24-2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



SCIENTIFIC LECTURES. 



That lectures will always continue 

 to be, as they always have been, a valu- 

 able mode of public instruction, there can 

 be little doubt ; but, that what is called 

 the lecture system is going to prove an 

 agency of national regeneration, may 

 be seriously questioned. In so far as it 

 is in any sense a system, it has degen- 

 erated to a mere catering to public 

 amusements. The platform is crowded 

 with readers, singers, decl aimers, dram- 

 atists, and buffoons, and the " course of 

 lectures " is transformed into a " series 

 of entertainments." People cannot have 

 their intellects on the rack forever, you 

 know; they must have a little relaxa- 

 tion. This tendency to pander to a low 

 public taste, and, under the respectable 

 name of lectures, to degrade the plat- 

 form to purposes of mere speculation, 

 ought in every way to be withstood. 

 Let amusements stand upon their own 

 basis, and not appeal to the public under 

 false pretenses. Lectures upon science, 

 history, or philosophy, to be really valu- 

 able, should be given in courses with 

 sufficient fullness to produce some depth 

 of impression. It is in this way that 

 such men as Lardner, Mitchell, and 

 Tyndall, have helped on the work of 

 public education. "We spoke last month 

 in commendation of Mr. Proctor, as a 

 popular teacher of astronomy ; and, to 

 those who desire lectures of a similar 

 first-class character in another and 

 widely-different field, we now recom- 

 mend Prof. Edward S. Morse, of Salem, 

 Mass. Prof. Morse's department is 

 zoology, in which he is an original in- 

 vestigator, of excellent standing, and 

 therefore thoroughly acquainted with 

 the actual phenomena of his subject. 

 As a teacher of natural history, he has 

 rare merits, a lively and wide-awake 

 manner, by which he keeps the atten- 

 tion of his audience ; simple and un- 

 technical language, suited to make 

 everybody understand him; and re- 

 markable skill in the rapid and accu- 



rate drawing of diagrams upon the 

 black-board. To most lecturers this is 

 an interruption and a bore. They have 

 to stop speaking while they are draw- 

 ing, to outline the object they are deal- 

 ing with. Prof. Morse makes his figures 

 rapidly and elegantly, using both hands 

 at once, and keeps up an unbroken flow 

 of talk. The advantage of being thus 

 able to hold his audience, by engaging 

 two senses at once, is very great ; for, 

 not only is he more secure of the listen- 

 ers' apprehension by creating his forms 

 before the eye at the same time they are 

 described to the ear, but the pleasure 

 of full mental occupation is also in a 

 high degree favorable to the retention 

 of what is learned. It may be added 

 that in this way the lecturer's work is 

 not only 6f superior quality, but there 

 is a great deal more of it in the same 

 time. Every town where there is a 

 college or high-school, and any serious 

 mental activity, should arrange for a 

 special course of lectures such as Prof. 

 Morse furnishes. 



" THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY? 



The first article this month closes 

 the series of papers upon " The Study 

 of Sociology " that have been run- 

 ning through our pages for a year and 

 a half. "We have previously stated the 

 relation of this discussion to Mr. Spen- 

 cer's other works, but there still re- 

 mains much misapprehension upon this 

 point, and the present is, therefore, 

 a suitable occasion for a brief restate- 

 ment of the case. That we are here 

 concerned with the advance of a new 

 division of scientific knowledge of great 

 importance to the public is a further 

 excuse for repetition. 



In 1860, Mr. Spencer threw out the 

 prospectus of a system of philosophy 

 which he expected it would take him 

 twenty years to complete. The under- 

 taking was new, comprehensive, and 

 original, as it proposed to construct a 

 system of general philosophy on the 



