380 
AN APOLOGY FOR LATIN. 
be conquered, and nothing can avail the combatant but work. The truer the 
work, the greater the success. 
This earnest strife is in itself the foundation of future excellence. When 
hexameters and pentameters are forgotten, when it is no longer of the smallest 
consequence whether the first and second Punic wars are hopelessly confused, 
when Julius Ciesar, may with impunity be mistaken for Augustus, when the 
fourth Georgic may have ceased to charm, and the Eclogues are as little remem¬ 
bered as the Sic te Diva, still the result remains—one for which the student, 
especially the Pharmacist, may thank God every day of his after life. There 
is left the gift of accurate, minute investigation; the contempt for clap-trap 
and superficiality ; the longing for and realization of the possession of abstract 
knowledge; the capability at a given instant of directing trained energy in 
any desirable direction. 
There is, moreover, a release from the tyranny of desultory endeavour; from 
the waste of time and plodding spent in praiseworthy but mistaken approach 
to work in hand. Finally, to a mind thus exercised there is the dowry of that 
innate command of thought and consequent action which eventually will prove 
the surest hold upon the reins of business, and will at least rob our examina¬ 
tions of their last trace of terror. 
On the other hand, speaking with the utmost deference, physical and general 
science, with all their attractions, may largely supplement, but will never supply 
the place of a dead language in an educational point of view. This is written 
simply respecting Pharmacists, to whom opportunity of long-continued scho¬ 
lastic training is denied; for us the mainspring is essential, we must wait for 
the jewelled holes and ornamentation. Few years on an average are allotted 
to our book-learning; the world steps in too soon, but of necessity, and business 
must be attended to. The first thing to be done with a boy who knows 
nothing, and has comparatively little time, is so to discipline his thought that 
he may be able to learn something, indeed, aw/thing, hereafter to advantage. 
Let the matter be divested of idealism. How marvellous are the wonders 
chemistry unfolds! how grand the progress of physical science, and how incal¬ 
culable the material blessings it bestows ! how the mind is lost in love and ad¬ 
miration while engaged in any branch of natural research ! Then why not 
teach these things in our schools, nor let the stripling waste his precious time 
over dactyls and spondees, or on being expert in Sapphics? Simply because 
our school-time is very short. 
For these pursuits, which are the perpetual delight of thousands in after life, 
the scholar at the age alluded to cares less than the wind that whistles; 
cares far more for a boxwood top with plenty of string, and warranted to spin. 
If he can, by the position of his parents and favouring circumstances remain at 
school long enough that his mind gradually wakes up to the siren voice of na¬ 
ture, so much the better; offer him the fullest opportunities. Such is not the 
usual happiness of a druggist’s son. Even then I would repeat my earnest en¬ 
treaty that no father or guardian should be persuaded to neglect that most 
obvious, safe, and effectual preparation, acquaintance with the Latin language. 
Those who consider a school a granary of useful facts, and that, the best from 
which the most are borne away, oftener than not must meet with experiences 
they cannot understand. Those who arc under the impression that the school¬ 
master waves an enchanted wand, with which he transmutes his pupil into a 
ready-made Sir Isaac Newton, or that in the limited time allotted he can give 
an insight into things in heaven above and in the earth beneath, occasionally 
will be disappointed. We shall not stray far if we follow the track which the 
wisdom of our ancestors has pointed out. 
Many just now are seeking to qualify themselves for examination—the will 
is present and the strong desire. No mentor is wanted to give counsel on the 
