ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 885 



and the love of truth for its own sake which form the raw material, 

 so to speak, of the philosopher ; but the instances are at least equally- 

 few in which the lessons in observation and reflection, which even a 

 small Microscope is calculated to aftbrd, would not serve to raise the 

 mind of the user to a higher level, and to develop a higher degree of 

 intelligence than could have been obtained without such help. 



In a few very good schools, chiefly for the children of the more 

 wealthy classes, natural history teaching by the aid of Microscopes is 

 systematically conducted, the classes collecting their own specimens, 

 and being expected to give the best account they can of them before 

 being assisted towards a better one by the teacher. Our argument is 

 that all this should be done much more widely and generally ; educa- 

 tion, in fact, being made to advance along a road which is rendered 

 comparatively smooth by the perfection of modern appliances. The 

 tasks of school, in too many cases, appeal to the memory rather than 

 to the understanding, and cultivate stupidity rather than intelligence. 

 It is impossible to doubt that much which is taught, say in Board 

 schools, might be relinquished without any appreciable loss to the 

 intellectual development of the scholars, and that by such relinquish- 

 ment time might be gained for instruction of a more fruitful kind. 

 As for the material, even in towns, it is present in immeasurable 

 abundance. There is a legend that an ardent naturalist once de- 

 termined to write a complete account of the plants and animals which 

 he found in the garden of Lincoln's-inn-fields, but that the magnitude 

 of the task was such as to place insuperable obstacles in the way of 

 its accomplishment. An attempted history of the insect life alone 

 was abandoned for the same reason ; and a second Gilbert White 

 might have found ample occupation in observing and recording the 

 habits of the various denizens of the narrow space. It is, perhaps, 

 too much to hope that the officials of a public department will ever 

 so far emancipate themselves from the trammels of routine as to take 

 the initiative in the promotion of better nature teaching; but it is 

 not impossible that they might learn to follow if they were clearly 

 shown the way. The parochial clergy in old times were the pioneers 

 of improvement on all educational questions ; and there is no reason 

 why they should not seek to regain something of the leadership which 

 has to so great an extent slipped away from their grasp. Could they 

 not, especially in rural districts and in country towns, do something 

 towards the promotion of a reform which would render the younger 

 members of their congregations more observant, more thoughtful, 

 more careful of animal life, less ready to be over sure about problems 

 the solutions of which are not yet known to mankind, but on which 

 80 many people are prone to be dogmatic in precise proportion to 

 their ignorance? The modern Microscope might form one of many 

 lovers by which the minds of future generations might be guided 

 towards the attainment of knowledge and the cultivation of modesty 

 and charity." 



The article referred to was as follows (under the head of " Kecent 

 Microscopical Science ") : — 



"A glance at the Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, 



8er. 2.— Vol. V. 3 M 



