NOTES OF AN AFTER-DINNER SPEECH 127 



common life. What have we to do in every-day 

 life ? Most of the business which demands our 

 attention is matter of fact, which needs, in the first 

 place, to be accurately observed or apprehended ; 

 in the second, to be interpreted by inductive and 

 deductive reasonings, which are altogether similar 

 in their nature to those employed in science. In 

 the one case, as in the other, whatever is taken for 

 granted is so taken at one's own peril ; fact and 

 reason are the ultimate arbiters, and patience and 

 honesty are the great helpers out of difficulty. 



But if scientific training is to yield its most 

 eminent results, it must. I repeat, be made practical. 

 That is to say, in explaining to a child the general 

 phsenomena of Nature, you must, as far as possible, 

 give reality to your teaching by object-lessons ; in 

 teaching him botany, he must handle the plants 

 and dissect the flowers for himself; in teaching 

 him physics and chemistry, you must not be 

 solicitous to fill him with information, but you 

 must be careful that what he learns he knows of 

 his own knowledge. Don't be satisfied with telling 

 him that a magnet attracts iron. Let him see 

 that it does ; let him feel the pull of the one upon 

 the other for himself. And, especially, tell him 

 that it is his duty to doubt until he is compelled, 

 by the absolute authority of Nature, to believe that 

 which is written in books. Pursue this discipline 

 carefully and conscientiously, and you may make 

 sure that, however scanty may be the measure of 



