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 LIBERAL EDUCATION. 
 
 1 
 
 
 AN 
 
 
 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 
 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 
 
 
 PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY^ 
 
 
 
 
 OP 
 
 
 
 
 HARVARD COLLEGE, 
 
 
 
 
 JULY 22, 1858. 
 BY 
 
 REV. THOMAS HILL, 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 OF WALTHAM. 
 
 
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 CAMBRIDaE: 
 
 
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 PUBLISHED BY JOHN BARTLETT. 
 
 
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LIBEKAL EDUCATION. 
 
 AN 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY 
 
 HARVARD COLLEGE, 
 
 JULY 22, 185 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. THOMAS HILL, 
 
 OF WALTHAM. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JOHN BARTLETT. 
 
 1858. 
 

 CAMBRIDGE : 
 ALLEN AND FAKNHAM, PEINTEES. 
 
 NEW YORK PUBL. LIBR, 
 IN EXCHANQB. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Brethren of the Phi Beta Kappa Society ; Ladies and Gen- 
 tlemen tuho have honored ns with your presence : — 
 
 The motto of our society, and the avowed objects for 
 which it was instituted, must be my apology for the 
 seeming abruptness of entering, without any prefatory 
 remarks, upon the subject to which I intend to invite 
 your attention. The "promotion of a sound literature" 
 depends, in a large measure, upon the promotion of a 
 sound education. The natural tastes of a young student 
 are so much modified and so unequally cultivated in 
 the course of his preliminary and collegiate education, 
 that his choice of a special pursuit is frequently deter- 
 mined more by his culture than by natural attraction ; 
 and his proficiency in the chosen pursuit is also largely 
 affected by the character of his preliminary study. 
 
 To what more important and more interesting ques- 
 tion, therefore, could I invite your attention than to 
 this : What principles should guide us in the selection 
 
and arrangement of studies in the academic course, — 
 that is, in the whole course previous to the student's 
 entering upon the particular special pursuits to which 
 his tastes or his choice of a . profession will finally lead 
 him ? 
 
 What branches are essential, and which are not 
 essential ? How far should the essential branches be 
 carried? How far should non-essential branches be 
 permitted to occupy the student's time ? What powers 
 of the mind most need education? How shall it be 
 given them? What princijoles should guide us — this 
 is the discussion to which I invite your attention — 
 what principles should guide us in deciding these 
 various points ? 
 
 I do not propose to discuss this subject as a question 
 of policy for our own Alma Mater, nor with reference 
 to the success of the student in after-life ; but, so far as 
 my powers may suffice, in the broad light of duty, — 
 of the relations of the soul to the universe and to its 
 Maker. 
 
 The principles which should regulate the course of 
 collegiate study may evidently be reached by three in- 
 dependent lines of approach, and the identity of the 
 results attained by these three independent methods 
 would be a sufficient proof of their correctness. 
 
 We might first survey the literature, arts, and science 
 of the historic races, and from the various success of 
 their attempts at liberal culture, compared with the 
 various modes in which they attempted it, draw our 
 
conclusions as to the wisdom of these modes, and the 
 soundness or unsoundness of the principles on which 
 they were founded. Or we might, in the second place, 
 observe the course of Divine Providence in its dealing 
 with us, the children and scholars of the heavenly 
 teacher, and draw from the studies and discipline of the 
 school of life, the principles which should govern the 
 schools of men. 
 
 Either of these modes of inquiry will lead to the 
 same results as those which may be obtained from a 
 survey of the powers of the human mind and of the 
 objects on which those powers can be exercised. * 
 
 The passive powers of the human soul may be divided 
 with sufficient accuracy for the purposes of the present 
 discussion into three groups : sensational, emotional, and 
 intellectual. I have named these groups in the order 
 of their connection with, and dependence upon, the 
 physical frame and the material world. All these are in 
 various degrees under the control of the active power, 
 that is of the will, and all are conjointly employed in 
 nearly every ordinary act of life. A perfectly trained 
 man must therefore have all his powers cultivated. 
 They are all capable of improvement through proper 
 education, and the culture of any one set of powers 
 will, of necessity, in some measure improve the rest. 
 A scholar should cultivate even the powers of simple 
 sense ; for without accurate perception and delicacy of 
 muscular action, there can be no high executive power 
 in the arts, and no great attainment in the sciences of 
 
 1* 
 
6 
 
 observation. That the intellectual powers need a care- 
 ful training is conceded by all men. The emotional 
 powers stand in no less need of culture, without which 
 both morals and art (which are the expressions of the 
 higher emotions, the one in life, the other in artistic 
 work) must suffer. Most of all does the will need self- 
 imposed restraints, or rather need to subject itself volun- 
 tarily to the discipline which the Father has appointed. 
 Eeligion is the education of the will, to teach it to sub- 
 mit to the laws of reason and of duty. 
 
 And since there can be no perception through simple 
 ■ sense without intellectual effort ; no emotion with- 
 out consciousness, more or less distinct (and conscious- 
 ness is thought) ; and, finally, no volition without 
 motive, either based on judgment or emotion ; it is 
 manifest that a full enumeration of the objects of 
 human thought will include all the objects that can 
 influence the culture of the man. Nor do I consider it 
 necessary in our rapid review of the objects on which 
 the human powers can be exercised, to do more than to 
 attempt a rough classification of things actually in ex- 
 istence, and concerning which we may attain to more 
 or less of knowledge. 
 
