EDITOR'S TABLE. 



625 



partments proportionate to the impor- 

 tance of the subject. 



"We fail to see the confusion alleged 

 by the writer. There is a definite 

 proposition which he explicitly denies. 

 Educational reformers complain that 

 the higher institutions in which the 

 classical languages predominate give 

 to our professional and business men 

 an education that is not "practi- 

 cal," and they accordingly insist upon 

 the retrenchment of these studies and 

 the substitution of the sciences, that 

 the higher education may become more 

 truly "practical." This is certainly 

 clear enough, and the antagonistic prop- 

 osition of the writer is equally clear 

 that for the education of professional 

 and business men the natural sciences 

 are no more "practical" than Greek 

 and Latin. The issue is thus sharply 

 presented. Yet the ground taken by the 

 writer has been long ago, and even os- 

 tentatiously, given up by the stanchest 

 defenders of the classics. To the popu- 

 lar indictment that classical studies are 

 not " practical " they have pleaded guil- 

 ty, but have claimed that this alleged vice 

 is in reality a virtue. The whole litera- 

 ture of that side of the question has 

 been pervaded by a scorn of utility, 

 and a contempt for the " practical." 

 The dead languages have been advo- 

 cated, not for their ulterior uses, but as 

 mental gymnastics in which discipline 

 of the faculties is the object to be ob- 

 tained. It has not been denied that 

 the sciences were "practical," but 

 practical ends have themselves been re- 

 pudiated as low, sordid, and unworthy. 



Perhaps, however, the writer in the 

 Union may not care what ground has 

 been formerly taken. Is it true, then, 

 that for the higher education of pro- 

 fessional and business men the natural 

 sciences are no more practical than 

 Greek and Latin? By "practical" in 

 this connection we understand that 

 which bear3 upon practice, which fits 

 for action. All are agreed that educa- 

 tion is a calling out of human powers 

 40 



in preparation for something ; and the 

 term "practical," as employed by the 

 friends of reform, is used to designate 

 what the general character of this prep- 

 aration should be. They maintain that 

 it should have reference to the circum- 

 stances, duties, and work of life. Will it 

 be claimed that the knowledge of two 

 languages spoken by nations that have 

 been extinct for many centuries, which 

 were dead long before modern knowl- 

 edge came into existence, and which 

 have been emptied of their valuable 

 thought over and over again by trans- 

 lation, confers an equal preparation for 

 the responsibilities of practical life 

 with that living knowledge of present 

 things that acquaintance with the 

 forces and laws of the surrounding 

 world which it is the office of science 

 to impart ? Even if the writer gives to 

 the term "practical" as applied to 

 education its narrowest meaning, that 

 of a bare and specific preparation for 

 professional and business pursuits 

 (which is not the meaning given to it 

 by educational reformers), his proposi- 

 tion is baseless, for there is not a pro- 

 fession or a business which does not 

 involve scientific principles that must 

 be known if they are to be "practised" 

 intelligently. Merchant, manufacturer, 

 agriculturist, and engineer; physician, 

 lawyer, and clergyman all deal with 

 phenomena that are regulated by nat- 

 ural laws, and are intimately depend- 

 ent upon them ; and are we still to be 

 told that a knowledge of these laws is 

 of no more practical benefit than to be 

 able to read a couple of antiquated 

 languages ? 



With such an estimate of the edu- 

 cational value of scientific knowledge, 

 it is not surprising that the writer in 

 the Union throws no light upon its 

 proper claim and place in the higher 

 education. He admits that there are 

 studies of the highest practical utility 

 which have been greatly neglected 

 those, namely, which relate to political 

 and social science and is pleased that 



