PREFACE. 



prominent throughout the whole course of education, not 

 only because they contain largely what is of practical 

 use in many of the avocations of life, and what needs 

 to be known to give any one the character of a well- 

 informed man, but also because they are quite as ef- 

 ficient in disciplining the powers of the mind as the 

 study of the mathematics and the languages. It is 

 clear that they are essential to a symmetrical mental 

 development, for when they are neglected the observ- 

 ing powers are not duly educated. And besides, 

 while it is the peculiar province of the study of mathe- 

 matics to promote exactness of thought and reasoning, 

 it fails to give that exaltation and wide range of mind 

 which the investigation of the grand general princi- 

 ples of nature, the traces of the power and wisdom of 

 the Creator, tends to produce. Then, again, the study 

 of the natural sciences aids the pupil in acquiring a 

 knowledge of language, for natural objects and proc- 

 esses furnish a large proportion of the words in daily 

 use, and the mathematics derive so much of their real 

 interest from their numerous applications to the facts 

 which natural science brings to view, that the one 

 class of studies is auxiliary to the .pursuit of the other. 

 On the whole, then, we may say that the three classes 

 of studies indicated should, for the most part, go on 

 together, and that the only question should be in re- 

 gard to the proportion of time which ought to be de- 

 voted to each. 



Many other considerations might be presented in 

 favor of making Zoology and the other natural sci- 

 ences prominent in education, but I will notice but 

 two of them. One is the fact that they open never- 

 ending resources for agreeable mental employment 

 A2 