 I am accustomed to regard the hierarchy of sciences 
 as composed essentially of five different grades, accord- 
 ing as the sciences deal with one or another of the five 
 series of existing things. For the universe, so far as it 
 can be the object of our knowledge, consists of only 
 these five portions : first, the Infinite Spirit, the Supreme 
 
Will at the head of all ; secondly, men, the finite spirits, 
 the limited wills ; thirdly, the acts of these finite crea- 
 tures; fourthly, the actions of the Infinite Being, be- 
 side those included in the formation and guidance of 
 our spirits ; fifthly, and finally, the field and space^oL 
 time wherein these works are wrought. Thus ll would 
 include all possible sciences under these five heads: 
 Theology, which refers to the Divine Being; Psychology, 
 using that word to include all that belongs to the human 
 powers of thought, feeling, or perception ; History, ex- 
 tending the signification of the term to include all the 
 thoughts and achievements of men ; Natural History, in 
 which I place also the chemical and the mechanical 
 sciences ; and, fifthly, Mathematics, ( I shall, during the 
 remainder of the time which your indulgence may 
 grant me to-day, use the words history and natural his- 
 tory in these extended senses. ) ~^ 
 
 I am aware that there may be some difficulty in de- 
 ciding to which of these five divisions some of the special 
 sciences belong, and we may be tempted to say that 
 they belong to several at once, or that they are not in- 
 cluded in any of the divisions. But I believe never- 
 theless that this primary classification will stand a close 
 examination, and that the whole range of the objects 
 of scientific study is included in, and divided between, 
 theology, psychology, history, natural history, and 
 mathematics. 
 
 And these five departments are so connected that 
 one continually leads to the other, and cannot naturally 
 
be taught without the other. They naturally follow 
 each other in the inverse order to that in which I have 
 named them, and it is absolutely impossible to know 
 any thing of theology unless we first know something 
 of psychology ; any thing of psychology without some 
 previous knowledge of history ; any thing of history 
 without some slight acquaintance with natural history ; 
 any thing of natural history without some previous idea 
 of number and form, that is of mathematical truth- 
 This order is observed even in the first hours of an in- 
 fant's life, and no man can watch the development of 
 his own child's mind, with any degree of care, without 
 perceiving the folly of attempting to teach a child any 
 thing pertaining to any one of these branches of knowl- 
 edge without previously teaching him the correspond- 
 ing truths in the lower branches. All knowledge is 
 built upon a double basis of consciousness and percep- 
 tion ; and the five great divisions of the hierarchy of 
 science are arranged in exact proportion to the relative 
 importance of the two bases in each branch. That is 
 to say, in mathematics we rest chiefly on observation 
 and perception, very slightly on consciousness ; in the- 
 ology we rest chiefly on consciousness, very slightly on 
 observation ; and, of the other three sciences, natural 
 history most closely resembles mathematics in this 
 respect, while psychology most nearly resembles the- 
 ology. 
 
 The powers of the child are developed in this same 
 order. At first he is a being of sensation and simple 
 
9 
 
 emotion, with but feeble thought and feeble will ; but if 
 he comes to the stature of perfect manhood, he becomes 
 a being of unconquerable will, of comprehensive intel- 
 lect, while the emotions are no more intense than in 
 youth, and the sensations perhaps not so vivid. This 
 order of development in the child's powers indicates the 
 propriety of cultivating them in the same order ; first 
 taking the studies most dependent on perception, and 
 least on consciousness, and leaving a thorough examina- 
 tion of metaphysical questions for the adult powers. 
 Now, geometry is least dependent on consciousness ; it 
 deals with space, which Vv^e conceive of as wholly dis- 
 connected with our own spirits. The physical sciences, 
 whether organic or inorganic, require a maturer con- 
 sciousness that can turn inward and compare that which 
 is written in the mind, the sense of efficiency, the love 
 of harmony, etc., with that which is seen without, the 
 action of the Divine will and Divine purpose. Physics 
 are therefore fitted for riper minds than those to whom 
 geometry appeals. In like manner history requires a 
 more constant interpretation from consciousness, than is 
 required by physics ; and psychology, more than is de- 
 manded by history. 
 
 Every mode, indeed, in which I have viewed the sub- 
 ject, brings me to the same conclusion, that the mathe- 
 matics are the preliminary studies ; that they should be 
 followed first by natural history, then by history, and 
 finally by psychology and theology. I do not of course 
 mean that the child is to receive no religious instruction, 
 
 ^ 
 
10 
 
 until he has mastered all that is known on the other 
 subjects ; for I have already said that the powers of the 
 soul are developed somewhat simultaneously. The 
 order of succession which I have named applies particu- 
 larly to the periods of their attaining maturity. What 
 I do intend to say iS;, that these five branches of studies 
 should, in every stage of common or liberal education, 
 keep proportionate pace with each other ; that the 
 parent or teacher should watch the development of the 
 child's mind and character, giving it the higher truth so 
 soon as it is prepared for it ; but remembering that one 
 necessary part of the preparation is, the study of the 
 lower truths. 
 
