The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-23 00:00:00

THE HITCHIN MECHANICS' INSTITUTION AND
THE SOCIETY OF ARTS EXAMINATION.
The Rev. Dr. Booth, F.R.S , delivered the following
address on the opening of the Exhibition at the Me•
chanics' Institution in this town :
I shall speak to you this 'evening about the presentaspect
of education in this country, and the probable future
phases of its development. I 'shall attempt to prove to
you that it is no longer a social want, that it has become
for us at least a political necessity. At Lewes, the other
day, I dwelt at soma length on the various difficulties,many
real, many imaginaary, which beset the path of the learner
and impede his progress. I showed that many obstacles
may be overcome by perseverance, while others may be
eluded by a little foresight, and that iu the same way, as
happiness is not the exclusive enjoyment of the rich, nor
misery the unfailing lot of the poor, so the facilities for
acquiring knowledge are not-so entirely the inheritance of
those who are born to ample wealth, and abundant leisure
as the world generally imagines. Were it otherwise there
could be no healthy circulation among the constituent ele-
ments of society. It would become stagnant. The rich
being in possession of every external social, intellectual,
and.moral advantage, would never take the lower place to
make room for the poor man, bidden by the groat Master of
the feast to take the higher seat. Having endeavoured to
show on that occasion how a young man should learn, I will
now proceed to discuss what it is he ought to learn. Now,
in the first place, let us contrast the present amount of
knowledge, wisely gathered and safely garnered up in books
for the use and advancement of mankind, as compared with
the stock the world was in possession of some three or four
centuries ago. Because a careful examinationof this matter
will plainly show you that thereis much valuable knowledge
and much important information which the most highly
gifted, and the most indefatigible must be contented to con-
tinue in ignorance of ; that no length of life, no am ount of
leisure, would enable a man to master the circle of the sd'.
ences, as it is called ; and that the existence of an Adreirab:e
Crighton, at all times a myth, has now become an impossi-
bility. We must introduce into intellectual acquirements
that principle of the division of labour which has long since
been admitted into and acted upon in the various depart-
ments of mechanical and commercial industry. Knowledge,
then, and ignorance, like virtue and vice, or pleasure and
pain, if they do not go hand in hand, are yet not far distant
from each other. Though the actual amount of our individual
acquirements may increase, our relative ignorance grows in
a much higher ratio, because the sum total of human
knowledge, in all its various sub-divisions of literature,
science, and art, is marvellously augmented from day to
day, nay from hour to hour. The horizon of human know-
ledge is widening and clearing up in certain directions,
while in others an impenetrable veil of cloud rests, and
ever will rest upon it. Now, this individual increase,
coupled with relative diminution in the acquisition of
knowledge, serves to draw tighter the bonds of human
society, it makes us more dependent upon others, and our
neighbours upon us. We find the very same principle hold
in the community of nations. What would become of
commercial intercourse or national sympathies, or the
spread of civilisation but for this—that the means of sup-
plying the multiplied wants of man in society are to be
sought for in every clime. This makes the whole earth to
be virtually "of one language and of one speech." Two
centuries ago in this country, and indeed all over Europe,
learning was synonymous with erudition, a man of great
knowledge was a man who had read great books. In those
days the inquiry was not, is it true ? but who asserts it?
Belief was founded neither upon reason nor evidence, but
on authority. Truth stood a veiled form at the entrance
to the temple of knowledge, and her veil was not to be
hastily or rashly drawn aside. There must be esoteric and
exoteric teaching—that is, one form of doctrine for the
enlightened, another for the ignorant. It is not at all
strange that in the infancy of,societyll teaching should be
based upon authority, that the ipse dizit of the pro-
fessor should serve in lieu of demonstration. The old
Greek proverb applies as well to the childhood of nations
as to that of individuals. slet plavOavovra recrrEvEtv
the learner must have faith. The beginner must re-
ceive the elements of knowledge upon trust. He cannot
until afterwards know them to betrue. So very modern is
that superstructure of science, in whose courts we all more
or less learn to pay homage, that 200 years ago, you will
be surprised to learn, mathematics were little known or
even heard of in the University of Cambridge. The cele-
brated mathematician, Dr. Wallis, writes :---" Mathema-
tics were mice looked upon as academical studies but
rather mechanical, as the business of traders, merchants,
seamen, carpenters, surveyors of land, and almanac-makers
in London. Among more than_2oo_students in our college
(Emmanuel College), I do not know of two had more than
I, if so much, which was then but little, and but very few
in that whole university. For the study of mathematics
was then more studied in London than the universities."
What a change has since come over the spirit of the place.
