. Wyse wrote 

 twenty-five years ago remains still but too true. He says, 

 " It is unquestionably a singular circumstance, that, of all 

 problems, the problem of Education is that to which by 

 far the smallest share of persevering and vigorous atten- 

 tion has yet been applied. The same empiricism which 

 once reigned supreme in the domains of chemistry, astron- 

 omy, and medicine still retains possession, in many in- 

 stances, of those of education. No journal is kept of the 

 phenomena of infancy and childhood ; no parent has yet 

 registered, day after day, with the attention of an astrono- 

 mer who prepares his ephemerides, the marvellous develop- 

 ments of his child. Until this is done there can be no 

 solid basis for reasoning ; we must still deal with conjec- 

 ture." And why has nothing been done ? Because, in the 

 prevailing system of culture, the art of observation, which 

 is the beginning of all true science, the basis of all in- 

 tellectual discrimination, and the kind of knowledge which 

 is necessary to interpret these observations, are universally 

 neglected. Our teachers mostly belong to the old dispensa- 

 tion. Their preparation is chiefly literary ; if they obtain 

 a little scientific knowledge, it is for the purpose of com- 

 municating it, and not as a means of tutorial guidance. 

 Their art is a mechanical routine, and hence, very naturally, 

 while admitting the importance of advancing views, they 

 really cannot see what is to be done about it. When we 

 say that education is an affair of the laws of our being, in- 

 volving a wide range of considerations an affair of the 

 air respired, its moisture, temperature, density, purity, and 



