see in

And to encourage us in our work, we have the certainty that the human eye, as it excels that of every other animal in beauty, does so also in power. The eyes of many of the lower animals are in themselves, perhaps, as susceptible of education as our eyes are; and in certain respects they are more wonderful. A shark can the depths of the ocean, where we, even if supplied with air, could not see at all; a cat can see better in the dark than we can ; and a hawk can see a great deal farther. But two round bits of glass and a pasteboard tube give us greatly the advantage of the longest-sighted hawk; we need not envy the cat, for a farthing candle will put its eyes at a discount; and when we have occasion to invade the domains of the shark, we can carry an artificial daylight with us and see better than he, though aided by the splendid mirrors at the back of

his eyes.

The human eye is no doubt remarkable for the

slowness with which it acquires its powers; but

then the powers it does acquire far transcend those acquired by the eyes of the lower animals. A kitten, for example, sees in a month as well as it ever does; and a chicken half out of the shell will catch a fly as deftly as the mother hen can. Look, on the other hand, at a baby. It gazes about it with wondering, uncertain eyes; stares at a candle, and plainly does not know what to make of it; and is in a dream-like though complacent perplexity about all things. Cases, too, have occurred of persons who were born blind acquiring the use of their eyes in mature life, and they have recorded how strange everything seemed, and how long it took them to realize what vision truly

was.

The eye, then, was intended by its Maker to be educated, and to be educated slowly but if educated fully, its powers are almost boundless. It is assuredly then a thing to be profoundly regretted, that not one man in a thousand develops the hidden сараcities of his organ of vision, either as regards its utilitarian or its aesthetic applications. The great

majority of mankind do not and cannot see one fraction of what they were intended to see. The

proverb that "None are so blind as those that

will not see is as true of physical as of moral vision. By neglect and carelessness we have made ourselves unable to discern hundreds of things which are before us to be seen. Thomas Carlyle has summed this up in the one pregnant sentence, "The eye sees what it brings the power to see." How true this is! The sailor on the look-out can see a ship where the landsman sees nothing; the Esquimaux can discover a white fox amidst the white snow; the American backwoodsman will fire a rifle-ball so as to strike a nut out of the mouth of a squirrel without hurting it; the Red Indian boys hold their hands up as marks to each other, certain that the unerring arrow will be shot between the spread-out fingers; the astronomer can see a star in the sky, where to others the blue expanse is unbroken; the shepherd can distinguish the face of every sheep in the flock; the mosaic worker can detect distinctions of colour, where others

see none; and multitudes of additional examples might be given of what education does for the

eye.

Now, we may not be called upon to hunt white foxes in the snow; or, like William Tell, to save our own life and our child's by splitting with an arrow an apple on its head; or to identify a stolen sheep by looking in its face, and swearing to its portrait but we must do every day many things essential to our welfare, which we would do a great deal better if we had an eye as trained as we readily might have. For example, it is not every man that can hit a nail upon the head, or drive it straight in with a hammer. Very few persons can draw a straight line, or cut a piece of cloth or paper even; still fewer can use a pencil as draughtsmen; and fewer still can paint with colours. Yet assuredly there is not a calling in which an educated eye, nice in distinguishing form, colour, size, distance, and the like, will not be of inestimable service. For although it is not to be denied, that some eyes can be educated to a much greater

extent than others, that can be no excuse for

any one neglecting to educate his eye.

The worse

it is, the more it needs education; the better it is, the more it will repay it.

To describe the mode in which the eye should be trained is not my purpose: and it would be vain to attempt a description of its powers when educated to the utmost of its capabilities. But let me, before parting with it, notice that in all ages, and by all peoples, the Eye appears to have been the most honoured of the organs of the senses. It has owed this, doubtless, largely to its surpassing beauty, and to the glory with which it lights up the countenance. But it owes its place as Queen of the Senses mainly to the fact, that its empire is far wider than those ruled over by its sisters. The Ear is fabled to hear the music of the spheres, but, in reality, is limited in space to those sounds which the earth and its atmosphere yield, and in time to the passing moment. The starry abysses for it are silent; and the past and the future are equally dumb.