annual report—Convention. 
73 
Prof. Agassiz, in an address at an educational meeting in Bos¬ 
ton, says: u 1 wish to awaken a conviction that the knowledge of 
nature in our day lies at the very foundation of the prosperity of 
states; that the study of the phenomena of nature is one of the 
most efficient means for the development of the human faculties, 
and that on these grounds, it is important that this branch of edu¬ 
cation should be introduced in our schools as soon as possible.” 
The language of Thomas Carlyle has found a response in the 
breast of many a cultivated man, when he wrote : “ For many 
years, it has been one of my constant regrets that no school master 
of mine had a knowledge of natural history, so far at least as to 
have taught me the names and habits of the little winged and 
wingless neighbors that are continually meeting me with a saluta- 
tation which I cannot answer, as things are.” 
I contend these studies not only underlie the pursuits of so 
many persons, but they also pertain to all true complete culture. 
Every student, whatever he may be in future life, should know 
these ground truths of nature. Poor indeed is that education 
which now leaves them out. Discipline is in them of the most 
rigorous kind ; ideas clear, crisp and definite are in them. Beauty 
is in them. Sublimity is in them. Logic is in them. Law is in 
them. Order is in them. 
These are the letters of the alphabet which the God of Nature 
h'mself has given. Here are stories and histories more fascinat¬ 
ing than the Arabian Nights Entertainments, and more glowing 
and truthful than the enrapturing pages of Macaulay; but our 
untrained eyes see them not. 
Listen! there are ten thousand voices more exquisite in their 
melody and harmony than the strains that come from the lips of 
an Adeline Patti or from the magic strings swept by the fingers 
of an Ole Bull. There are more soaring symphonies than Beetho¬ 
ven ever wrote, and grander oratorios than Handel ever com¬ 
posed. The air is heavy with music; butour dulled ears hear it not. 
Object lessons, we say’children ought to have. Pictures, we 
say children ought to have. Why, here are pictures in forest 
and field, on water and sky, in matchless colors of unspeakable 
beauty, filling and thrilling and blessing the receptive soul— 
pictures the Great Artist himself has designed to limn for the 
