his education, without being once taught that there is an external world, the work of an intelligent and wise God, who has provided for the wants of man in all directions, and surrounded him with so thousandfold evidence of His goodness and power?. The lower animals are particularly suited to this elementary instruction, for the very reason that they are so numerous, and occur in so great plenty everywhere, and may be picked up in all seasons, and preserved with the greatest care, and be kept, without occupying much space. Aided by his pupils, making occasional walks with them during the pleasant season, every teacher may, in a short time, have, gathered in his school-room, a valuable collection, to illustrate the Natural History of the country where he lives, and not only make himself in that way more useful to his class, but even contribute to the advancement of Science, by collecting a great variety of objects which usually escape the attention of those who are not permanent residents in that district.

There is, no doubt, a particular charm in the study of animals, in the investigation of their mode of living, and habits. The greater facility we have of understanding them, for the very reason that they in some degree partake of the same nature with ourselves, will, at all times, make them the most appropriate objects of elementary instruction in Natural History. Nevertheless, the study of plants should not be neglected; and there are many topics which might, with as much propriety, be introduced early, and be made very interesting, even to children. Why is it, for instance, that in the first springs of their life, their attention is not called to the growth of plants, and the wonderful renewal of their verdant covering, which spreads over the whole surface of our globe? Why are they not prepared for such a sight during the winter? Why are the leafless trees not pointed out to them at an age when they can hardly remember to have seen them in their full foliage, covered with blossoms, or hanging with fruit? If that was done, how they would be amazed to see the change going on, and for months to witness the opening of buds, the growth of leaves, the formation of flowers, their short duration, the succession of fruit-buds, and finally the growth and ripening of fruit. It requires no knowledge of Botany to teach such things; it only requires a sense for the beauties of Nature, and a mind unwilling to shut one's eyes to the most wonderful phenomena in Nature. Let, then, towards the fall, the changes again be witnessed; let the change in the color of leaves be watched; let their fall be noticed; let it be known that after this brilliant exhibition of life for plants live, though they live in a different way from animals-that, though most plants lose all their lively appearances during winter, they are not dead, but only asleep, like so many animals that

spend the winter in torpor, motionless, buried under the ground. Let it be known that, in these respects, different parts of the world do not present the same phenomena; that there are countries so far remote towards the poles that an almost perpetual winter prevails there, and that few plants grow during their few summer days; let it be known that there are other countries over which a perpetual spring and summer prevail, and thus introduce the first elements for the study of physical geography; let it be said, at the same time, that animals also vary in different countries, and that a more extensive acquaintance with all the inhabitants of our globe, shows a wonderful adaptation of the different tribes to the zones in which they live. But from such a general survey, we turn to look more minutely into the peculiarities exhibited by the different plants. How instructive and interesting must it not be for a child, to see that every plant has peculiarly formed leaves! Let one day be devoted to this subject; and a bundle of boughs of different trees and other plants be gathered and shown; compare the leaves of the various Oaks with those of the Maples, of the Poplars, or with those of the Ash, or the Rose-bush, and what beautiful diversity of forms will be displayed! What elegant outlines will be found among them! Let then the children try to draw these forms upon the slate, to fix more precisely in their memory this diversity, which cannot fail to impress them most vividly; and they will not only have learned all these facts, but they will attempt to draw them for themselves, whenever they can lay their hands upon a pencil, or a slip of paper. The imitative disposition of this age is so great, that it would be more difficult to prevent a child from going on by himself in this sort of amusement, than to induce him to take up other studies. Let another day be devoted to the investigation of some flower, and select for that purpose, in the beginning, the larger ones, such as a Tulip, or a Rose. Let the flowers of different plants be compared, the differences pointed out, the resemblances shown; for instance, the flower of Apple and Pear trees, and the flower of Roses and Strawberries; and a child will soon know, what it has cost Botanists so many centuries to learn, that plants, apparently the most different in their aspect, may have flowers of the same structure; for Strawberries, Rose-bushes and Apple trees, belong to one and the same class. Let, again, a Tulip be compared with a Lily, or a Hyacinth, or with the flower of an Onion; and here, again, the resemblance will be very striking, and the close relationship between these latter flowers will appear as obvious, as that between the former. It will then also be seen that those plants which have only one sort of leaves in their flower, equally colored, as the Lily and Tulip, have leaves of an entirely different structure, with nervules running all in the same straight direction, while those flowers in

which there are external green leaves, and colored ones within, as the Rose, the Apple, and the Strawberry, have a strong middle rib in their leaf, from which other ribs branch, at various angles, and combine in various ways into a network. Let, afterwards, these comparisons be traced in plants with smaller, and less conspicuous flowers, and the great contrast with the former will soon take hold of the imagination of our young students, and transform them early into careful observers. They will be struck with the fact that the Oak, though a large tree, has very minute and very imperfect flowers, while so many small plants are adorned with the most beautiful flowers which exist among vegetables. They will thus learn that the size of a plant does not indicate its superiority in the vegetable kingdom, but that it must be known by its flowers and fruits. If attention is further called to Mosses, Lichens, and Seaweeds, still other structures, still other forms will become known, not the less interesting for being simpler, not less attractive for being more humble, not less worthy of our attention for producing neither flowers nor fruits. After such an illustration of the vegetable kingdom, it should be shown how easily plants can be preserved, how they may be dried between the leaves of a book, and how, with some care, part of their beauty, and, at least, all their distinct characters can be preserved; and, within a few quires of paper, every boy and girl may have a nearly complete collection of the plants growing within many miles around their house. And, no doubt, if he shows so much interest for plants as to be willing to take the trouble of preserving them, he will occasionally meet with some Botanist willing to give him the names of all his plants, anxious to impart to others the knowledge for which a desire is shown in such a way.

