4 
by the misty superstition with which man invested all things 
that he could not comprehend. 
Without attempting to analyze the psychological progress 
of man in his study of the exacter sciences, which will, however, 
be found to be dependent upon his habit of methodizing ideas, 
we may, by confining our attention to the simple discovery of 
natural truths, see that all advancement has been the result of 
experience. 
Facts frequently returning have at length solicited attention, 
and thus is cultivated habits of observation. By close attention 
new features are discovered in the phenomena ; results which 
had long escaped casual and heedless glances are developed, and 
the mind is thus led up to the inquiry after the exciting cause. 
True science now begins, and the evidences of experiment are 
sought. A philosophical method is eventually developed, and its 
operations are displayed in the careful classification of observed 
phenomena, in the consideration of which the human mind 
necessarily demands the assistance of theory ; and as this is con- 
structed in accordance with true observations, or in obedience 
to the exuberent thoughts of an imaginative mind, is the dis- 
covery of truth accelerated or retarded. 
To the record of careful observation we owe the first or 
initiative idea of every truth. The earliest duty, therefore, of 
every teacher is to train and educate the mind in habits of close 
and exact observation. 
Man cannot create, but he is endowed with powers by which 
he may examine everything which is created, and by combination 
produce results which are to the uninitiated, but little short of a 
creation, when applied to the amelioration of some of the neces- 
sities of mankind. Human intelligence has bound the physical 
forces to do man service, and all the great applications of 
science may be referred to in proof of the position that human 
progress is directly dependent upon careful observation, and the 
habit of recording, in a systematic manner, the facts which have 
been thus developed to the mind. 
The history of every science affords examples of this ; the 
devious and uncertain wanderings of the astrologer, the alche- 
mist, and the cosmogonist exhibit the severe struggles of truth 
