EDITOR'S TABLE. 



497 



tory, but they insist upon a better op- 

 portunity for modern literatures, mod- 

 ern languages, and modern history ; and 

 that modern science, by which all these 

 subjects are more and more interpreted, 

 and which is itself the transcendent in- 

 tellectual interest of the age, shall have 

 the leading place in schools of all grades. 

 Holding to the practical value of posi- 

 tive knowledge for use and guidance in 

 both private and public life, and seeing 

 that it is as true now, as it was in the 

 days of the prophets, that the people 

 perish for lack of it, they demand such 

 a reorganization of educational work 

 as shall most effectually secure this end. 

 The reform now required is, to make 

 available for society the stores of valu- 

 able applicable truth which is the latest 

 and highest result of human thought. 



And this is a work that remains yet 

 to be done. If it be said that changes 

 have already been made and institu- 

 tions modified so that modern knowl- 

 edge is practically attainable, we reply 

 that it has been nothing more than at- 

 tempted. Notwithstanding the endless 

 talk, the tide of influence is powerfully 

 against the reformers. The question 

 is not what special arrangements may 

 have been made to meet special cases, 

 but what is the ascendant ideal which 

 governs the general practice. When a 

 mother is ambitious that her son shall 

 have a liberal education, and commits 

 him to the accredited agencies, the 

 question is, " What will become of 

 him ? " It is notorious that a pupil can 

 go through a course of so-called liberal 

 study, and graduate with honor at the 

 highest institutions, in complete igno- 

 rance of that vast body of facts and 

 principles which has arisen in modern 

 times under the name of science, and 

 the object of which is to explain the 

 existing order of the world. There 

 are great educational establishments 

 from which modern knowledge is al- 

 most entirely barred out, and which 

 oppose its intrusion with all their pow- 

 er. They fight the " encroachments " 

 32 



of modern science, modern literature, 

 modern language, and modern history, 

 at every point ; and it is equally certain 

 that this scheme of higher education in 

 the ancient seats of learning reacts with 

 great power upon inferior institutions, 

 making them also unsympathetic with 

 modern ideas as means and objects of 

 culture. 



It is true that we have scientifio 

 schools, and that they are doing an ex- 

 cellent work ; but the shape they are 

 compelled to take sufficiently attests 

 the vigor and vitality of the traditional 

 system. Where allowed to exist at all, 

 they generally take the form of separate 

 and supplementary institutions out- 

 side appendages to the older colleges 

 which, having grudgingly made this 

 concession to "popular clamor," cling 

 resolutely to their inherited methods. 

 The new schools, in fact, became an 

 excuse for resisting all modifications in 

 the policy of the old, for it is said that 

 the new wants are abundantly supplied 

 by the new arrangements. Meantime 

 it is assiduously maintained that the 

 technical schools are only fitted to 

 make chemists and engineers, and can- 

 not educate in any broad or liberal 

 sense, while thorough culture the 

 complete training of men can only be 

 accomplished by the old classical col- 

 leges. It is, therefore, as far as pos- 

 sible from true that the public have as 

 yet realized the advantages of modern 

 knowledge in education. 



In an able article in our present 

 number, Canon Mozely has shown not 

 only the educational importance of 

 modern literature, but he has shown 

 also how grossly it is neglected in the 

 English universities ; and this testimony 

 is the more valuable, as coming from a 

 doctor of divinity, trained in the clas- 

 sical system, and holding a distin- 

 guished place in the University of Ox- 

 ford. How desperate has been the 

 struggle for the past generation to get 

 even the nominal recognition of the 

 sciences in these establishments is well 



