82 REPORT — 1866. 



outer works. Impelled by the in-esistible impulse for knowledge, clieered by con- 

 tinual Tictory, we march, and not slowly, ever onwards, and value our laurels none 

 the less because each fresh one tells of more that must be won, and shows the final 

 goal receding as we near it. 



Finding, as we do, that the animal machine is the resultant of all the propei-ties 

 or forces of matter, combined and harmonized by that most mysterious ot them 

 which we call the " vital force," we claim as fellow labourers the workers in every 

 division of science, and watch with interest each discovery, knowing that in what- 

 ever direction it is it has a bearing, more or less direct, upon oui- own study, wel- 

 coming all, digesting and appropriating what we can. 



Both as regards the ground, therefore, which has been already turned, and that 

 which remains to be explored, physiology affords the grandest tield for labom- and 

 provides occupation for every faculty. In no other science, perhaps, do observation 

 and reflection so distinctly stimulate and help one another. It is chiefly by clear 

 reasoning, by induction from ascertained facts, that physiology is to be studied and 

 advanced ; and thougli a short flight into the regions of imagination now and then 

 may show a beacon light and help us better to track the path to knowledge, the 

 lights there seen are too commonly if/nesfatui, exciting and misleading. Hence the 

 study of phj'siology is one of the best exercises of the mind ; and the gi'eater ap- 

 preciation of it as such is being shown by the admission of it, slowlj' and cautiously 

 it is true, into our educational system. It is taking its place in our Uni^-ersities ; 

 and I am convinced that it and the other branches of natural science will be found 

 at least as suitable instruments for cultivating and strengthening the various facul- 

 ties of the mind, particularly those of obser\atiou and reflection, as any of the more 

 favoured educational subjects. In looliiug to the future of yoimg England, and its 

 prospects in the struggle (the hard struggle), I will not say for existence, but for 

 position among nations, that seems to be impending, one cannot but feel that very 

 much must depend upon the eftectual development of the mental faculties. It has 

 been by force of mind and not by force of coal that our country has been raised to 

 its present height. "Wq must look to the same power to keep her in the full front 

 of nations. It is not the bayonet, it is not the needle-gun, but the mind that con- 

 ceives and the energj' that makes and wields them, which gain the victoiy. If, as 

 I am sometimes disposed to think, the old educational soil, upon which so many 

 generations have been trained, is in some degi-ee wearing out, it will surely be none 

 the less productive for the introduction of new elements ; at any rate they will 

 bring out fresh powers to meet the changing circumstances of the times. I will 

 not, however, detain you vnX\\ this, but pass on to one or two other matters. 



For the higher reasoning, couiliining, and analytic faculties, abundant scope and 

 exercise will be found in the attempts to unfold the laws by which we grow, and 

 move, and have our being ; and full reward is given by the glimpses, from time to 

 time, we obtain of the wondrous workings of creative power. As an illustration of 

 this, I need only mention the discovery of development by cells, a discovery which 

 is, perhaps, second only to that of gravitation, evincing as it does a simple, uniform 

 law, underlying and working out the vastly diverse forms and structures of 

 vegetable and animal life. Surely the knowledge that the tough oalc-plank, 

 the blade of grass, the lion's claw, the contracting muscle, and the thinking 

 brain all emanate from simple forms which, so far as we can tell, are per- 

 fectly alike, and, further, that the entire plant or animal also emanate from a 

 single form or cell which is undistinguishable from the rudiments of its several 

 parts, is as fidl of interest and as suggestive of high thought as any one of the 

 fragments of knowledge which man has worked out for himself in the whole range 

 of physical science ; and what better exercise can there be than teaching the ope- 

 ration of the great law of uniformity of plan from this simple starting-point, and 

 witnessing the manner in which it holds its ground through all the inflnite modifi- 

 cations by vv Inch plants and animals are adapted to their several positions and to 

 one another. 



The microscope has lately been to physiology much what the steam-engine has 

 been to manufacture and transit ; it has opened up new regions for observation, 

 and given an entirely nevv' direction to our thoughts. The structure of the several 

 tissues and orgrais has probably been made out as far as the present means permit, 



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