 And yet what has been the usual practice, even to the 
 present time ? The study of natural history, which in 
 a true education naturally lies between mathematics 
 and history, is almost wholly neglected, and men have 
 gone to the pursuits of art, literature, law, divinity, and 
 even medicine, without any proper knowledge, even 
 the most elementary, of mechanics, chemistry, botany, 
 or zoology. Their culture has lacked the natural and 
 necessary basis ; their sj)eculations have been vague 
 and fanciful, their reasoning specious and unsound, and 
 their practice shallow and empirical. The evil, it will 
 be perceived, lies further back in education than in our 
 colleges ; it commences in our nurseries and in our 
 primary schools. The mother, and the teacher, not 
 having themselves been taught to look upon the world 
 of matter with an intelligent eye, as upon the means 
 
11 
 
 which God himself has furnished for the instruction of 
 children and of men, confine themselves in mathemat- 
 ics to the abstractions of arithmetic, leap over all nat- 
 ural history, to put the child upon the historical 
 branches of spelling and grammar ; or if they teach 
 geography, they omit the physical and astronomical 
 treatment, and confine themselves to politics and statis- 
 tics. What wonder that the child thus educated should 
 learn to despise the insect and the flower ; and, being 
 ignorant of the divine wisdom of that Word which has 
 created all things in number, weight, and measure, and 
 filled all things with beauty, should grow wise in its 
 own conceit, and find its pleasures in follies of its own 
 devising ? Perhaps a judicious selection of studies in 
 preparation for college, or in the curriculum there, 
 might do much to repair the evil ; but the selection for 
 this collegiate education has usually been confined to 
 mathematics and to the single historical department of 
 philology. A knowledge of the Greek and Latin lan- 
 guages, and of the conic sections, with the unavoidable 
 growth of the mind in all directions, produced inci- 
 dentally in acquiring this knowledge, have been gen- 
 erally considered the principal results to be desired 
 from education. There are not wanting, even at the 
 present day, men to maintain that the study of the 
 Greek and Latin classics comprises in itself more valu- 
 able discipline for the mind, and more valuable food for 
 thought, than is to be found in all the pursuits of nat- 
 ural science. But this opinion can be sustained neither 
 
12 
 
 from experience nor from the nature of things. The 
 five great branches of the hierarchy are all essential to 
 a complete education. The Greek and Latin classics, 
 however thoroughly studied, give us nothing of natu- 
 ral history, or almost nothing. The education which is 
 founded exclusively upon them must, therefore, how- 
 ever excellent in its superstructure, be defective in its 
 foundations. 
 
 Nor should those who hold in high reverence the 
 masters of Grecian thought, be unwilling that the at- 
 tention of the student be directed in a large measure 
 to the study of natural philosophy. The culture of 
 the Greeks was distinguished from that of all other of 
 the ancient nations, by its breadth and variety. The 
 germs of most of the modern sciences are to be found 
 in its literature. Not one of the great divisions of the 
 hierarchy was neglected. In mathematics they pur- 
 sued geometry to a height to which few of modern 
 students can follow them. In natural history, they 
 have given us mechanicians like Archimedes, and nat- 
 uralists like Aristotle. In history, I need but mention 
 Herodotus and Thucydides, and taking history in the 
 wider sense which I have given it, the great proficiency 
 of the Greeks in logic, grammar, rhetoric, sculpture, 
 painting, and music. In psychology, we have a Plato 
 and a Socrates, as the highest examples of a type of 
 mind not unfrequent in the Grecian State ; and, if we 
 can show nothing worthy of high respect in their theo- 
 logical speculations, it is not from their want of ability 
 
13 
 
 or of attention to the subject, but simply because no 
 human intellect can treat that theme worthily, until it 
 has placed itself under the guidance of inspired teach- 
 ers. Nor did the individual masters of Greece confine 
 their attention to a single study. Their sculpture 
 bears witness, that they united a knowledge of anat- 
 omy and of mathematics to a love of that art. In 
 architecture they combined the art of sculpture with 
 the application of still more subtile mathematical and 
 optical investigations. And some of their greatest 
 scholars attained eminence and honor in nearly all of 
 the great departments of thought. 
 
 He, therefore, that has imbibed the true spirit of 
 Grecian culture, must be led to honor all the pursuits 
 of the human mind, and to seek for truth in every 
 direction. That man does not so truly reverence Plato, 
 who spends his days in a critical investigation of Plato's 
 words, as he who is led, by a single reading of those 
 eloquent pages, to devote himself with that great mas- 
 ter to the pursuit of the good, the beautiful, and the 
 true, — who is stimulated by Plato's metaphysics to 
 speculate with Hamilton of Edinburgh, or by Plato's 
 geometry, to labor with Hamilton of Dublin. The 
 schoolmen of the middle ages, settling all questions by 
 an appeal to Aristotle, did not honor that great edu- 
 cator, naturalist, and logician, so highly as those who, 
 in imitation of his industry and docility, inquire of 
 nature for the secrets intrusted to her for the benefit 
 of the wise, or endeavor to extend and perfect the 
 
 2 
 
14 
 
 grammatical, logical, and rhetorical sciences for which 
 Aristotle laid so secure and so broad a foundation. 
 
