22 ON MUSEUMS, &c., 



from its apex to its lowermost stratum each successive generation, by 

 availing itself of the facilities conveniently placed within its reach, at 

 an early moment possesses itself of the acquisitions of its predecessors, 

 thus securing leisure to itself for new enquiries, having in view the 

 extension of the domain of practical science. 



The world stands amazed at the rapid progress made in civilization 

 and material improvement by the colonies planted in Australia, New 

 Zealand, British Columbia, Canada and the continent of America gene- 

 rally. That rapid progress is due to the fact that the colonists, settling 

 in those regions, started from the point which the old communities from 

 whence they issued had attained in science and civilization. They 

 carried with them the results and experiences which had accumulated 

 in the course of past human history. Had it been required of our 

 colonists that they, like their remote fathers, should pass literally 

 through a flint era, a bone era, a bronze era, an iron era, the continents 

 of America and Australia, the islands of New Zealand, Van Dieman's 

 Land, and a score more places that might be named, scattered over the 

 surface of the globe, would not be presenting at this day the scenes which 

 they now do present — scenes which, for evidences of human culture, 

 industry, taste and art, begin to rival those which, a few years since, 

 were supposed to be the special characteristics only of lands whose 

 annals reach back centuries in the past. 



Now, each successive generation of men should enjoy a privilege 

 analogous to that which the colonists of Great Britain have enjoyed- 

 Each generation should start on its career, consciously equipped with 

 the practical science which has accrued up to the moment of its setting 

 out. 



And in a similar manner, should not each individual youth in a 

 modern community start in his career with a like outfit ? Ought not 

 Education to mean this — the indoctrination of each successive crop of 

 youth with at least the elementary principles of all contemporary 

 ascertained human knowledge, with a view to practical purpose in sub- 

 sequent life? Would not Education, if it signified this, and was this, 

 be the means of saving a great number of human beings from a great 

 deal of blind, aimless action, and from a great number of blunders and 

 mistakes, and so be the means also of economising a great deal of the 

 world's precious time ? Should not each generation of our youth be as 

 a colony swarming off from an old, well-constituted and wise state, 

 carrying with it, in germ at least, the knowledge and experience of the 



