hanical invention to which genius has laid claim,--and deservedly
laid claim,--that has not its prototype somewhere in nature. The same
principles, working perhaps in the same manner, have been silently in
operation, thousands of years before the inventor was born; but which,
from want of observation, or the neglect of its practical application to
useful purposes, lay concealed and useless. This culpable neglect in
practically applying the works and ways of God as he intended, has
carried with it its own punishment; for thousands of the conveniences
and arts, which at present smooth and adorn the paths of civilized life,
have all along been placed within the reach of intelligent man. If he
had but employed his intelligence, as he ought to have done, in
searching them out, and had asked himself when he perceived them, "What
does this teach me?" the very question would have suggested a use. This
accordingly will be found to be the true way of studying nature, and one
especial design for which a beneficent Creator has spread out his works
for our inspection. In proof, and in illustration of this fact, we may
refer to the telescope, which has from the beginning had its type in the
human eye;--to the formation of paper, which has been manufactured for
thousands of years by the wasp;--to the levers, joints, and pulleys of
the human body, of which the mechanist has as yet only made imperfect
imitations;--and to the saw of an insignificant insect, (the saw-fly)
which has never yet been successfully imitated by man.

In prosecuting our investigations into the science of education,
therefore, our business is to study Nature in all the educational
processes in which we find her occupied, and of which we shall find
there are many;--to observe and collect facts;--to detect principles,
and to discover the means employed in carrying them out, and the modes
of their working;--to trace effects back to their causes, and then again
to follow the effects through their various ramifications, to some
ultimate end. These are the things which it is the business of the
Educationist to investigate, and to record for the benefit of the
teacher and his art.

The duty of the teacher, on the other hand, is to apply to his own
purposes, and to turn to use in the prosecution of his objects, those
facts discovered by the philosopher in the study of Nature. He should by
all means understand the principles upon which Nature works, and the
means which sh