 That an undue estimate of the value of Greek and 
 Latin should have been made in the sixteenth century 
 is by no means surprising. The culture of Europe had 
 for a long time been very narrow, almost entirely ex- 
 cluding physical inquiries. When the importance of 
 physics and natural history first began to be felt, the 
 happy change was in great measure due to the influ- 
 ence of Greek authors, through the medium of Arabic 
 translations, sometimes a second time translated from 
 the Arabic into some other tongue. The Greek litera- 
 ture appeared thus to be the California from which 
 these precious treasures of science came, and the Latin 
 language was at that day the easiest mode of approach- 
 ing the . Greek. Thus the knowledge of these two 
 tongues was a key to all the learning of that period. 
 But those languages hold now a very different place. 
 There is not a single department of human thought in 
 which modern nations have not surpassed the achieve- 
 ments, — I do not say the ability, — but the achieve- 
 ments of the ancient Greeks ; new sciences have within 
 the past century sprung into existence, and attained a 
 rank of the highest importance, the germs of which 
 were in Aristotle's day scarcely visible. New applica- 
 tions of science to the useful and to the fine arts have 
 changed the whole aspect of civilized society. The 
 scholar of the present day is to labor with and for a 
 people whose whole mode of life and mode of thought 
 
15 
 
 is different from that of the people of a hundred years 
 ago. Shall the training which prepares him for his 
 work be the same as that of a hundred years ago ? As 
 the course of events in the world's history runs on, and 
 more important changes are developed in the state of 
 human society, can it be expected that all those who 
 desire a liberal culture for themselves or for their 
 children, should be still satisfied with a course of in- 
 struction, that devotes a principal part of the student's 
 time to a critical investigation of the structure of the 
 dead languages ? 
 
 I acknowledge the great importance of philological 
 investigation. Language is one of the noblest of the 
 works of men ; it constitutes in its own structure the 
 most complete record of human thought, and of the de- 
 velopment of human character. The study of language 
 is, therefore, the most essential department in that third 
 great branch of the hierarchy of science to which I 
 have applied the title history. .Without a proper study 
 of language, it is impossible that the student should 
 make any progress in the higher branches of political 
 economy, metaphysics, ethics, and religion. But the 
 most valuable part of the study of words does not con- 
 sist in acquiring that intimate familiarity with any one 
 foreign language which will enable one to write or 
 speak it, nor does it consist solely in the intellectual 
 exercise of learning to read it, and in the intellectual 
 vigor thereby produced. It consists rather in rising, by 
 the study of particular examples, to a perception of 
 
16 
 
 some of those general laws of thought, and laws of ar- 
 ticulation, which govern, the first the syntax, rhetoric, 
 and logic, the second the etymology, of all languages. 
 For the purpose of attaining these general views, a 
 moderate acquaintance with four or five languages 
 is better than a thorough acquaintance with one or 
 two. With larger views in the teacher, more benefit 
 may be derived from a short course of study, than from 
 a protracted drill under a teacher of microscopic views. 
 I am assuming, you perceive, that the attainment of 
 knowledge itself is one of the objects at which the 
 student should aim. I am aware that it has been said 
 the true end of liberal culture is the perfection of the 
 student. It is said, that, in the university proper, the 
 student is to be considered as the end in himself I 
 have no objection to these statements provided they 
 refer to what should be the aim of the instructors and 
 of those who prescribe the studies. But when a man 
 proceeds tacitly to Assume that the student himself 
 should look upon knowledge as valuable only as it ex- 
 ercises, and by exercise develops and invigorates the 
 mind, I most earnestly protest against the assumption. 
 The motive from which a course of action is ordered, 
 and that motive from which the action is performed, 
 are seldom rightfully the same. Self culture, proposed 
 as an end in itself, is only a refined selfishness, and, like 
 all other forms of selfishness, a self-destroying absurdity. 
 The highest culture is unattainable by one who seeks 
 it as self-culture : it is to be obtained only by the soul 
 
17 
 
 that looks away from itself, and seeks out of itself for 
 the good, the beautiful, and the true. Equally false is 
 a second tacit assumption, that the only powers of the 
 mind which need the development of a liberal culture 
 are those of reasoning. Proceeding on this assumption, 
 various writers have issued special pleas for various 
 branches of learning as deserving of the most prom- 
 inent place in an academical curriculum. One has ar- 
 gued in behalf of the mathematics, that they offer the 
 finest specimens of connected trains of reasoning, and 
 afford the finest gymnasium for the powers of consecu- 
 tive thought. Another has called our attention to the 
 conceded fact, that these sciences reason only of one 
 kind of relation, that of quantity, and therefore are a 
 less valuable intellectual exercise than metaphysical and 
 moral philosophy, which deals with all things. A third 
 party claim for the Latin and Greek tongues the merit 
 of giving the most varied and constant exercise to the 
 judgment and ingenuity of the student. A tournament 
 in which such giants as the Master of Trinity College and 
 the Edinburgh Professor of Logic meet, is beyond contro- 
 versy a grand and entertaining spectacle. But to at least 
 one observer of that contest, it appears that both cham- 
 pions were contending for error, since it was assumed 
 on both sides that the discipline of the logical powers 
 was the chief end of liberal education. All the powers 
 of the soul are essential to a perfect soul as much as all 
 the members of the body are essential to a perfect body. 
 It only needs to assert this doctrine to have it command 
 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 assent. Even the senses, the power of receiving im- 
 pressions from the outward world, are to be held wor- 
 thy of honor and of cultivation, since they are incon- 
 trovertibly powers of the soul. 
 
 Those who assert that speculative knowledge is of 
 value only as it excites to speculation, and that truth 
 is of value only as it leads a man to search after truth, 
 must be considered as speaking in hyperbole. As dis- 
 tinctly as consciousness gives us the assurance of the 
 existence of objective truth, so distinctly does the in- 
 stinctive thirst for truth assure us that its possession is 
 a positive good in itself Without the faith that knowl- 
 edge is a positive good, we could not embark upon the 
 search for knowledge. Truth is not only to be sought, 
 but to be gained. Truth is the prize held up before 
 those who wrestle with difficulties and obstructions to 
 obtain it, and if we consider it worthless in itself we 
 cannot strive for it. Care must therefore be taken lest, 
 while setting forth strongly the value of discipline and 
 exercise to the student's mind, we take from him the 
 principal stimulus which can prompt him to that exer- 
 cise. 
 
