100 
JOUENAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
with those that have not been so trained ? Is there much chance 
even now, with an imperfect system, for a genius to succeed in 
any undertaking for which he has not been specially educated, if 
he be placed in competition with those who have ? And is not the 
same principle applicable to the mass of intellect, to the sum of 
national intellectual wealth, reckoned as a whole ? 
A lesson has been recently read on the continent of Europe to 
all nations well calculated to advance materially their education on 
the subject of organization — an experimental lesson of such ab- 
sorbing interest that it rivets attention, and will be impressed for 
ever on the memory of mankind. Fortunate it is for those nations 
who have neglected their education if they are not the subjects of 
an experiment which exhibits with such fearful distinctness the 
power of superior education and organization when placed in com- 
petition with that which is inferior in those respects. 
I have for some time past heard that the Germans are the most 
educated people in the world. "We have proofs that it is so in the 
power of organization which they have manifested so plainly in 
the gigantic struggle now raging. 
The use of the word education is generally limited to the in- 
struction given to the young; and we hear of finishing schools, 
and now and then of persons who have finished their education. 
I think a person who has finished her or his education, would be 
a most interesting character to meet. I should like to induce such 
a person to lecture at this institution. He would have a great 
choice of subjects, and we could promise him an audience that 
would fill this hall. The discussion after the lecture might not 
appear to its usual advantage, because there would be nothing for 
us to criticize. We might ask a few feeble questions, which would 
be promptly answered to our more than satisfaction ; and we might 
dispute amongst ourselves, with our usual lively courtesy, on 
points on which we had mutually misunderstood one another. Eut 
a lecturer who had finished his education would leave us nothing 
to discuss ; his subject would have been treated in a manner which 
the newspapers would call exhaustive. We should have no weak 
points to assail, except those which would be exposed in the dis- 
course of the first person who would be adventurous enough to 
display his ignorance by asking a question, and we should all make 
up our minds to send our children to the same finishing school that 
had turned out such a finished specimen of education. 
