THE SCIENTIST. 
181. 
ether, the theory of vortex rings and 
a hundred other matters of profound 
mathematical moment, are yet within 
the field of legitimate speculation. 
The discovery of the planet Neptune 
at the point of the French mathe- 
matician's pen to be afterwards ver- 
ified by actual observation, is but 
one example among many of great 
encouragement to work in specula- 
tive mathematics. 
In a great degree, also, is memory 
an essential to, and therefore its devel- 
opment assisted by, the study of 
mathematics. The example of Euler, 
the blind mathematician who, by 
the aid of memory alone, was able 
to solve mentally problems of great 
length and intricacy, speaks in th-is 
connection eloquently for itself. 
While the higher branches of the 
sciences appeal, as I have said, less 
and less to memory and more to the 
pure reason, m'C cannot grasp the 
rigor of their methods without be- 
ginning at the beginning of our 
science. And in the early stages of 
a mathematical training, the mem- 
ory is constantly appealed to and its 
cultivation becomes absolutely indis- 
pensable. Rules must be learned, 
formula' committed to memory or 
we can never become adepts iu prac- 
tical mathematics. And all this 
must be done too, while the mind is 
young and fresh and the memory 
yet plastic. You may as easily 
teach an old man how to fiddle as to 
give any one whose mathematical 
education has not begun in early 
youth, command over geometrical 
artifices or dexterity in mathemat- 
ical manipulation. 
Here then, I rest my plea. The 
critical acumen, the avidity to know 
the vftisoii (Vetre of everything, the 
insisting on technical accuracy that 
are engendered, with a myriad other 
qualities of great advantage to 
their possessor in the votaries of 
this science, I will not dwell upon. 
Enough has been said to show that 
learning and education can rest on 
no sounder or more worthy basis 
than this. 
I would not, however, detract 
from the practical value of the study 
of the natural sciences or the human- 
izing effects of the classics, while 
insisting on a mathematical foun- 
dation for all true learning. Let us 
rather, while demanding the intro- 
duction of the study of the mathe- 
matics at the earliest possible age 
into every academical curriculum, 
endeavor, by a happy combination 
of the (hflce and tlie utile, to fulfill 
the true aim of every educational 
system, the complete evolution of 
the mental faculties, the harmonious 
development of the whole mind. 
AccoRDixG to the statistics of 
the Woman's Christian Tem})erance 
Union of the State of New York, 
the young women and children of 
New York City spend annually, for 
chewing gum, six million dollars; 
if this estimate is correct, by com- 
parison, what an enormous amount 
must be spent annually on the much 
more filthy practice of chewing- 
tobacco. 
