tions are commonly undermined, and break down, long before their time. And if we call to mind how far the average duration of life falls below the possible duration, we see how immense is the loss. When, to the numerous partial deductions which bad health entails, we add this great final deduction, it results that, ordinarily, more than one-half of life is thrown away.

Hence, knowledge which subserves direct self-preservation by preventing this loss of health, is of primary importance. We do not contend that possession of such knowledge would by any means wholly remedy the evil. For it is clear that in our present phase of civilization men's necessities often compel them to transgress. And it is clear further that, even in the absence of such compulsion, their inclinations would frequently lead them, spite of their knowledge, to sacrifice future good to present gratification. But we do contend that the right knowledge impressed in the right way would effect much; and we further contend that as the laws of health must be recognized before they can be fully conformed to, the imparting of such knowledge must precede more rational living — come when that may. We infer that as vigorous health and its accompanying high spirits are larger elements of happiness than any other things whatever, the teaching how to maintain them is a teaching that yields in moment to no other whatever. And, therefore, we assert that such a course of physiology as is needful for the comprehension of its general truths, and their bearings on daily conduct, is an all-essential part of a rational education.

Strange that the assertion should need making! Stranger still that it should need defending! Yet there are not a few by whom such a proposition will be received with something approaching to derision. Men who would blush if caught saying Iphigénia instead of Iphigenía, or would resent as an insult any imputation of ignorance respecting the fabled labors of a fabled demi-god, show not the slightest shame in confessing that they do not know where the Eustachian tubes are, what are the actions of the spinal cord, what is the normal rate of pulsation, or how the lungs are inflated. While anxious that their sons should be well up in the superstitions of two thousand years ago, they care not that they should be taught anything about the structure and functions of

their own bodies nay, would even disapprove such instruction. So overwhelming is the influence of established routine! So terribly in our education does the ornamental override the useful! Herbert Spencer.

Few if any of us live entirely to ourselves; we may not therefore live entirely for ourselves. As long as we continue to be the sociable creatures we are and take pleasure in human companionship, so long shall we recognize that there are certain duties which we owe to others in addition to the duties which we owe to ourselves. And just in proportion as any man conceives of this altruistic duty as paramount to the egoistic one is he hailed as philanthropist, public benefactor, patriot, hero, martyr. To say that the selfish ambition to shine in these roles is in all cases the leading motive is to malign human nature, to make men out more selfish than some of the lower animals. These social duties are as a rule cheerfully performed and quite as often from instinct as from training and habit. They range from the unwritten laws of courtesy that are observed in our everyday intercourse to the codes which

bind together into one political and social organization entire communities and nations.

We recognize these duties and are in the main willing to fulfill them. And yet, as with so many other things, we sometimes fail to realize them fully; or we have a wrong conception of them; or we neglect and forget them. Hence the necessity of frequent and and strong reminders, and hence the need of reformers and reforms.

When an appeal is made to social duty there is no need of concealing the fact, for if one kind of action. is more generally looked upon as praiseworthy than another it is the one in which no shadow of self-interest is discernible. The nature of the appeal will differ somewhat according to circumstances and object. It may be that we have unconsciously lapsed from a strict observance of a plain duty and simply need a timely reminder. It may be that we are insensible to the exigencies or the merits of the case and need to be enlightened and aroused. It may be that through a misunderstanding of our duty we are wasting good intentions in the wrong direction and need to be set right. It may be that new conditions bring with them. new obligations which we need to have presented to us clearly and cogently.

The most of us will not rest content with the performance of our duties toward ourselves and toward our fellowmen. We feel that if there is such a thing as duty at all it extends further than this. The satisfying of our selfish and social instincts leaves one instinct yet unsatisfied, the religious. We recognize on the one hand the limitation of our powers and the finiteness of our intellect, and on the other hand the inscrutable mystery of things. We know the hopelessness of knowing everything; know that the farther we extend our research the more thickly do the mysteries crowd upon us and the deeper do they grow, that each discovery instead of narrowing the realm of the unknown is but a further revelation of its vastness; and we bow before an Intelligence that so infinitely transcends our own. We realize that we are but insignificant parts of the great Whole, and this brings with it a realization of a duty not only to ourselves and others like us, but also to the bird in the tree, the flower in the field, the shell on the shore, and to the Power that works in and through them all.

non-interference,

This duty takes many forms, kindness, service, submission, love, reverence, praise. Why do we pity the caged bird, and step aside to let the flower grow unharmed, and treasure and study the curious shell? Why do we stand in silent awe or burst into spontaneous tributes of admiration before the terrors and glories of the natural world? It is the gratification of a religious instinct, the performance of a religious duty.

An appeal to this duty is the loftiest appeal that can be made to man, since it is farthest removed from any

possible charge of sordid selfishness. Therefore to comport with this character, the language and style of composition should be reverent, dignified, lofty, and thoroughly sincere. The following, taken from an argument by Herbert Spencer on the relative value of various kinds of knowledge, is practically a plea for the study of science addressed to all whose sense of religious duty has a controlling influence over their action.

Lastly we have to assert and the assertion will, we doubt not, cause extreme surprise—that the discipline of science is superior to that of our ordinary education, because of the religious culture that it gives. Of course we do not here use the words scientific and religious in their ordinary limited acceptations; but in their widest and highest acceptations. Doubtless, to the superstitions that pass under the name of religion, science is antagonistic; but not to the essential religion which these superstitions merely hide. Doubtless, too, in much of the science that is current, there is a pervading spirit of irreligion; but not in that true science which has passed beyond the superficial into the profound.

So far from science being irreligious, as many think, it is the neglect of science that is irreligious—it is the refusal to study the surrounding creation that is irreligious. Take a humble simile. Suppose a writer were daily saluted with praises couched in superlative language. Suppose the wisdom, the grandeur, the beauty of his works, were the constant topics of the eulogies addressed to him. Suppose those who unceasingly uttered these eulogies on his works were content with looking at the outsides of them; and had never opened them, much less tried to understand them. What value should we put upon their praises? What should we think of their sincerity? Yet, comparing small things to great, such is the conduct of mankind in general, in reference to the Universe and its Cause. Nay, it is worse. Not only do they pass by without study, these things which they daily proclaim to be so wonderful; but very frequently they condemn as mere