It were almost useless to add, that an acquaintance with plants at large, is the best preparation for the farmer to improve upon his agricultural pursuits, to introduce in his fields new varieties of seeds, of grasses, of vegetables of all kinds; to stock his nursery with new varieties of fruits, and adorn his garden with new kinds of ornamental flowers. For my own part, I should consider myself highly rewarded, should it be found after half a century, that a number of intelligent men have been benefited through life by the knowledge they had acquired in Natural History, in consequence of these suggestions to introduce this study. throughout our schools as a fundamental branch of elementary education.

But this is not yet the end of the topics which can be usefully introduced as an elementary branch of instruction. The Mineral Kingdom has its treasures worth knowing, and even setting aside the strong inducements there are for our improvement in practical life, and in comforts of every kind, in taking

advantage of the large amount of wealth, of the inexhaustible resources buried under the surface of our globe in the form of mineral coal, of various metals, of precious stones, if we consider only the rough materials of which solid parts of our earth are built up, I ask, should not every intelligent inhabitant of this globe know what are the rocks which form our mountains, what is the solid foundation of our oceans, what are the various materials which constitute the soil upon which we live? The knowledge of these things is so easily acquired, that children might be made familiar with these objects as early as they are with the A B C. And I have no doubt they would be as willing to receive that sort of instruction. But here, again, I foresee an objection which might appear insuperable: "Can we expect," it will be asked, "that all our teachers should be Geologists? That they should all be Mineralogists? That they should all be ready to explain the true structure of our globe?" No such thing is expected in this plan of instruction, but simply a desire among them to learn something about these matters, while communicating the next day what they have learned the day before. Every stone-cutter knows what stones he works; and a fragment, broken from his load, while he is driving his wagon along the street, with some occasional questions about the use of such stones, will be a sufficient preparation for a teacher to lay before his class such a fragment, and repeat what he has learned himself an hour before from a common workman. He will be able to express in words, the differences he notices between granite and slate; between limestone and sandstone; between puddingstone and clay. He will find that some of these rocks form layers, while others occur in large masses; that some consist of a uniform paste, while others are composed of heterogeneous ingredients; that these heterogeneous ingredients are regularly crystallized in the granite, but are rolled-up particles, cemented together in sandstone and pudding-stone; and will thus soon prepare to work up for himself a natural classification of rocks, as valuable as the methodical arrangements which we find in most of our books. He will, perhaps, occasionally pick up some Fossil found between these layers, an impression of a plant, some shells; by chance, a bone, or some other thing, which he will not be able to recognize, but which he may just as well show as a curiosity, until he himself learns more about it, and until he finds opportunity to notice the subject again with improved information. He may even go so far as to call attention to the arrangement of these rocks in Nature, if he happens to have in his vicinity large quarries where rocks of different kinds are brought into connection, in order to show how massive rocks have displaced, upheaved, and contorted those, which, from their structure, and their position, may be supposed to have been deposited in horizontal layers, and so on.

But even should this not be attained, how much of interesting detail may be introduced respecting the different minerals, their regular crystallization, their mathematical forms, their angles, edges, surfaces, their weight; contrasting the metals with earthy minerals, showing their peculiar colors, their taste, &c., or contrasting, for instance, crystals of salt, of alum, with those of quartz, and so on.

Again, taking a wider range, how easily he may show that these substances change their appearance under different circumstances; how some, which are hard and solid at the usual temperature, may be melted if great heat be applied to them, as metals; or volatilized, as sulphur; how others may become hard and solid under the influence of intense cold, which are liquid under ordinary circumstances, such as quicksilver, or water, which crystallizes into ice; how again water may be changed by heat into steam; and thus he may introduce those differences which we notice between the solid, and liquid, and airlike substances which form the mass of our globe, or surround it as an ocean, or envelop it as an atmosphere. Then speaking of the phenomena occurring in the water, notice the subject of tides, of currents, of rivers, of clouds, the formation of rain and snow, of storms, winds, tornadoes, indeed the whole range of Meteorology in connection with the constitution of our atmosphere and the crust of our earth. It will easily be seen how upon such a foundation still further instruction in Natural philosophy can be acquired and carried, almost without end, into the special phenomena to which heat, electricity, light &c., give rise in this world.

It does not matter in what order these subjects are introduced. It will depend upon the previous knowledge of the teacher, whether he finds it easier to begin with the Natural History of Animals and Plants, or with that of the Minerals, whether Chemistry or Natural Philosophy be more familiar to him than Meteorology or Geology, or even whether he fancies one of the subjects more than the others; but an intelligent teacher should aim at introducing, early, all the subjects in succession within certain limits, in order that the minds of children may early be impressed with the great diversity of things which exist in the world, and which man is capable of knowing and understanding. Collections should be made to illustrate these subjects as extensively as the means and opportunities will allow, and if possible no chance of getting information from good sources should be lost. There is no saying what would be the change in the welfare of a nation, if all citizens were to partake of such an extensive elementary instruction, how much more rapid improvements in useful arts might be made, and how important discoveries would follow in the purer sphere of science. Our school system is yet untrammelled by routine, unprejudiced by habits. Let the com