w principles, exhibits also
the outbreakings of prejudice and selfishness. The deductions of
Galileo, of Newton, of Harvey, and innumerable others, have been opposed
and denounced, each in its turn; while their promoters have been
vilified as empyrics or innovators. Nor has this been done by those only
whose self love or worldly interests prompted them to exclude the truth,
but by good and honourable men, whose prejudices were strong, and whose
zeal was not guided by discretion. Such persons have frequently been
found to shut their eyes against the plainest truths, to wrestle with
their own convictions, and positively refuse even to listen to evidence.
The same thing may happen with regard to education;--and this is no
pleasing prospect to the lover of peace, who sets himself forward as a
reformer in this noble work.--Change is inevitable. Teaching is an art;
and it must, like all the other arts, depend for its improvement upon
the investigations of science. Now, every one knows, that although the
cultivation of chemistry, and other branches of natural science, has, of
late years, given an extraordinary stimulus to the arts, yet the science
of education, from which the art of teaching can alone derive its
power, is one, beyond the threshold of which modern philosophy has
scarcely entered. Changes, therefore, both in the theory and practice of
teaching, may be anticipated;--and that these changes will be
inconvenient and annoying to many, there can be no doubt. That
individuals, in these circumstances, should be inclined to deprecate and
oppose these innovations and improvements, is nothing more than might be
expected; but that the improvements themselves should on that account be
either postponed or abandoned, would be highly injurious. An enlightened
system of education is peculiarly the property of the public, on which
both personal, family, and national happiness in a great measure
depends. These interests therefore must not be sacrificed to the wishes
or the convenience of private individuals. The prosperity and happiness
of mankind are at stake; and the welfare of succeeding generations will,
in no small degree, be influenced by the establishment of sound
principles in education at the present time. Nothing, therefore, should
be allowed to mystify or cripple that science, upon which the spread and
the permanence of all useful knowledge mainly rest.

CHAP. II.

_On the Cultivation of Education as a Science._