Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/308

298 In remarking on the hiſtory, the maſter will have fine opportunities of inſtilling inſtructions of various kinds, and improving the morals, as well as the underſtandings, of youth.

The natural and mechanic hiſtory, contained in the Spectacle de la Nature, might alſo be begun in this claſs, and continued through the ſubſequent claſſes, by other books of the ſame kind; for, next to the knowledge of duty, this kind of knowledge is certainly the moſt uſeful, as well as the moſt entertaining. The merchant may thereby be enabled better to underſtand many commodities in trade; the handicraftſman to improve his buſineſs by new inſtruments, mixtures and materials; and frequently hints are given for new manufactures, or new methods of improving land, that may be ſet on foot greatly to the advantage of a country.