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Is it not a very remarkable phenomenon that at such a time and in such a condition of public instruction a man should have had sufficient sagacity not only to regard the natural sciences as one of the principal subjects of study which ought to be included in a course of education, but further to make the observation of nature the basis of that study, to fix the pupil's attention upon examination of facts, and to impress upon him the necessity of applying his knowledge by studying those practical arts and industries which profit by such applications?
That, however, Rabelais did, probably by dint of sheer good sense, and without having any notion himself about the wide bearing of his ideas.

Ponocrates took Pantagruel through a course of what we should nowadays call practical study of the exact and natural sciences as they were understood in the sixteenth century; but, at the same time, far from forgetting the moral sciences, he assigns to them, for each day, a definite place and an equally practical character.

'As soon as Pantagruel was up,' he says, 'some page or other of the sacred Scripture was read with him aloud and distinctly, with pronunciation suited to the subject.