New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-06-18

cal men, who as mechanics, engineers, ship
builfe and chemists, have supplied the want
Of hsnds by newly invented machines, covered
the ocssn with utrivaled vessels and the c0un-
try with factories, railroads and magnetic tele-
graphs. This general intellectual impulse, re-
vealing the real wants of education, should be
apprehen5ed by our colleges, and should shape
to the requir ed extent the nature of their pre-
paratory studies; but especially should these
practical necessities Of the age define the course
of instruction in our rural Academies.
We will suppose such a school in district
of country where, beside the farming inter-
ests, water power, as is often the case, drives
mills and factories. The most suitable instruc-
ton for the children would be grammar, arith-
metic, geography, mathematics, drawing, mu-
sic, the elements of architecture, mechanics,
chemistry and botany. A teacher disciplined
by the West Point course, or the chronological
schools Of Germany would answer for this end
better than one from the simply classic lists
But TO satisfy both parties We would recon-
mend that, as in the Eastern States, girls
should study the dead languages. On our young
women so trained should deyolve the duties
of classical tuition, while the other branches
should be taught by practical aud scientific
professors, and thus the ancient and modern
acquisitions be equally met.
Throughout the civilized world the sciences
are now directed to the practical interests OF
daily life. In the household, the workshop, the
garden, on the farm in the preservation OF health
and enjoyment of life, tie force Of such inyes-
LEGATIONS is more an more felt. Hence the key
to the secrets Of nature should frat be handled
in the Common School and should BIO yet more
used in the College. BY this means the equal
ization of social differences would be promoted,
and that happy union Of intellectual culture and
mechanical or operative skill which under lies
the greatest discoveries, inventions and econo-
mics, most literally secured.
Indeed, the extension of the economies of in
dustry is much more due to operatives and artl-
sans familiar with natural sciences than to sim
ply and emineDtly scientific men. The best re-
suit is when the two classes come in contactand
interchange their experiences. In this respect
an instance, widely Illustrative, may be men,
toned. The formation Of hail was the subject
of deep scientific speculation and many theories
were brought forward by the masters of science,
such as Leopold Won Buch, Humboldt and
others. All of them, however, proved unsatis-
factory. Noelner, celebrated technologiss,
saw better than the sayans the causes OF the
formation of hail. Thus, Il cultivated prac-
titioner helped out and corrected the theoretic
men. And of what use after all, for human
life and industry can be the discoveries or ln-
yentions of the higher sciences, if the artisan
does not understand them, or is unable to educe
their special application by smaller collateral
inventions
The farmer familiar with botany, and above
all with chemistry, will know the nature of the
plants cultivated by him, the special nutriment
which they require. 1t is on account of their
variety of specific nutriment that alkali, potash,
pbosphoric acid, natron, lime and so-forth, hold
such an eminent place among manures; but they
can only be fully advantageous when the agricul-
turist knows the chemical composition, and
thence the needs, of each plant.
Not less essential to the health and existence
of animals and men is the knowledge necessary
TO combine food in such variety that what is
taken may contain the constituents due the body.
Repeated experiments have shown that animals,
as well as men, cannot live, even poorly, if
kept on food containing only one special element
of the chemical composition necessary to life.
Thus, man living exclusively on potatoes,
without any addition to sustain his muscles and
bones, will die after few weeks, even with
full stomach. Any nourishment not containing a
principle of phosphorus softens the bones of
animals, and produces the ricketts, in children.
A wholesome food consists in combining vege-
tables with meat, salt, sugar, milk, and the like
Such is the utility of rendering the study Of
the natural sciences popular. We trust that
they may hereafter enter more largely and more
perfectly into the course of instruction in our
Academies and Common Schools.
OUR LAWYERS AND LAW SCHOOLS.
Our couptrv nrobohlv has more layvera than