32 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



I do not underestimate the effect of other studies upon the 

 judging and reasoning powers, but if our desire is to form the 

 soundest jvidgment upon the movements of the present day, may 

 we not rely upon a careful review of history for that work? 

 Separate three boys for special study with the design of making 

 them the best judges of human conduct, and reasoners upon the 

 practical affairs of life. Give to one logic, to another mathe- 

 matics, to the third an intelligent grasp of the general course of 

 history, with elaboration in special epochs, and can there be any 

 doubt as to the result? He who has been made conversant 

 with the record and spirit of human progress, must have the 

 clearest view of the movements and characters of societies and 

 men. In spite of this, the noble study is often refused a place 

 among the more serious tasks. It is too easy, forsooth, for 

 intellectual gymnastics. A student of my acquaintance thought 

 so until he was introduced to Guizot's History of Civilization ; 

 and another as he struggled with the profundities of Ueberweg's 

 History of Philosophy, remarked that " even mathematics in all 

 its glory was not arrayed like one of these." 



Scepticism regarding its reliability, has led too many to 

 ignore the importance of history. Because incidentals may be 

 confusing, and evidence conflicting, doubt is thrown upon the 

 entire historic record of a case. But why, when the main fact 

 stands before you? Controversy has raged around the battle of 

 Waterloo, for writers differ as to the movements of Grouchy and 

 Blucher, and several stories of the combat are denied ; yet evei-y 

 British boy is quite content to let incidentals go, and receives 

 unquestionably the fact that Wellington there won a glorious 

 victory over Napoleon. During his imprisonment in the tower, 

 Sir Walter Raleigh, engaged in writing a history of the world, 

 heard a great commotion in the prison court. Trjdng to gain 

 a report of the affair, he was treated to so many conflicting 

 accounts that he returned to his apartment in disgust. Here, 

 said he, am I attempting to write history, but when I inquire 

 into a common broil I can get no satisfactory relation. Because 

 he failed in obtaining exact details he was discouraged, when 

 the really important features of the event, — the general cause, 



