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54 growth present multifold difficulties to finite man. We come now to preparation for the physical sciences.

If there is a seltzogene in the house, let the children see it made up; not once only, with an elaborate explanation of the action of acids on alkalies—that appeals to consciousness; let them see it done as often as they wish, till they become saturated with the sense of the invariableness of the action; till they are sure that, though mother can make mistakes, the chemicals never do, and that when anything goes wrong it is because the human agent has been wrong.

The habit of using tools quite experimentally on a variety of material will be useful. The science of mechanics deals largely with resistances and strains. When the teacher begins talking of these things it is advisable that his class should have ready a basis of subconscious experience of the resistance of various woods to the hammer and saw. If you turn the children loose in company of some nice person of the artisan class, you may wish to make some compensation for any waste of his time the children may cause; let it take the shape of an informal present at the end of vacation, not of a weekly wage. The man who is hired to teach at a