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or ought to be, guided by a due consideration as to Vhat know- 
ledge will be most useful to him in later life. If the limitation of 
his choice to one set of knowledges be an absolute necessity, 
then the claims of Science in this respect can hardly be denied. 
Most men in civilized communities lead lives of an eminently 
practical character ; and it is no exaggeration to describe 
human existence as being in its essence, and primarily, an 
incessant struggle with the natural forces with which the human 
being is environed. The more intelligently this struggle is 
carried out, the more thoroughly man succeeds in bending the 
material forces of the universe to his imperious will, — the higher 
is the stage of civilization which is attained to, and every 
victory in this fight raises man nearer to his ideal condition. I 
am far from saying that the satisfaction of his material wants is 
all that man requires for his happiness and welfare, or that the 
highest and best elements of civilization are merely material. 
Man is more than an animal, and his wants other than those of 
the day. Nevertheless, all that we know of savage life, and of 
the worse than savage life of certain classes in so-called civilized 
communities, teaches us that no conspicuous spiritual progress 
is possible where man's material wants remain unsatisfied. 
Too certain is it that the higher faculties of humanity will 
assuredly be allowed to lie fallow, or will be perverted, if all 
the available energies of the organism have to be devoted to 
securing a bare and hazardous existence. It is useless, then, 
to hope for a high mental development, unless we can first 
satisfy the primary and clamant wants of the bodily frame ; 
and we cannot satisf}^ these unless we can bring about a more 
or less complete harmony between man and nature. 
And how can this harmony be brought about ? Surely in 
no other way than by instilling into the plastic minds of our 
children some knowledge of the world they live in, some love 
for the wonders of Nature by which they are surrounded, some 
acquaintance with the laws which govern the universe. Most 
men, as I have said before, lead lives of an eminently practical 
character. In winning their bread, they are brought into daily 
contact with natural productions; they conduct operations 
depending entirely upon natural laws, or they have to deal 
with artificial products or machinery removed by the skill of 
man but one stage from the raw material of nature. It were an 
easy matter to unroll the long list of scientific achievements of 
which our present civilization is the crown and superstructure ; 
but there is no necessity for this. The common working life 
of man pre-eminently demands a knowledge of common things ; 
and this knowledge can only be obtained from Science. How, 
