DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE.

Auckland Examiner, Volume 1, Issue 3, 25 December 1856, Page 3

DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE.

Essay No. I. 'The concentration of mind which is essential :to the formation of a genuine intellectual character is injured when it becomes distracted by a great' diversity of occupations, but if ‘there do exist amongst us understandings whose energy and power may parallel those of ■the giant-spirits that have illumined the past, we may be assured that they also, will gain by the splendid manifestations of their inborn superiority. But even if it were not so, if by throwing open the portals of the temple of seience to the multitude we were compelled to tdeprive the few of that supremacy which has in all ages segregated the great in intellect from their humbler brethren, who would not 'make the sacrifice ? Who can doubt that it must end in a rich reward ? Myriads have come into world, have breathed and perished, without leaving behind any memorial of their existence. The major part of the human race, born to toil and misery, have been hitheto rendered by an iniquitous system the wretched* bond-slaves of their brethren. Their lives have been assimilated to the vegetation of the plant, or the sensual debasement of the animal. They have not known the bright immaginings, the far-grasping conceptions, the infinite aspirations that dignify and ennoble the soul of man. Bowed to the earth, chained down by the sad necessities of their condition, they have been unblessed by the glad visions that beam on the cultivated mind—the thoughts that wander through eternity—the pure and celestial feelings that beseem the rational and immortal being. Of how many precious advantages has the circumscription of knowledge deprived mankind 1 In the lowly hut of the peasant, pining in their degradation and “ steeped in poverty to the very lips,” there have been multitudes that would have, done honour to humanity—fitted to purify the world by their moral excellence—to instruct it by their wisdom, to dazzle it by •effulgence of their genius. How often has the “mute inglorious Milton,” the embryo Newton, the untutorod Gatton, or the self-taught

Franklin wasted life in the dull routine of ■daily toil ? How often has the imagination that might have soared beyond the bounds of space, the intellect that could have compassed the universe, the stern virtue and unbending -strength of soul, to which nations might have owed their deliverance from oppression, been allowed to slumber by their unconscious possessors passing away unvalued and unknown. The Memnon has been formed, but the light lias not come to call forth its music. The noble work has been completed but the Promethean fire has not decended from above to rouse it into activity and inform it with life. G ive but the illumination of knowledge to the darkened intellect, afford but a little impulse to the dormant energies and the mind will yield forth the treasures with which it is laden. A glorious course will be commenced, man will rise to the elevation for which he was designed and stand erect in the dignity of his spiritual nature. Thus it is that the diffusion of information must be inappreciably benifi■cial. The mighty mass of talent that is now profitless and unproductive will be applied to the improvement of the world. The labourers in the vineyard of thought will be rendered numerous and in proportion to the increase of the enlightened an increased acceleration will be afforded to the intellectual advancement of our species.

Let us unite in promoting this great work. Ignorance still shadows the mind of the many. The mountain summit and the towering tree have been gilded by the life-giving rays of knowledge, but there are deep and dismal valleys whither they have not penetrated, and there are thousands of lowly brambles and creeping plants upon whose humbleness they have never shone. It is a gladdening thought that every year is spreading information more widely; an extended field yet lies open for the philanthropist. All may contribute something be it ever so little to the great cause of human improvement. The man who makes a blade of grass to flourish where none grew before, is a benefactor to his race, and infinitely greater is his merit who implants an idea in the ignorant mind and opens even to one individual the prolific sources of personal enjoyment and social usefulness. Let education go forth and happiness and joy must follow in its train. If the soil that is capable of bearing abundant harvest be allowed to remain seedless, it must be unproductive. Let it be cultivated and the crops will ripen in the sunshine and waving woods and sweet odour—breathing flowers will spring from its once barren surface. So it is with the mind; as it is cultivated or negleeted it will run riot in licentiousness and grovel on in ignorance and crime or rise in the might of its native energies to the high regions of science and the holy elevation of virtuous feeling.