 Sir William Hamilton's glorious plea in behalf of 
 metaphysics, and his amusingly earnest depreciation of 
 physics and mathematics as means of liberal culture, 
 are therefore neither of them satisfactory, in so far as 
 they assume intellectual gymnastics to be the only end 
 of education j and it would be easy to show by extracts 
 from his own writings, that, in his sober judgment, he 
 
19 
 
 would take a much wider view of a generous education 
 than that which, in the warmth of controversy, he has 
 set forth in writing. 
 
 If truth is to he sought it must be with the hope of 
 attaining it. And if the knowledge of truth is de- 
 clared by our instinctive appetite to be a good, there 
 is no kind of truth, which can be pronounced useless. 
 A selection is doubtless to be made, since no one mind 
 can learn all things, but that selection should not con- 
 sist in choosing objects so much as in determining the 
 amount to which each is to be studied. We instinc- 
 tively accord homage to a man of general information. 
 Liberal culture consists in the study of every thing 
 true, the pursuit of every thing beautiful and good. 
 It will not answer to neglect and exclude a branch 
 because it affords but a slight gymnastic to the rea- 
 son. It may afford an exercise for some other equally 
 valuable faculty of the soul. We are to assume that 
 whatever is true is worth knowing. The moment that 
 we cease to make our studies general and confine our- 
 selves to one branch, no matter how lofty, we become 
 specialists. The mere metaphysician, or philosopher, 
 may be as profoundly lacking in judgment and taste 
 as the mere mathematician, or the mere physicist. ^ 
 
 I am aware that in our own honored Alma Mater, 
 and in some other colleges, a change in the course of 
 instruction similar to that which I am now advocating 
 has already begun to take place, and that I may be 
 considered as taking on myself a superfluous task in 
 
20 
 
 defending the study of the natural sciences. But I 
 conceive that the changes ah^eady begun, have in most 
 instances been undertaken either too rashly, or else 
 too cautiously, and rather as concessions to the popu- 
 lar desire than in obedience to clear and cordial con- 
 victions of their utility. I have felt that the view 
 which now I have given of the constitution of the 
 great circle of sciences, vindicates the claim of physics 
 and natural history, which I have grouped together 
 under the latter term, to a prominent place in every 
 general course of instruction. It is not, as I conceive 
 it, a question of expediency, or a question of the 
 times, but a question of inherent necessity ; a ques- 
 tion of absolute duty. There can be, in my view, no 
 true education that is not founded upon a knowledge 
 of the mathematics; a thorough cultivation of the 
 physical powers, including a discipline of the senses ; 
 and an acquaintance with the laws of the material 
 world, both organic and inorganic. This must be 
 followed, step by step as it proceeds, with the cultiva- 
 tion of the fine arts, with the analysis and use of lan- 
 guage, with the lessons of history, and their applica- 
 tion to the politics of our own day. And the whole 
 must be, from first to last, conducted under the guid- 
 ance of the highest Christian theology and Christian 
 morality. I cannot see that any other culture would 
 be liberal and broad for any people, of any age. In 
 this scheme of education the classics hold a subordi- 
 nate, but still a prominent and honorable place, in 
 
21 
 
 the great department of history, while the new sci- 
 ences of chemistry and its allied branches in all their 
 multiform applications, to both the useful and the fine 
 arts, must take an equally honorable place in the 
 great department of natural history. 
 
 The view which I have thus given has been wholly 
 with reference to the culture of the intellect, and 
 founded upon the hierarchy of the sciences, strictly 
 so called. I have already said that the same conclu- 
 sions might be reached through a different mode of 
 approach. The intellect is but one of those subordi- 
 nate powers, that, in a full developed man, serve the 
 behests of the will. Knowledge is not the only nor 
 even the highest good. Learning to know, however 
 much we may learn, and however great the truths we 
 may learn, gives us but a part of the soul's nourish- 
 ment. As the food of organized beings must be 
 varied, and a plant or an animal may be starved to 
 death if confined to any food rich in all things else, 
 yet lacking one essential element, so a soul may be 
 dwarfed and crippled in its growth even while daily 
 supplied with the richest spiritual treasures, if any 
 one essential element of spiritual life be withheld. A 
 man may be a perfect prodigy of learning, and know 
 all that the human mind can know, an intellectual 
 giant capable of grappling with any problem, and yet 
 be lacking in the highest elements of human nature ; 
 he may, for example, be lacking in that Divine energy 
 of love which gives a man power to do and to endure ; 
 
22 
 
 which enables a man to use his knowledge for the 
 benefit of his fellow-men. The mere acquisition of 
 knowledge, the mere strengthening of the intellectual 
 powers even to the understanding of every subject 
 that can be fathomed by the human mind, is but a 
 partial culture, and makes but a stinted and dwarfed 
 man unless it is accompanied by love, by that noble 
 enthusiasm which sees all truth as a part of the infi- 
 nite treasures of God, and while filled with adoring 
 wonder at the infinite wisdom of the Divine mind, 
 burns also with a longing to lead other men to share 
 with him in the holy joy. 
 
