with our other examinations, we should, I think, be enabled
effectually to keep pace with the wants of society, and retaining
fully our power and our right to direct the studies of those who
are intended for the church, as well as of those who aspire to
the various offices connected with our academical institutions;
we should, at the same time, open a field of honourable ambition
to multitudes, who, from the exclusive nature of our present
studies, leave us with but a very limited addition to their stock
of knowledge.

Much more might be said on a subject so important to the
interests of the country, as well as of our university, but my
wish is merely to open it for our own consideration and
discussion. We have already done so much for the improvement of
our system of instruction, that public opinion will not reproach
us for any unwillingness to alter. It is our first duty to be
well satisfied that we can improve: such alterations ought only
to be the result of a most mature consideration, and of a free
interchange of sentiments on the subject, in order that we may
condense upon the question the accumulated judgment of many
minds.

It is in some measure to be attributed to the defects of our
system of education, that scientific knowledge scarcely exists
amongst the higher classes of society. The discussions in the
Houses of Lords or of Commons, which arise on the occurrence of
any subjects connected with science, sufficiently prove this
fact, which, if I had consulted the extremely limited nature of
my personal experience, I should, perhaps, have doubted.