I would banish from our school-books every word about God or Devil--Heaven or Hell, as hypocritical and unmeaning words, mere words of sound, and confine the attention of children and youth to such subjects, as an every day's experience shall evince to them to have a foundation in Nature. Moral precepts might, be necessary and useful but even morality might, in my opinion, be taught much better by example than by precept. Therefore, I would say, that the books of children had better be filled with scientific subjects than with moral precepts, as the former are infinite and cannot be too early entered upon, or too closely studied, whilst the latter might be comprised in a few expressions, and taught better, and with more impression by colloquy and example, than in lessons for reading and writing. However, lessons on moral virtue might be most appropriately mixed up with lessons on scientific subjects. They lead to one common end--the happiness and welfare of the human race in society. Let no one imagine that I hold moral virtue in light esteem, or that I deem it a secondary object, No, the possession of moral virtue with the grossest ignorance on every other subject, is preferable to the most extensive knowledge connected with an immoral and vicious character. Moral virtue should form the foundation of every motive, and every action in life. It is from the conviction that scientific pursuits, or a scientific education, must naturally lead to the extension of moral virtue, that I have been induced to submit this sketch to Men of Science. Moral virtue is with me a _primum mobile_ in all things. It forms the beginning and the end of all my views, and, according to my conceptions, of all the principles I advocate and teach. But I would most strenuously exhort the reader to abandon the idea, if he does hold it, that morality is dependent on religion, or that the former cannot exist without the latter. I solemnly and deliberately assert, that religion is rather the bane than the nurse of morality. I have imbibed this impression from the deepest reflection and the closest observation of mankind. To those who think Lord Bacon an authority worth notice, for what I assert, I would refer them to a quotation from his writings on a former page. However, I want no written authority, nor no name, to convince me of the truth of my assertion; we have but to look around us with an impartial eye, and we might read it in the every day actions of the majority of mankind.