sanest homes. They bring the niyatic atmosphci'o of thcriu 

 homes with them into the school, and its cleansing power 

 cannot be tabulated at any written examination. In view 

 of tliis it appears that the fear of moral danger in s-eculsir 

 education, as we have it in the public schools and institu- 

 tions of Canada, is groundless, or at least exaggerated. 

 The boy who knows something of the history of his country, 

 and even a little of physiology, irs equipped with a lamp 

 that will help him toi keep on the highway tO' the city of 

 Life. That this may not appear* without reason, I proceed 

 to call attention to the pervasive, healthy and moral action 

 of science on life ; particularly to the action of that form 

 of science which has developed its abstract ideas into in- 

 stinct which, with eyes in its head, is ready to act at the 

 call of the moment. 



II. 



We all laiow the ubiquity' of scientific activity in mod 

 em life. Its fine, yet strong, fingers are at work in every 

 throw of the shuttle in the M'cb of life ; not only in the 

 coarser parts of the fabric, but also in the finer. We use 

 its irmiunerablo appliances, as v,-e use our eyes, ears, hands 

 and feet, hardly knowing that we use them. They ai"e, so 

 to speak, extensions, and multiplications of tho organs of 

 our body. By means of this enlarged bodily organism our 

 reach its vastly increased ; a reach ui^dreaint cl in tho days 

 when science v/as in its infancy. Familiarly v.'e put the 

 transmitter to our lips, and the receiver to our car and 

 converse with a friend miles a^\ay. By the Marconi device 

 we send and receive messages of business and friendship 

 across wide seas. In our homes, by means of a switch, we 

 light the room, start a lire in tho sto\e, and m;fkc toast on 

 the table. The clothes we wear, the houses in wJiich we 

 live, the streets on whicli we waJk^ and the water wc drink 

 are all ouns throngh science. And not only in domestic 

 enlargement of our organism has science served U6. We 

 travel from Halifax to Vancouver in tlie comfort of a cush- 



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