For many years past mathematics, with classics, have been
cultivated at Cambridge, to the exclusion of the other not
less important departments of literature and science; but
it is a symptom of healthy progress that this contracted
fashion is passing away, and that Cambridge will vindicate
its just claim to the title of a university by recognising
the universality of knowledge. And indeed the change has
not come too soon. Look at the new sciences which hays
started into existence and shot up into importance within
the last GO or 80 years. One hundred and fifty years ago
the little science there was then discovered could only be
reached through the Latin original, or by the help of Latin
translations. It was in this way only that a man could
study the works of Euclid, Archimedes, or Apollonius.
So well established was this custom of burying living
' of De e
y one
knowledge in the tomb of a dead language, that Lord
i l lo
ads u
.oe
Bacon having first thought out and written in English
tn hge e
compasso f title
knowledge
of e
is A u„ m
srcan::,taer
so
entirelynto Latin
Now,
w b,
his great work on the Advancement of Learning, had it
t
underthey on dr a
the a
becomingn'
so vast, s
comprehension, however ample his leisure, or untiring his
industry, however tenacious his memory or intuitive his
intellect, that no one can hope to master more than a
small portion of our present knowledge. The possession of
a nugget or two of this vast intellectual treasure must
content us. The practical question with which you have
to deal is this, on what principle you are to snake your se-
lection. Believe me, it is much better, under ovary point,
of view, to know two or three subjects well, than to have
a loose rambling sort of notion as to what several are about.
This is no needless caution at the present day, when a dili-
gent sitter out of lectures may during a session assist at
lectures on astronomy and astrology, optics and clairvoy-
ance, medicine and mesmerism, mining and music, electri-
city and animal magnetism, geology and conohology, phy-
siology, and a whole heap of ologies besides. Do not ima-
gine that a man is at all the more clear-headed, or even the
better informed, for having all this farrago and jumble of
odds and ends, of bits and scraps of knowledge shot into
his memory, as a carter shoots rubbish into waste ground.
A man's mind which receives impressions in this way is no
better than the sheet on which one may see dissolving
views thrown in a chromatic exhibition. The figures mix
and blend, and fade into each other ; while on the other
hand, if you look through a telescope, although the ob-
jects you examine are but few, you recollect how bright
and distinct they are, how precise their outlines, how sharp
their edges. Much better is it for the traveller to have
exact information about a few prominent distant objects
by the help of a glass, than to gaze at a whole country's
side through a haze or fog. I believe these remarks are not
mistimed in this age of cheap books and light literature, as
it is called. You are not to imagine that every hour you
dream over a flimsy tale or threadbare fiction is so much
time cut off from amusement, andgiven to mental improve-
ment. The time thus passed in reverie over the pages of a
novel may safely be put down under the same head as time
passedin singing and dancing, or or any other like harmless
amusement. It is seldom better spent, and very often worse.
I am not finding fault with this kind of reading. I only con-
tend that it should not be set down for what it is not. It
would be a pleasant thing for all of us if we could acquire
knowledge in this way, just as you farmers would find it
pleasant and profitable if yeu could grow wheat by merely
casting the seed on the green sward. You can no more
cis
htoeiws l
lettersv saheedt
thwheiert
with
at
your
rfts_.
fingeromy o wu i
mustit
ehi
wa a
sot
ter
rraw,i inbt
uht
tho t Ley tom. u
umsYceloestist
reap knowledge than you can reap corn without the sweat
tonflseatyhthewebr
of the arm—to grave them in marble. When light reading
wasrbel
aese s
nbc
eea
reasoner
kcy
Be
snh
theokpn oßewnu and
Butler
coyb,
observed
rhovavetedls
: profound_w s were
haes
thinkerpr
eoantdne
andruomu number
aecarus t
ofae
books and papers of amusement which, of one kind or
other, daily come in one's way, have in part occasioned
and most perfectly fall in with and humour this idle way
this means time,
reading and considering things. By,
oven solitude, is got rid of without the pain or attention,
neither is any part of it more to be put to the account of
slur
iso: ctfoye:
theal:etn eoN:
reading
weaken
itdai
powersinkaguge
withoutf
idleness, or spent with less thought, than a great part of
m
rg eroaciatyiudaseou
general,nnryi uoyyfloc,
tiaemahci
ed..
that which is spent in reading"—and to the same effect
itapsh,
saoyot
eiwanrwee.anotherh(ariasi
b.iTton:hft
ceioonfahnvceasg retxesingtvetseiauiutnoteyesanhi
a: authorityeneuadaottnffetodhdnforce
iedevseeaui
re
our principles and opinions come to be lost in the infinite
multiplicity and discordancy of our acquired ideas." These
are very important points to bo settled by you who pro-
pose to turn your attention to your own improvement.
What are the considerations which are to determine your
selection ? For what point of the compass are you to
make ? While sailing clown a river you want no compass
to guide you ; it is when launched upon the shoreless ocean
that you require the aid of map and charts and all the help