, so that they shall most extensively
promote the success of the art? and how is the art to be cultivated, so
that it may, to the fullest extent, be benefited by the science?" To
these enquiries we shall in the present chapter direct our attention.

The method of investigating the operations of Nature in the several
sciences is very nearly alike in all. For example, in the science of
chemistry, as we have formerly noticed, the first object of the
philosopher would be to take a comprehensive view of his whole subject,
and endeavour to separate the substances in Nature according to their
great leading characteristics. He would at once distinguish mineral
substances as differing from vegetables;--and vegetable substances as
differing from animals;--thus forming three distinct classes of objects,
blending with each other, no doubt, but still sufficiently distinct to
form what have been called the three kingdoms of Nature. The various
objects included under each of these he would again subdivide according
to their several properties;--and as he went forward, he would
endeavour, by careful examination and experiment, to ascertain, not only
their combinations, but also the characteristic properties of their
several elements. The chemist, in this method of investigating Nature,
almost always proceeds upwards, analytically, advancing from the general
to the special, from the aggregate to its parts, endeavouring to
ascertain as he proceeds the laws which regulate their composition and
decomposition, for the purpose simply of endeavouring to imitate them.
By this means alone he expects to perfect the science, and to benefit
the arts.

In the science of Botany, Zoology, Anatomy, Physiology, and almost all
the others, the same plan has been adopted with invariable success. The
subject, whatever it be, is looked upon as a whole, and then separated
into its great divisions;--these again, are subdivided into classes; and
these again, into orders, genera, species, and varieties, by which means
each minute part can be examined by itself in connection with the whole;
the memory and the judgment are assisted in their references and
application; and order reigns through the whole subject, which otherwise
would have been involved in inextricable confusion.

In education, as in the other sciences, Nature is our only sure teacher;
and the Educationist, therefore, who desires success, must proceed in
the investigation in a similar way. He mus