Year: 1865

Mr. Thomas Carlyle, who showed. by his
pithy vindication OF pro-slavery secession, that
a man of genius can sometimes dispense with
common sense, has lately written a letter up
on popular education, in which this generally
lmpfac9cable writer makes very practicable
suggestion. There is now in the city of Edin-
burgh, the seat of a well-known Scottish Uni
versity, OF which the venerable Sir David Brew
ster, so widely known by his researches and dis
coveries in natural philosophy, is the head,
teacher named Adam White, who is successfully
introducing the study of natural history into
schools and families there. To him MI. Car
lyle has written letter, published in one of
the city newspapers, in which the following
sentences are to be found: "For many years
1t has been one of my constant regrets that
no schoolmaster of mine had knowledge of
natural history, SO far, at least, as to have
taught me the grasses that grow by the way
side, and the little winged and wingiess neigh
bors that are continually meeting me with
salutatlon which l cannot answer, as things
are! Why didn't somebody teach me the
consultations, too, and make me at home in
the starry heavens which are always overhead,
and which / don't half know to this day? L
love to prophesy that there win come time
when not in Edinburgh only, but in all Scot
tish and European towns and villages, the
schOolmaster will be strictly required TO pos
sess these two capabilities-neitherG Greek nor
Latin more strict! land that no ingenious
little denizen of this universe be thencefor-
ward debarred from his right of liberty in
those two departments, and doomed to look
on them as if across grated fences ali his life /!
For the rest, / cannot doubt but, one way or
other, you will by-and-by make your valuable
indubitable gift available in Edinburgh, either
to the young or to the older, on such cOndi-
tions as there are, and much recommend
jealous and judicious persistence till you do
succeed" t III ~ 10


There is world of common-sense in these
few remarks. We waste too much time in
youth, in trying to acquire a knowlege of dead
languages, and of :iences too recondite fos
daily use, and our teachers neglect to make us
acquainted with the physical structure of the
earth which we inhabit, the nature and char


acteristics of flora and fauna. Take young
man who has just graduated at some eminent


University, and ask him why one mountain
within sight has jagged and fantastic rocky
outline, while another, its neighbor, is round.
billowy, and big, and he cannot answer; neith-
er can he tell how long since the glen was
slashed from the hillside by one cOnvulsive
thrust of the earth in its agony, or slowly worn
by the attrition OF ages; nay, unless he be
country-bred, he will pass through wood, in
all probability, without knowing an oak from
beech, an elm from an ash, and be utterly
ignorant of the varieties of the animals which
populate the wave, the land, the air. Yet,
these are precisely the points on which, as he
redltary successor to ADAM, to whom the Al
mighty gave dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and every
other living thing that moveth upon the earth,n
all persons ought to be well informed. In our
High Schools, male and female, there is con-
slant endeavor to "cram" young people with a
large amount of useless acknowledgements of
which is forgotten when the education is sup
posed to be complete, as rapidly as possible
Where is the use of teaching trisonometry or
mensuration, or moral philosophy, or algebra,
or mathematics to young girl, whose role as
woman will be to get married with all reason
able expedition and alacTity, and rarely bestow
thought upon the abstract sciences which
cost her SO much trouble and so many head
aches while she was in her teens? Bows and
girls, all schoomasters ought to know, take
most kindly to what they become interested
in. The girl who collects feathered ferns or
bright moses, who watches the living flowers
OF the sea as they bloom or close in her dainti-
ly-attended aquarium, or who even keeps ca
nary, acquires no small knowledge of natural
history by the necessary observation of their
habits and wants, for without her care they
must perish. The schcol-boy who iHvolunta-
rliy notes many phenomena of nature in the
world around him, naturally becomes better, if
not brighter than he who neglects them For.
as has been well said, "the fonder he is of the
fields, the woods, and the riverside, the less
likely is he to succumb to base vices and yul-
gar temptations; that he acquires the power
of observation, the habit of self-reliance. and
all the other qualities which will stand him in
good stead when he enters the larger academy
of the world. What is needed is simply thai
his instincts should be disciplined and euided
and Nature herself will do the rest of his school,
mgr while the grown man who walks the will
deIness of this world will find the true path.
and pursue it with intelligent faith, in propor-
ton as he has been to know the ground he
traverses, and the laws by which Eternal Wis
dom has elected TO govern it. Let US, by all
means, follow Carlyles advice and make Natu-
raj History leading study in all schools, pub
lie or private-provided that, when we do SO,
we agree to dispense with numerous dry and
useless studies which are of no use, except to
those intended for particular pursuits OF pro-
fessions.-[Phila Press.