WHAT IS HOW MOST NEEDED. 299 



universe of fact and law, but that its mind shall be kept in 

 intimate relation with Nature in some one of her great divis- 

 ions, and that the knowledge acquired shall be actual and 

 thorough, and suited to call out those operations which are 

 essential to higher mental growth. It is agreed by many of the 

 ablest thinkers that such an element of mental training is now 

 the urgent want of general education. Dr. Whewell thus de- 

 fines the present need : 



" One obvious mode of effecting this discipline of the mind is the 

 exact and solid study of some portion of inductive knowledge. . . . 

 botany, comparative anatomy, geology, chemistry, for instance. But I 

 say, the exact and solid knowledge ; not a mere verbal knowledge, but a 

 knowledge which is real in its character, though it may be elementary 

 and limited in its extent. The knowledge of which I speak must be a 

 knowledge of things, and not merely of names of things ; an acquaint- 

 ance with the operations and productions of Nature as they appear to 

 the eye ; not merely an acquaintance with what has been said about 

 them ; a knowledge of the laws of Nature, seen in special experiments 

 and observations before they are conceived in general terms ; a knowl- 

 edge of the types of natural forms, gathered from individual cases 

 already familiar. By such study of one or more departments of induc- 

 tive knowledge, the mind may escape from the thraldom and illusion 

 which reigns in the world of mere words." 



The increasing influence of science over the course of 

 the world's affairs is undeniable. Not only has it already 

 become a controlling force in civilization, but it is steadily 

 invading the higher' spheres of thought, and, by its constant 

 revisions and extensions of knowledge, it is rapidly reshaping 

 the opinion of the world. That such an agency is destined to 

 exert a powerful influence upon the culture of the human 

 mind, is inevitable. Already, indeed, it has become a recog- 

 nized element of general instruction, but it has been pursued 

 in such a fragmentary and incoherent way, that its legitimate 

 mental influence is far from having been realized. The im- 

 mediate problem, then, is how to organize the scientific ele- 

 ment of study so as to gain its benefits, as a mental discipline. 

 Each of the prominent sciences physics, chemistry, geology, 

 botany has its special advantages, and is entitled to a place 

 in a liberal course of study. But some one must be selected 



