PREFACE. Vil 
natural sciences, is the discipline which it gives the 
mental powers. It cultivates the perceptive and rea- 
soning powers together, thus forming that habit of 
intelligent observation which makes its possessor, as a 
matter of course, a person of extensive general infor- 
mation, and is an essential element of success in almost 
any pursuit in which he may engage. 
In the present prevalent mode of conducting educa- 
tion the observing powers of the mind are, we may 
say, systematically neglected. A premium, even, is 
paid for their neglect; for the study of language, the 
execution of the processes of mathematics, and the 
memorizing of Geography, Grammar, etc., are allow- 
ed to have such exclusive possession in most of our 
school-rooms, that any disposition on the part of a 
pupil to attend to Zoology, or any of the natural 
sciences, must be repressed, if he wishes to maintain 
his standing in school. And even if such studies are 
admitted at all, they commonly have a very subor- 
dinate place in the general arrangement, and an ex- 
amination for the purpose of determining the standing 
of the pupil is not extended to such studies, because 
they are not deemed essential, but ol extender 
and ornamental. 
This strange neglect of these studies is seen even in 
our colleges. When a young man, for instance, en- 
ters Yale College, he is not supposed to know any 
thing of the natural sciences, or at least no knowledge 
of them is required as a qualification for admission. 
And after his admission, he is drilled in mathematics 
and the languages alone for two long years. The 
natural sciences are wholly excluded till his junior 
year, when he begins to attend to Natural Philosophy, 
