382 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



must consist to a greater or less extent in practical work, and the 

 more the better; that book work was next to useless. 



Liebig, when appointed to Giessen, smarting still under the dif- 

 ficulties he had had in learning chemistry without proper appliances, 

 induced the Darmstadt Government to build a chemical laboratory 

 in which the students could receive a thorough practical training. 



It will have been gathered from this reference to Liebig's system 

 of teaching chemistry that still another branch of applied science had 

 been created, which has since had a stupendous effect upon indus- 

 try; and while Liebig was working at Giessen, another important 

 industry was being created in England. I refer to the electric tele- 

 graph and all its developments, foreshadowed by Galileo in his refer- 

 ence to the " sympathy of magnetic needles." 



Not only then in chemistry, but in all branches of science which 

 can be applied to the wants of man, the teaching must be practical 

 — that is, the student must experiment and observe for himself, and 

 he must himself seek new truths. 



It was at last recognized that a student could no more learn sci- 

 ence effectively by seeing some one else perform an experiment than 

 he could learn to draw effectively by seeing some one else make a 

 sketch. Hence in the German universities the doctor's degree is 

 based upon a research. 



Liebig's was the fons et origo of all our laboratories — mechan- 

 ical, metallurgical, chemical, physical, geological, astronomical, and 

 biological. — Nature. 



[To be continued.] 



♦♦» 



SHOULD CHILDREN UNDER TEN LEARN TO READ 



AND WRITE ? 



By Prof. G. T. W. PATRICK. 



THERE are certain propositions about education so evidently true 

 that probably no parent or teacher would question them. For 

 instance, the best school is one in which the course of study is pro- 

 gressively adapted to the mental development of the children. 

 Again, certain subjects are adapted to children of certain ages or 

 stages of development, and others are not. One would not recommend 

 the study of logic or of the calculus to the average child of ten, nor 

 would the teaching of English be wisely deferred until the age of 

 fifteen. Finally, if the courses of study in our present school system 

 shall be found to be arranged without regard to the order of mental 

 development, they will sooner or later be modified in accordance 

 with it. 