 I have spoken of the circle of sciences as though a 
 man could attain a knowledge of all the five great 
 branches of human thought ; but we are told on high 
 authority that if any one thinks he knows any thing, 
 he as yet knows nothing as one ought to know. For 
 w^e know only in part. The simplest truths that can 
 be grasped by the understanding have an infinite vari- 
 ety of relations, and open to boundless and unexplored 
 fields. He, therefore, who thinks that he knows any 
 thing perfectly, proves thereby that he does not know 
 it as one ought to know it ; that he does not perceive 
 its relations to the unfathomable truth. The whole 
 universe is a combination of thoughts and ideas, nu- 
 merous and diversified beyond our power to count, but 
 nevertheless bound together in one harmonious whole ; 
 the whole universe being in fiict but one thought of 
 the Divine mind. The human mind can never ex- 
 
23 
 
 haust its wondrous meaning. That which seems sim- 
 plest to us contains in reality an infinite depth of 
 God's thought, and it is only our ignorance or our 
 self-conceit that makes us suppose that we perfectly 
 understand it. The first point in true learning and 
 the last point are always the same ; namely, to learn 
 that there is something more to be learned. This is 
 the greatest value of learning, — to be made continu- 
 ally aware of the presence of something higher, some- 
 thing wider, something better, something more Divine, 
 to which we may aspire. 
 
 Now it appears to me self-evident that this highest 
 fruit of learning can be nowhere more surely gathered 
 than from the field of the natural sciences. That 
 which is abstract never appeals so vividly to our feel- 
 ings as that which is concrete. And while I would be 
 far from implying that education has power in itself 
 to regenerate a human spirit, I think it not inconsist- 
 ent with that written Word which has beyond contro- 
 versy been the most powerful of all visible agents in 
 redeeming the human race, to say that the study of 
 nature in its varied aspects is another of the most 
 effectual modes of calling out the better feelings of 
 the heart. When the abstract teachings of ethics and 
 theology have been forgotten, and long familiarity 
 with the customs of society has made the soul indiffer- 
 ent to all higher themes, nothing more frequently pen- 
 etrates to the inner seat of life and awakens those 
 better emotions which are the pride and glory of man- 
 
24 
 
 hood, than the presence of some natural object of un- 
 usual mterest or unusual beauty. The sight of a 
 flower, or the song of a bird, recalling the memory of 
 an innocent childhood, has frequently melted a heart 
 which would remain unmoved by the logic of an Ed- 
 wards or the fervor of a "Wesley. 
 
 In childhood the senses are open to the reception of 
 truth from the outward world. A child sees and hears 
 a thousand things that escape the observation of a 
 man. Train him in the usual mode of education and 
 he soon loses the habit of attending to outward things, 
 learns to tread upon the insect and to pass by the 
 flowers, to let the bird sing unnoticed, and the pebble 
 glitter untouched. But give him a true education, 
 including in his studies, as a prominent part, the ele- 
 ments of chemistry, botany, and zoology, and his eye 
 shall not become dim nor his ear dull of hearing ; in 
 manhood his heart will be open to the sweet influence 
 of the flowers, and to the grandeur of the starry heav- 
 ens; he will read the meaning of each singing bird, 
 and catch the true expression of the solemn tones of 
 the thunder. When the forest ocean surges under a 
 July breeze, and the clouds sail majestically through 
 the blue sky, they will fill his heart with emotions 
 unknown to one who despises these glorious works of 
 the Most High as being mere matter. I again ac- 
 knowledge that no course of education can be able to 
 redeem a fallen soul ; simple diet and exercise cannot, 
 at least in one generation, remove the taint of hered- 
 
25 
 
 itary disease. But what study can have a greater 
 effect in leading a student to a reverence for the pur- 
 poses of God, and for the laws of his own being, than 
 that of those natural sciences which are directly occu- 
 pied in investigating the thoughts, purposes, and ac- 
 tions of the supreme creative will ? And what studies 
 can put into the hands of one who truly desires to 
 serve his fellow-men, more valuable instruments to 
 serve them, than those natural sciences which, through 
 their application to the necessities of human life and 
 to the wants of human society, have so gloriously dis- 
 tinguished the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? 
 Far be it from me to disparage the value of artistic, 
 literary, metaphysical, and mathematical culture. I 
 am urging the claims of the natural sciences partly 
 because of the aid which an acquaintance with them 
 can give in the pursuit of all other branches of learn- 
 ing, and in the exercise of all branches of art. From 
 what source does the sculptor draw his inspiration, 
 and what enables him to make a " statue that enchants 
 the world ? " Or how does the painter give to a little 
 piece of canvas a value that endures for ages, and 
 makes every beholder rich ? These artists had their 
 sense of beauty cultivated by a reverent contempla- 
 tion of natural forms and natural colors, their artistic 
 * powers of execution guided by a careful study of anat- 
 omy, and of the laws of light and vision. What gives 
 the musical composer his power to control the hearts 
 of men ? His sensibilities have been cultivated by an 
 
 3 
 
26 
 
 attention to the music of nature, and his artistic power 
 guided by a knowledge of the laws of sound and of 
 hearing. What can give a greater charm to the pages 
 of literature and to the periods of the orator than 
 fresh odors from the woods and fields, and living fig- 
 ures from the wild creatures of his own country ? The 
 hills of New England would furnish to a thoroughly 
 trained New England orator, a honey of eloquence as 
 sweet as that of the Athenian Hymettus. Where shall 
 the metaphysician learn to correct the wandering of 
 his thoughts and to keep his feet firmly planted upon 
 the ground of common sense so surely as in the natu- 
 ral sciences, where alone his theological sjoeculations 
 are secured against both pantheistic and atheistic ten- 
 dencies, and where alone he can learn his true relation 
 to the wholly mortal races, and his real points of supe- 
 riority to them ? As for the mathematician, it is man- 
 ifest that he can find no problems for the exercise of 
 his powers in either of the branches of the hierarchy 
 above natural history. As he derives his first concep- 
 tions of figure and number from material things, so 
 most of the higher problems which are to engage his 
 attention in the coming centuries will be suggested by 
 an investigation of the forms and motions of the phys- 
 ical universe. The question of the organic forms has 
 scarcely yet been touched, and only the vaguest hints • 
 been given either in botany or zoology of the mode 
 by which we can approach the study of the number- 
 less varieties of natural figures. 
 
