DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

curiosity with regard to the laws of colour; the mere handling of a spade or the use of a steel pen may raise in you the desire of gaining a more inti- mate knowledge of the peculiarities of iron and its transformation into steel, of its various appliances, of the development of industry in which it takes so prominent a part, and of the bearing of science on this branch of industry. The working of a gravel pit may set you thinking on the formation of the earth. So much I may say on this one point, that gravel has been formed in prehistorical days by the constant action of ice and water on rocks which they reduce into small fragments. Again, I must state that, like natural history, optics, science, and geology, are not alone the cause of desultory remarks or the sole objects of the at- tention of scholars and students. The events of the day form the chief staple of our conversations : there is hardly one current event which may not be connected with some event of the past and which, in some degree at least, is not its logical sequence. By seeking for the primary cause you will be unconsciously studying the history of the world, and on its every page you will find ample matter of pleasant surprise, easy instruction, and . gratifying interest. I will now endeavour to show that by expanding some of the desultory remarks of a special kind,