CHAMBERS'
EDINBURGH JOURNAL
CONTENTS
KNOWLEDGE.
WORLDLY WISDOM.
THE TAMARIND-TREE.
TRACINGS OF THE NORTH OF EUROPE.
LONDON GOSSIP.
A CHEAP CLASS OF RAILWAYS.
CURIOUS PECULIARITY IN THE ELEPHANT.
DIG DEEP TO FIND THE GOLD.
SCOTLAND IN ENGLAND.
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FORTHE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
| No. 310. New Series | SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1849. | Price 1½d. |
KNOWLEDGE.
It was for a long time the custom to recommend knowledgeto the attention of the people by depicting thematerial advantages and pleasures incident to its pursuit.Glowing and attractive pictures were exhibited ofthe career and progress of meritorious and successfulpersons, who had been elevated by their intelligence topositions of consideration and distinction. Universalhistory and biography were ransacked to furnish instancesof a persevering and well-rewarded prosecutionof knowledge 'under difficulties;' and the general mindwas invited to contemplate and reflect on these, asworthy exemplars for its imitation. The inference,moreover, that was almost uniformly intended to bedrawn, was such a one as was naturally acceptable tothe crude and undisciplined understanding—the obviouspurpose of all such representations being to stimulatethe energies and enterprise of the ambitious, by theoffer or indication of material rewards, and to make intelligencerespected and desirable for the sake of itssensible compensations.
There might perhaps be reasons adducible to justifythe employment of such incitements, as there maydoubtless be circumstances under which the cultivationof knowledge might, for a time, be more effectually advancedby means of interested considerations, than byan appeal to motives more strictly rational, and accordantwith a disinterested reverence for its spiritualworth and dignity. There are evidently stages ofhuman progress when a regard for their personal interestshas a more powerful efficacy in urging men intoimprovement, than any of the finer influences of whichthey are susceptible, or which an advanced culturewould probably awaken. Thus, as an exoteric or introductoryintimation of the value and desirableness ofknowledge, it may not be amiss to attract a people,otherwise indisposed to its acquirement, by an exhibitionof the conventional advantages and distinctionswhich it may contribute, more or less successfully, torealise. And though it cannot be al