44o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



It would be a serious mistake to suppose that those who would give 

 a complete supremacy to the study of nature, in our educational sys- 

 tem, do not value and enjoy biographical history for what it is worth 

 as an entertainment; or further, that they do not set great value upon 

 the scientific study of the history of the struggles of the races and 

 nations of mankind, as a portion of the knowledge of the evolution 

 of man, capable of giving conclusions of great value when it has been 

 further and more thoroughly treated as a department of anthropology. 

 What seems to us undesirable is, that mere stories and bald records of 

 certain peoples should be put forward as matter with which the minds 

 of children and young men are to be occupied, to the exclusion of the 

 all-important matters comprised in the knowledge of nature. 



There are, it is well known, not a few who regard the present 

 institution of Latin and Greek and so-called history, in the preeminent 

 place which they occupy in Oxford and the great schools of the country, 

 as something of so ancient and fundamental a character that to ques- 

 tion the wisdom of that institution seems an odious proceeding, par- 

 taking of the nature of blasphemy. This state of mind takes its 

 origin in a common error, due to the fact that a straightforward ac- 

 count of the studies pursued in the university during the last five 

 hundred years has never been written. Our present curriculum is a 

 mere mushroom growth of the last century, and has no claim whatever 

 to veneration. Greek was studied by but a dozen or two specialists in 

 Oxford two hundred and fifty years ago. In those days, in proportion 

 to what had been ascertained in that subject and could be taught, 

 there was a great and general interest in the university in the knowl- 

 edge of nature, such as we should gladly see revived at the present day. 

 As a matter of fact, it is only within the last hundred years that the 

 dogma of compulsory Greek, and the value of what is now called a 

 classical education, has been promulgated. These things are not his- 

 torically of ancient date; they are not essentials of Oxford. We are 

 therefore well within our right in questioning the wisdom of their 

 continuance in so favored a position, and we are warranted in ex- 

 pressing the hope that those who can change the policy of the univer- 

 sity and colleges in this matter will, at no distant day, do so. 



It is sometimes urged that Oxford should contentedly resign her- 

 self to the overwhelming predominance given to the study of ancient 

 elegance and historic wisdom within her walls. It is said that she may 

 well be reserved for these delightful pursuits, whilst newer institutions 

 should do the hard work of aiding man in his conquest of nature. 

 At first sight such a proposal has a tempting character : we are charmed 

 with the suggestion that our beautiful Oxford should be enclosed by a 

 ring fence and cut off for ever from the contamination of the world. 

 But a few moments' reflection must convince most of us that such a 

 treatment of Oxford is an insult to her and an impossibility. Oxford 



