332 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 296. 



botany and other branches of learning are 

 placed in college courses, not necessarily 

 because some of them give a better training 

 than others, but because their study trains 

 the person in different directions. A good 

 course of study for the mind is comparable 

 to a symmetrical training for the body, 

 one develops many mental faculties, the 

 other many of the muscles of the body. As 

 the last echoes of the conflict between the 

 champions of the classics and the natural 

 sciences have not yet died away, will you 

 permit me to refer briefly to the subject at 

 this time ? The opinions of educated men 

 who lived eighty or ninety years ago are not 

 to be taken in evidence in the matter, as 

 there was no natural science in those days 

 comparable to that of the present day. ISTor 

 can the opinions of philologists be taken 

 without some degree of allowance, as their 

 judgment is liable to be biased and one- 

 sided, unless they have also had the bene- 

 fit of a thorough training in botany and 

 zoology for at least three years. They 

 claim much for a study of Greek or Latin 

 continued for four to five years, while they 

 do not see great advantages in studying 

 botany and zoology for one or two years. 

 I will try to point out as fairly as I can 

 some of the peculiar training afforded by 

 three selected types of studies, viz. Mathe- 

 matics, Latin and Botany. 



(1) The utility of the study of mathe- 

 matics is granted by every educated per- 

 son. (2) There is no substitute for mathe- 

 matics as a training in exact reasoning. (3) 

 By this study a student learns to use con- 

 cise language. (4) A clear statement is 

 given, and step by step an inevitable con- 

 clusion is reached which is clear and accu- 

 rate. (5) Here we find excellent examples 

 of deductive reasoning. 



The study of Latin (1) cultivates and 

 strengthens the memory. (2) The faculty 

 of attention or mental concentration is de- 

 veloped, that is, the successful student 



learns the significance of genuine study. 



(3) The perceptive faculties are well trained. 



(4) The study of Latin should lead to clear 

 and concise speech and help to a better un- 

 derstanding of English. (5) Latin has an 

 obvious etymological value, helping to un- 

 derstand the meaning of many English 

 words. (6) It gives a training in the use 

 of synonyms. (7) Latin cultivates the 

 power of interpretation. (8) It exercises 

 skill of a peculiar kind to observe all the 

 shades of meaning of each Latin word in a 

 long and intricate sentence and then trans- 

 late it into clear and elegant English. (9) 

 It requires the most discriminating use of 

 the eye, mental alertness, the imagina- 

 tion, and the judgment. (10) There lies a 

 thought clothed in Latin words ; it is to be 

 expressed in correct English. (11) The 

 study enables one to get some of the best 

 thoughts at first hand. 



The advantages claimed for the study of 

 botany are : (1) There is nothing better 

 for training the powers of observation. (2) 

 The comparison of one plant or one part of 

 a plant with another cultivates the power 

 of inductive reasoning. (3) In learning the 

 definitions of new words, the memorj- is 

 strengthened, the vocabulary enlarged. (4) 

 There is nothing better to train the power 

 of precise and brief description in using each 

 word with a definite meaning. (5) To 

 follow successive changes that take place in 

 shape, proportion, size, color, as seen in one 

 plant from seed to maturity, develops the 

 observation, powers of description, and the 

 judgment. (6) By experimenting to learn 

 the results that follow changes in tempera- 

 ture, light, moisture ; by mutilating or re- 

 moving certain parts, many facts may be 

 obtained enabling one to arrive at certain 

 correct conclusions. (7) To become ac- 

 quainted with the minute anatomy of plants 

 by the aid of sections made in diflPerent di- 

 rections and seen with a compound micro- 

 scope cultivates the imagination as well as 



