Wabash express. [volume] (Terre-Haute, Vigo Co[unty], Ind.) 1841-186?, 1860-07-11
For the Express
Mathematics.
ny PROF. LEE.

people Oi the west are gradually waxing
up to a better appreciation of its useful
ness, not only in the practical affairs OF
men but as means of developing the diff
ferent powers of the human mind into those
gigantic proportions which enable il to
reason with the certainty OF success, as is
shown by the very prominent position this
science occupies at the present time in all
the more respectable Institutions OF learn.
ing 10 the land. In our ordinary schools,
heretofore, il has been considered sufficient
if the young student could perform with
accuracy and facility the four ground rules
of Arithmetic, and if a teacher could ad.
vance the pupil so far as the Single Rule Of
Three, he was deemed fitto assume at once
the SUPPLEMENTARY of provincial school.
Anything beyond this was considered ra.
Their as gaudy tinsel than as being of
any practical utility in the business affairs
of life. To add numbers, to substract, to
multiply and to divide comprehended
about all the mathematical knowledge that
was thought necessary to enable man to
barter and to combat successfully his fellow
man.
Even this much knowledge of the science
of numbers and the art of computation
was, in great measure, by the common
judgment of society withheld from the fe
male pupil. She belonging to the weaker
sex" could not hope for learning SO uast!
Nor, was she thought to possess the nat
urat faculty as it has been called, which
enabled her peculiarly gifted male com.
panion to store his mind with the myste.
ries of Arithmetic and become a proficient
in the art OF numerical calculation Against
her the door 10 mathematics was forever
locked she was taught to reDere the youn g
man by her side at school whom God had
blessed with mind capable of overcomi n g
aud thoroughly mastering the aforeme :
toned Four ground Rules The science
thus limited was taught solely with refer
ence to its availability in a strictly bust
ness point of view-as assisting to the &C
/ QUESTION of as much of this worlds goods
as possible. Viewed in this aspect the
price put upon it fell far, far short of its
value. For if it is studied only with this
mercenary object, it may be easily made
apparent, that grave error was committed
in this short. sighted view of its Importance:
and that a mans ability to manage sue.
cessfully, any business of pecuniary
character, on any scale however small or
extended, increases at every step with his
knowledge of mathematics.
This fact has not been As generally rec.
ognized by the business men of this coun.
! try, as its immediate importance, to them,
demands. The haste to acquire riches,
when this is the paramount object of life,
begets a sordid indifference to a thorough
training in science before hand, as prep.
arstion, and tradesmen, of every kind
I farmers, and mechanics, have been conten
ted with little or no previous education,
especially with regard to the Higher msth
ematics; and this most important and useful
OF all sciences has been greatly undervalued
/ by those whom it is calculated ID benefit
most. BY such practice it is plain that
our business men have stood in their own
light-ihat they have proceeded with huge
milstones hanging to them retarding their
progress, and weakening every effort. The
+ fact that men have, by the thous ands
succeeded in business" who never passed
through the prep aration indicated, is by
no means an argument against it. They
have only succeeded in spite of their igno
rance and il they have become famous for
their financial ability, and mechanical
achievements where might they have stood
/ in the end other circumstances equal, had
they begun under the auspices of a thor
ough mathematical education 1t must
not be understood. however. that little
value attaches to mathematics short Of a
complete nowledge. 1t is singularly true,
that the benefits we derive from it are pro-
portional to the progress we make in that
direction. But. to the mere business man
knowledge of the Arithmetic, no matter
how limited, Is his infinite ga n. although
it has been practical error OF his, to con-
slider anything beyond this as unnecessary
and unimportsnt With him the Arith
metic was thought sufficient, if a man had
no higher aim than the accumulation Of
wealth if he had no desire to drink at the
delightful waters from the deep wells of
science and only cared TO know how to di
vide his neighbors goods aud add them TO
his own. But if he would follow this sci
ence 10 oil its ramifcations--if he would
understand nature in all the departments
Of Physical Science; if he would revel
amid the harmony OF her laws il he would
watch the majestic motions Of her spheres
as they move sublimely on in space il he
would educe the laws by which these are
governed. and the orbits they describe he
must dive deeper into mathematics. With
this for his telescope, and walking humbly
before God, he explores the paths to the
universe, and while the Eternal Truths OF
Creation are revealed to him,
"The increasing prospect tires bis wandering
eyes
As hills o'er hills, and Alps DER Alps arise"
CONTINUED TO MORROW.