PHYSICAL LABORATORY IN MODERN EDUCATION. 505 



tain the truth, and if he, through either ambition or love of truth, 

 wishes to impress his opinions on the world, he first takes care to have 

 them correct. Above all, he is willing to abstain from having opin- 

 ions on subjects of which he knows nothing. 



It is the province of modern education to form such a mind, while 

 at the same time giving to it enough knowledge to have a broad out- 

 look over the world of science, art, and letters. Time will not permit 

 me to discuss the subject of education in general, and, indeed, I would 

 be transgressing the principles above laid down if I should attempt it. 

 I shall only call attention at this present time to the place of the lab- 

 oratory in modern education. I have often had a great desire to know 

 the state of mind of the more eminent of mankind before modern sci- 

 ence changed the world to its present condition and exercised its influ- 

 ence on all departments of knowledge and speculation. But I have 

 failed to picture to myself clearly such a mind, while, at the same time, 

 the study of human nature, as it exists at present, shows me much 

 that I suppose to be in common with it. As far as I can see, the un- 

 scientific mind differs from the scientific in this, that it is willing to 

 accept and make statements of which it has no clear conception to 

 begin with and of whose truth it is not assured. It is an irresponsible 

 state of mind without clearness of conception, where the connection 

 between the thought and its object is of the vaguest description. It 

 is the state of mind where opinions are given and accepted without 

 ever being subjected to rigid tests, and it may have some connection 

 with that state of mind where everything has a personal aspect and 

 we are guided by feelings rather than reason. 



When, by education, we attempt to correct these faults, it is neces- 

 sary that we have some standard of absolute truth ; that we bring the 

 mind in direct contact with it, and let it be convinced of its errors 

 again and again. We may state, like the philosophers who lived be- 

 fore Galileo, that large bodies fall faster than small ones, but when we 

 see them strike the ground together we know that our previous opin- 

 ion was false, and we learn that even the intellect of an Aristotle may 

 be mistaken. Thus we are taught care in the formation of our opin- 

 ions, and find that the unguided human mind goes astray almost with- 

 out fail. We must correct it constantly and convince it of error over 

 and over again until it discovers the proper method of reasoning, which 

 will surely accord with the truth in whatever conclusions it may reach. 

 There is, however, danger in this process that the mind may become 

 over-cautious, and thus present a weakness when brought in contact 

 with an unscrupulous person who cares little for truth and a great deal 

 for effect. But if we believe in the maxim that truth will prevail, and 

 consider it the duty of all educated men to aid its progress, the kind 

 of mind which I describe is the proper one to foster by education. 

 Let the student be brought face to face with Nature ; let him exercise 

 his reason with respect to the simplest physical phenomenon, and then, 



