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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ten that there is no mistaking the writ- 

 er's meaning ; there are no perplexing 

 problems to he solved ; the pupils can 

 learn the short lessons with ease, and 

 the recitations should go on with the 

 utmost smoothness and facility. Yet 

 this perfect conformity of the hooks 

 to old established school habits, while 

 it has secured their immense success, 

 raises serious questions as to their 

 adaptation to the improved methods of 

 study which are now demanded in early 

 scientific education. 



From this point of view we think 

 the title of the series misleading, and 

 that as a consequence the books are 

 liable to be put to a wrong use. The 

 term primer suggests the lowest grade 

 of elementary school-books first books 

 for primary classes, or for children be- 

 ginning to study. The " Science Prim- 

 ers" are obviously unsuited for this 

 purpose. "We should say that the dis- 

 tinguished gentlemen who prepared 

 them, and who are all of them occu- 

 pied in the absorbing work of scien- 

 tific research in their respective depart- 

 ments, have not given due attention to 

 that very important matter in early ed- 

 ucation the minds of children. This 

 is, in fact, a science by itself of great 

 interest and no little complication, and 

 for the most part quite alien to the 

 special pursuits of these authors. A 

 man may be deep in physics and pro- 

 found in astronomy, and yet know 

 very little of the mechanism, growth, 

 and various conditions of the unfolding 

 faculties of the child. It matters no- 

 thing how clear, simple, and accurate is 

 the text of a primer if it is not skillfully 

 suited to the early stages of mental ac- 

 tivity; and this is where the "Science 

 Primers" fail as books for beginners. 



It is clear that children can not at 

 first grasp generalizations ; and to begin 

 by giving them general principles, and 

 making them learn lessons embodying 

 the results and outcome of scientific 

 thought, is a fundamental educational 

 mistake. They should begin with the 



simple, the concrete, the familiar, and 

 be very gradually and very slowly led 

 on to combinations of ideas and the per- 

 ception of simple relations; and only 

 in the higher stages of mental growth 

 should they be tasked with those high- 

 est products of science system, exact- 

 ness, and abstraction. Knowledge may 

 be put into a child's mind wrong- end 

 foremost, so to speak, and so as to dis- 

 turb and paralyze its faculties, rather 

 than to favor their natural and healthy 

 growth. The first step in the scientific 

 education of children ought not to be 

 an abrupt transition from their inter- 

 course with the natural objects around 

 them to lesson-learning from books ; 

 it should be simply to direct and guide 

 them in making observations. The 

 process should be continuous with their 

 unguided and spontaneous activities, 

 and stimulated by the cultivation of 

 curiosity. Play may run into simple 

 experiments under such careful man- 

 agement as not to create weariness or 

 distaste for this kind of effort. 



The " Science Primers " do not suffi- 

 ciently conform to this method to make 

 them suitable books for beginners. 

 They in fact belong to the advanced, if 

 not the adult, stage of mental develop- 

 ment. In the first two books that were 

 published, the "Primer of Physics" and 

 the " Primer of Chemistry," there is a 

 common preface, in which it is said 

 that " the object of the authors has 

 been to state the fundamental princi- 

 ples of their respective sciences in a 

 manner suited to the pupils of an early 

 age. They feel that the thing to he 

 aimed at is not so much to give in- 

 formation as to endeavor to discipline 

 the mind in a way that has not hitherto 

 been customary, by bringing it into im- 

 mediate contact with Nature herself. 

 For this purpose a series of simple ex- 

 periments has been devised, leading up 

 to the chief truths of each science. 

 These experiments must be performed 

 by the teacher in regular order before 

 the class." This is all that is said re- 



