So much those old Greeks did for their own education, without science and
without Christianity. We who have both: what might we not do, if we
would be true to our advantages, and to ourselves?




THE TWO BREATHS. A LECTURE DELIVERED AT WINCHESTER, MAY 31, 1869.


Ladies,--I have been honoured by a second invitation to address you here,
from the lady to whose public spirit the establishment of these lectures
is due. I dare not refuse it: because it gives me an opportunity of
speaking on a matter, knowledge and ignorance about which may seriously
affect your health and happiness, and that of the children with whom you
may have to do. I must apologize if I say many things which are well
known to many persons in this room: they ought to be well known to all;
and it is generally best to assume total ignorance in one's hearers, and
to begin from the beginning.

I shall try to be as simple as possible; to trouble you as little as
possible with scientific terms; to be practical; and at the same time, if
possible, interesting.

I should wish to call this lecture "The Two Breaths:" not merely "The
Breath;" and for this reason: every time you breathe, you breathe two
different breaths; you take in one, you give out another. The
composition of those two breaths is different. Their effects are
different. The breath which has been breathed out must not be breathed