27 
 
 A practical inquiry may be made as to the extent to 
 which I should recommend the study of each one of 
 the natural sciences as a part of liberal culture. But 
 as this is not a fit occasion for entering into details, I 
 must content myself with answering, that if my views 
 of the hierarchy of sciences are correct, the natural 
 sciences should occupy in the general scheme of com- 
 mon education as prominent a place as the languages, 
 and for general purposes of culture should precede a 
 knowledge of other tongues. At the same time I 
 would freely admit, that uncultivated men, seeing the 
 great economical value of a knowledge of physical 
 laws, will be, in our age of the world, apt to overesti- 
 mate the value of natural science ; and it becomes men 
 of liberal culture to maintain also the value of classical 
 learning, of historical investigation, of metaphysical 
 analysis, of ethical and theological discussions. The 
 common-place truth, that difierent men have different 
 tastes and different powers, is, like every other com- 
 mon truth, a valuable guide in our higher inquiries. 
 We must no more expect by a course of education to 
 make all men naturalists, than to make all linguists, or 
 all mathematicians. One object in making our scheme 
 of common study thorough and comprehensive is, I 
 repeat it, to make men the better specialists ; and it 
 would be as great a mistake to underrate the value of 
 the mathematics, the languages, history, logic, or moral 
 philosophy, as it is to underrate the natural sciences. 
 If my plea in behalf of the latter study has any force 
 
28 
 
 or value, it arises from the connection of the five great 
 departments of thought as essential parts of one whole ; 
 and from the logical j)recedence in time in which these 
 studies should follow each other in a natural education. 
 I should as strenuously oppose the exclusion of the 
 Greek and Latin tongues from the general course of 
 instruction, as I should advocate the introduction of 
 natural philosophy, chemistry, botany, and geology. 
 History is an absolutely essential part of a liberal edu- 
 cation ; the study of language is the most essential part 
 of history (since language is the necessary vehicle for 
 conveying thought, and the history of thought is of 
 course more important than the history of action) ; 
 and, finally, the study of the Greek and Latin tongues 
 is the most important part of the study of languages, 
 because those tongues are, for many reasons, the most 
 important that have ever yet been spoken. The 
 Greeks, to whose authority I have appealed in behalf 
 of mathematics, physics, and metaphysics, as branches 
 of liberal culture, paid also much attention to gram- 
 mar, logic, and rhetoric ; and our education will be in- 
 ferior to theirs, if we, dazzled by the brilliant achieve- 
 ments of physics and mathematics in the nineteenth 
 century, should be led to neglect the study of our own 
 language, or of those tongues from which it draws its 
 elements of grace and subtilty. 
 
 The practical question, to what extent any branch 
 of science must be pursued, will dej)end for its solution 
 partly on the average age and capacity of the pupils. 
 
29 
 
 partly on the ability and tastes of the instructors who 
 can be readily obtained, and principally on the length 
 of time over which the course of studies is to be ex- 
 tended. The question is, theoretically, of easy solution. 
 Each department of science is to be pursued to pre- 
 cisely the extent required for a foundation of the suc- 
 ceeding branches in the same curriculum. The diffi- 
 culty will consist in determining what extent is thus 
 required, without allowing ourselves to be biased by 
 our individual tastes. 
 
 A second inquiry may be made as to the possibility of 
 introducing so many branches into a limited course. 
 It is maintained by some, that the increased breadth of 
 culture thus obtained, does not compensate for the nec- 
 essary lack of thoroughness, and that a change in our 
 general course of academic instruction such as I here 
 recommend, would render our scholars still more ob- 
 noxious than ever to that charge of superficiality 
 which is so often brought against them. I might reply 
 to this question of the possibility of studying all things, 
 by simply saying that I have demonstrated it to be 
 desirable, and that " whatsoever is desirable is possible, 
 and will one day become actual." If the succession of 
 the great departments of knowledge be such as I main- 
 tain it to be, the course of instruction which I have 
 marked out is necessary, and therefore possible. But I 
 believe that experience is already able to show that, in 
 a varied course of study, such as I here recommend, 
 the progress of the pupil is actually greater in each 
 
