The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-06-29
COLLEGE EpUCATToN.
Radical Defeets In The Course OF
Study

that institution, and VINO - NSAS
thorough scholar, delivered anaddress
on the subject of collegiate education,
and its defects ,whic'' we have read with
more than ordinary satisfaction, and
which ought to be read by all those
who have gone through what is called a
collegiate education and are in conse-
quence impressed with the idea that
they are thereby fitted for the practical
duties of life. He chiefly directed his
inquiries into the defects of that por-
ton of college course which. while
consuming so much time in the study
of the classics left the student comPar-
atiyely ignorant not only of the litera-
ture OF his own language, but also Of
those practical habits of thought which
makea mans mind really valuable to
society. Among the prominent de-
ticiencies of the regular courses
OF education were, in the first place,
gross neglect in teaching the laws OF
life and physical well-being. He cited
the we'll known fact that Copernicus
discovered and announced the true
theory of the solar system a hundred
years before the circulation of the blood
WIS known. And this too nOtwith-
standing the apparently simple truth
that from the heart to the surface, and
from The surface back to the heart OF
every man and woman of all the races
of the world, some twenty pounds OF
blood had been making a circuit every
three minutes for thousands of years,
The trouble was with the scholars that
they were too busily engaged in look
ing after far of matters, after absolete
learning, to develope fact so interwo-
ven with their own lives. ga finished
education" said the General, sis sup.
posed to consist mainly of literary cul-
ture."
1.-THE story of the forges of the Cy-
clops, where the thunderbolts of JOTe
were fashioned, is supposed to adorn
elegant scholarship more gracefully,
than those sturdy youths which are
wonders of the mine, in the fire Of the
furnace, in the clang of the iron mills,
and the other innumerable industries
which, more than all other human
agencies, have made our civilization
what it is, and are destined to achieve
wonders yet undreamed of. This gen
Grafton is beginning to understand that
education should not be forever di'
vorced from Industry thatthe highest
results can be reached only when sci
ence guides the hand of labor. With
eagerness and alacrity is industry seiZ-
I ing every truth of science and put
| ting Il in harnessi A few years age
Bessemer of England, studying the
nice affinitieS between carbon and he
metals, discovered that a slight change
of combination would produce It metal
possessing the ductility Of iron and the
cheapness of steel, and which would
cost but little more than common iron.
One rail of this metal will outlast tif-
teen of the iron rails now in use. Mill
lions of capital are already invested to
utilize this thought of Bessemer's
which must soon revOlutioniZe the iron
manufacture of the world
Another example: The late wal
raised the price of cotton, and paper
made of cotton rags. 1t was found that
! from the fibres of soft wood but it was
expensive and difficult to reduce tC
pulp, without chopping the fibre in
/ pieces. A Yankee mechanic, who had
/ learned in the science of vegetable
I anatomy, that billet of wood was conn.,
| posed Of hollow cylinders, many OF
| them so small that only the microscope
could reveal them; and having learned
also, the penetraIiye and expansive
| power OF steam-wedded these two
| truths, in an experiment, which, if ex-
/ hibited to Socrates, would have been
| declared a miracle from the gods. The
experiment was very simple. Putting
his blocks of wood in a strong box, he
| forced into it Il volume of superheated
steam which made its way into the
minutest pore and cell of the wood.
Then through trap door suddenly
| opened the block was tossed out. The
| outside pressure being removed, the
expanding steam instantly burst every
| one Of the million tubes; every vegeta.
BILE flue collapsed, and his block of wood
| lay before him II mass of tleecy fibre,
more delicate than the hand of man
| could make it.
Machinery is the chief implement
with which civilization does its work
] but the science of mechanics Is impossi'
bleIWithout mathematics.
But for her mineral resources, Eng
land would be the only hunting park
OF Europe; and it is believed that her
/ dav of greatness will terminate when
her coal fields are exhausted. Our
mineral wealth is q thousand times
| greater than hers, and yet without the
knowledge of Geology, Mineralogy
Metallurgy, and Chemistry, our mines
would be OF but little value. Without
| n knowledge of Astronomy, commerce
on the sea is impossible, and now at
last, it is being discovered that the
greatest of all our industries, the Agri-
cultural, in which three-fourths of all
our population are engaged, must call
science.to its aid, if it would keep up
with the demands of civilization.
need not enumerate the extent and va
riety of knowledge, scientific and prac-
teal, which a farmer needs in order to
reach the full hight and scope of his
noble calling. And what has our Amer
lean system OF education done for this
controlling majority of the people?
can best answer that question with a
single fact. Notwithstanding there are
| in the United States 1900 common
| schools, and 100 academies and SEM
inaries; Notwithstanding there are 2T5
colleges where young men may be grad
uated as Bachelors and Masters Of the
liberal arts, yet in all these, the people
in the United States have found so lit
| tie being done, or likely to be done 10
educate men for the work of agricul-
! ture, that they haYe demanded, and at
last have secured from their political
servants in Congress, an appropriation
sufficient to build and maintain, in
each State of the Union, college for
the education of Farmers. This great
outlay would have been totally unne-
cessary, but for the stupid and criminal
neglect of College, Academic, and Com
mon School Boards of Education to
furnish that which the wants ofthe peo-
pie require. The scholar and the work.
er must join hands, If they would be
successful.
next ask, what studies are Decessa-
~, to teach our young men and omen
the history and spirit of our govern
ment, and their rights and duties as
citiZensp There is not now, and there
aFfh w n