Town Geology | Page 2

words. It is specially,
the poor man's science. But if you do not like it, study something else.
Only study that as you must study geology; proceeding from the known
to the unknown by observation and experiment.
But here some of my readers may ask, as they have a perfect right to
ask, why I wish young men to learn Natural Science at all? What good
will the right understanding of geology, or of astronomy, or of
chemistry, or of the plants or animals which they meet--what good, I
say, will that do them?
In the first place, they need, I presume, occupation after their hours of
work. If any of them answer: "We do not want occupation, we want
amusement. Work is very dull, and we want something which will
excite our fancy, imagination, sense of humour. We want poetry,
fiction, even a good laugh or a game of play"--I shall most fully agree
with them. There is often no better medicine for a hard-worked body
and mind than a good laugh; and the man who can play most heartily
when he has a chance of playing is generally the man who can work

most heartily when he must work. But there is certainly nothing in the
study of physical science to interfere with genial hilarity; though,
indeed, some solemn persons have been wont to reprove the members
of the British Association, and specially that Red Lion Club, where all
the philosophers are expected to lash their tails and roar, of being
somewhat too fond of mere and sheer fun, after the abstruse papers of
the day are read and discussed. And as for harmless amusement, and
still more for the free exercise of the fancy and the imagination, I know
few studies to compare with Natural History; with the search for the
most beautiful and curious productions of Nature amid her loveliest
scenery, and in her freshest atmosphere. I have known again and again
working men who in the midst of smoky cities have kept their bodies,
their minds, and their hearts healthy and pure by going out into the
country at odd hours, and making collections of fossils, plants, insects,
birds, or some other objects of natural history; and I doubt not that such
will be the case with some of my readers.
Another argument, and a very strong one, in favour of studying some
branch of Natural Science just now is this--that without it you can
hardly keep pace with the thought of the world around you.
Over and above the solid gain of a scientific habit of mind, of which I
shall speak presently, the gain of mere facts, the increased knowledge
of this planet on which we live, is very valuable just now; valuable
certainly to all who do not wish their children and their younger
brothers to know more about the universe than they do.
Natural Science is now occupying a more and more important place in
education. Oxford, Cambridge, the London University, the public
schools, one after another, are taking up the subject in earnest; so are
the middle-class schools; so I trust will all primary schools throughout
the country; and I hope that my children, at least, if not I myself, will
see the day, when ignorance of the primary laws and facts of science
will be looked on as a defect, only second to ignorance of the primary
laws of religion and morality.
I speak strongly, but deliberately. It does seem to me strange, to use the
mildest word, that people whose destiny it is to live, even for a few

short years, on this planet which we call the earth, and who do not at all
intend to live on it as hermits, shutting themselves up in cells, and
looking on death as an escape and a deliverance, but intend to live as
comfortably and wholesomely as they can, they and their children after
them--it seems strange, I say, that such people should in general be so
careless about the constitution of this same planet, and of the laws and
facts on which depend, not merely their comfort and their wealth, but
their health and their very lives, and the health and the lives of their
children and descendants.
I know some will say, at least to themselves: "What need for us to
study science? There are plenty to do that already; and we shall be sure
sooner or later to profit by their discoveries; and meanwhile it is not
science which is needed to make mankind thrive, but simple common
sense."
I should reply, that to expect to profit by other men's discoveries when
you do not pay for them--to let others labour in the hope of entering
into their labours, is not a very noble or generous state of