 3 * 
 
30 
 
 branch, tlian it would be if he had not pursued the 
 other studies. A change of occupation is a rest and 
 refreshment to the mind ; and when those occupations 
 are arranged in a natural order, the labor of taking 
 them up successively, and making a certain amount of 
 progress in each, is not at all proportioned to the num- 
 ber of pursuits. The objection to a want of thorough- 
 ness, which it is supposed might proceed from a multi- 
 plicity of studies, is based upon what I consider a mis- 
 understanding of the essentials to a thorough under- 
 standing of any science. I admit that thoroughness of 
 acquaintance with details, and familiarity with the mi- 
 nutiae of a subject, that is, the thoroughness of a spe- 
 cialist, is to be attained only by long continued and 
 patient investigation, necessarily consuming much time. 
 But a thorough acquaintance with principles, and w^ith 
 the main facts illustrating those principles, is far more 
 important in the culture of the soul, than any acquaint- 
 ance with detail ; and it may be acquired in much less 
 time. On the other hand, a firm grasp of fundamental 
 principles is very frequently not acquired by those who 
 have gained a thorough familiarity with all the details 
 of a subject. When a student has, in the academic 
 course, been thoroughly grounded, as he easily may be, 
 in the principles of all the principal sciences, he will be 
 much better prepared to turn his attention with advan- 
 tage to those sciences especially connected with his 
 professional studies. It is impossible for a man to keep 
 up through life a perfectly liberal culture ; we must all 
 
31 
 
 become specialists in that department to which natural 
 proclivity inclines ns : — 
 
 Trahlt sua quemque voluptas. 
 
 And each man will be the better qualified to labor, 
 in whatsoever department his work Kes, in proportion 
 to the breadth and depth of his acquaintance with all 
 other departments. 
 
 In order that our philosophy may be a safe guide of 
 our lives, it must be a sound and comprehensive sys- 
 tem, embracing all departments of our thought and 
 action, and misleading us in none. As the ages roll 
 onward, and the purposes of God with respect to our 
 human race become more apparent, we are amazed at 
 the greatness of the work which is intrusted to our 
 feeble hands. It becomes evident that a subdivision of 
 labor is necessary, and that each person must do that 
 part for which he is best fitted by the gifts of nature 
 and by the acquirements of education. But with the 
 advantage of this subdivision of labor may also come 
 the disadvantage of introducing a diversity of interests, 
 and an ahenation of sympathies among those who 
 should be brethren. Before a man gives himself up to 
 the special pursuits of his profession, let him so thor- 
 oughly understand the spirit and aim of other profes- 
 sions, as to be always in sympathy with all true minds. 
 It is partly from the neglect of natural history, in the 
 o-eneral course of liberal education, that men have 
 been so much occupied in wranghng about matters 
 
32 
 
 above their comprehension, while they have left un- 
 learned the plainest lessons in the school of life. It is 
 not from acquaintance with natural science, but from a 
 partial ignorance of it, — ignorance of its highest teach- 
 ings, — that some men have failed to see in natural 
 objects those religious truths which are the necessary 
 intellectual basis for understanding the plan of crea- 
 tion. Beyond question, the opposite fault, which, 
 under pretence of worshipj^ing the Father of our spir- 
 its, despises the bodies he has made, and speaks with 
 contempt of the vain pursuits of natural philosophy, 
 of studying stars and tides, matter and motion, arises 
 from an imperfect and erroneous culture. 
 
 The theme to which I have invited your attention 
 has wide relations to the future welfare of all nations 
 and all classes of society. It is not for man to add to 
 the original powers which the Almighty has bestowed 
 upon each of his creatures. Those who have expected 
 that education would transform all students alike into 
 men of talent, and even into men of genius, are 
 doomed to disappointment. But as surely as the pro- 
 ducts of the garden exceed the wild fruit of the forest, 
 so surely has our common scheme of education a pow- 
 erful influence over the general tone of human thought 
 and the general extent of human attainments. A par- 
 tial culture, omitting from the course of instruction 
 essential departments of the hierarchy of science, must 
 perpetuate narrowness of view and littleness of aim. 
 But let our general course of education in our common 
 
33 
 
 scliools and colleges be planned according to wide and 
 comprehensive views, giving a broad and liberal culture 
 to all our people, and there shall surely arise among us 
 men who will carry forward each branch of philosophy, 
 science, and art toward perfection, and who shall rejoice 
 not only at the rapid development of his chosen art or 
 science, but at the general success of his fellows. 
 When we reflect upon the mighty changes of the last 
 two centuries, produced in great measure by the in- 
 creasing attention to natural science, since the days of 
 Galileo and Gilbert, and by the introduction, through 
 the influence of Lord Bacon's educational writings, of 
 scientific themes among the speculations of the learned ; 
 when we see also that the rate of change, both in the 
 progress of science and of art, has, within the period of 
 our own observation, been rapidly accelerating, we can 
 hardly look forward with too lively a hope for the still 
 more splendid fruits which may spring from a better 
 cultivation of the human powers under this clearer 
 light, which seems so rapidly ajDproaching a noonday 
 brightness. But the noonday of science can never 
 arrive ; her light is to increase without end. The re- 
 sources of an absolutely infinite Spirit for the instruc- 
 tion and happiness of His creatures can never be ex- 
 hausted. It has been recently stated by a member of 
 our fraternity (of who§e correctness in calculation 
 there can be no doubt), that a single division of a sin- 
 gle department of one branch in the hierarchy of 
 science, contains an abundant occupation for the most 
 
34 
 
 powerful human intellect, for at least a hundred mil- 
 lions of years. If there is so much untilled land in a 
 single division of the single science of Geometry, it is 
 evident that no human mind can estimate how vast the 
 field of the whole encyclopedia ; nor weigh the irresist- 
 ible strength of the presumption thence arising, that 
 we are 
 
 Heirs of eternity, yborn to rise 
 
 Thro' endless states of being ; still more near 
 
 To bliss aj^proacbing and perfection clear. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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