32 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



whether in this direction or not, whether as men of letters or 

 men of practical engineering or building, the strongest grounds 

 that we have for hope in any degree of excellency lies, as I have 

 hinted, in the education of the young. 



Not that it is claimed that education can produce genius. 

 This is far from being the case. Genius is born not made, and has 

 often snapped its very fingers at education. Nevertheless it is 

 claimed that education may bring out dormant or unsuspected 

 powers, and certainly it is a most powerful adjunct to genius of 

 any kind. There are many men who would never have made 

 their mark upon the world but for their education ; and the 

 great hope of this or any other country lies in the proper and judi- 

 cious training of the young. To this subject I invite your atten- 

 tion to-night. If I have called my subject education, it is 

 done more with a view to soliciting proper attention to children 

 than an5^thing else ; and this may well come within the scope 

 of a Literary and Scientific Association. The object of all 

 science is to elevate the human race as well as to improve the 

 species of inferior animals, and throw light upon and develop 

 the hidden powers of nature. Are there not sufficient grounds 

 for saying that in the search for such knowledge and to attain 

 such ends, in the search for developing the hidden powers of 

 nature and improving the species of dumb animals, not enough 

 care has been spent upon developing the powers of our own 

 race or upon improving humanity in general ? And the question 

 may very well arise, what is the true starting point in this great 

 matter ? To say that if we had good, judicious parents we 

 would have good children is no doubt true, but to begin with the 

 parents is to begin at the wrong end. It may sound like a 

 paradox to say that if we are to have good parents we must first 

 have good children, and 3'-et it is true. We should train 

 children to make good parents instead of attempting to train 

 parents to make good children. It may be known to many of 

 you that this is a favorite theory of Mr. Herbert Spencer's, 

 whose powerful pen has been actively engaged for years in ad- 

 vocating almost every species of education. His theory is that 

 part of the curriculum of our common school system should be the 

 training ofchildren to fulfil the duties of parents. At first this seems 



