32 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Jan. 



that while we urge upon others the necessity of such extended educa- 

 tion, — if our youth are to be trained up as useful citizens and men,— let 

 us not forget, I say, that our Society itself forms the necessary comple- 

 ment to this early training, let us view ourselves even more than we 

 have been wont to do as an educational body, and as devoted as much 

 to the improvement of others as to the advancement of our own in- 

 formation. Let us all be fellow-labourers in the great search after 

 truth, fellow-pupils in the school of nature, fellow-students of that 

 "great first book — the world,"-- -all I trust ready and anxious to com- 

 municate to others any knowledge we may ourselves possess ; ready 

 and anxious also to learn from others all that they can com- 

 municate. And by no means the least advantage arising from such 

 studies consists in the inevitable result which habits of obser- 

 vation must produce, namely, that they call into existence, and pro- 

 voke the exercise of, a process of self-education, without which no man 

 is well-taught. True that in every physical science, where the great 

 means of acquiring knowledge is by observation, much must be ac- 

 cepted on the authority of others, — unless we would have the human 

 mind remain stationary, and allow the accumulated stores of one 

 generation of men to be lost to another, — still each must for himself 

 go over these observations, must trace the successive steps in the 

 reasoning based upon them, and v must, if he wish to apply them, 

 stamp those reasonings with the impress of his own individuality ; each 

 must observe, each must compare, each must discover, for himself. 

 Material forms and arrangements must be seen to be understood 

 clearly, and the students are thus forced to consult the great book 

 of the world itself, if they desire their information to be accurate ; 

 they are compelled to be the " children of nature and not her grand- 

 children." And if such habits of observation and comparison ever b'e . 

 produced, we may rest assured that they will continue to be exercised. 

 The great secrets of nature are not proclaimed in the market-place ; 

 they are not open to all, but are hidden in her inmost sanctuary, 

 and if we would be honoured by her confidence, we must devote our- 

 selves to her service. New methods of enquiry, new modes of re- 

 search are called into play. The questions to be solved here, are 

 not of our own imagination, they are ready prepared to our hands. 

 We cannot here start from our own suppositions, and laying down 



