496 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ing of education into the full service 

 of science means much more than its 

 liberal acceptance by the higher schools. 

 Science is a vast and a permanent in- 

 terest in human society, and in consid- 

 ering the means of its advancement we 

 are bound to take account of those 

 deeper agencies which require time for 

 the accomplishment of their results. 

 More important for the general promo- 

 tion of science than any change of policy 

 on the part of the colleges, will be its 

 recognition and adoption as a part of 

 the established work of primary and 

 common schools. The most urgent 

 question now, and fullest of import for 

 the future, is the relation which sci- 

 ence is to take to elementary education. 

 Thus far, the course of science has been 

 a continuous battle, and it has only got 

 what it has conquered. Its claims have 

 been pressed by its advocates, and they 

 have been resisted by the partisans of 

 other studies, and we observe that the 

 instincts of the combatants are bringing 

 them rapidly to the vital issues of the 

 strife. As we have often said, the most 

 critical and important question between 

 the old education and the new is, which 

 shall have authority to form the first 

 impressions in childhood. The practi- 

 cal inquiry is, How early shall children 

 be allowed to begin the study of science 

 in schools? We can imagine a future 

 time, and we trust it is not far distant, 

 when such an inquiry will be regarded 

 a3 absurd. Science being an under- 

 standing of natural things, and a child 

 being born into the order of Nature, 

 with a capacity for intelligence which 

 is awakened and unfolded only by its 

 intercourse with natural things, what 

 can be more preposterous than to raise 

 the question when a child shall begin to 

 have its attention thoughtfully directed 

 to the objects around it ? In this dawn- 

 ing action of the mind upon sensible 

 things are found the rudiments of all 

 science. Obviously, the true require- 

 ment is, that these germinal acquisitions 

 concerning the kinds, and properties, 



and changes, and relations of things 

 around, shall become matters of early 

 attention, encouragement, and cultiva- 

 tion, on the part of parents and teach- 

 ers ; and, if this were intelligently and 

 skillfully given, the query could never 

 arise, When shall the study of science 

 begin ? But we are far enough from 

 that condition now. In accordance 

 with the prevailing ideas of education, 

 the child is got into the schoolroom as 

 early as possible, and, being started in 

 a course of acquisition in which science 

 is left out, the question at length arises, 

 If it is to be introduced at all, when 

 shall it commence ? The advocates of 

 the old education would never ask for 

 it. They would occupy childhood, and 

 youth, and manhood, with language, 

 grammar, and book-acquisitions, so that 

 the pupil and the student would get no 

 more knowledge of the laws and phe- 

 nomena of Nature than they had before 

 this knowledge was discovered. And, 

 when pressed by the advocates of the 

 new education to make room for scien- 

 tific studies, they defer it as long as they 

 can, and allow it as little time as pos- 

 sible. 



A very interesting controversy has 

 gone on for some time past, in the col- 

 umns of Nature, as to how early science 

 is to be entered upon in the prepara- 

 tory schools. All the writers profess to 

 represent the liberal side, yet some of 

 them who admit the importance of sci- 

 ence assign it a low value as a means 

 of education, and think that children 

 should not touch a scientific subject in 

 school until they are well grounded iu 

 Latin and geometry. This is substan- 

 tially a surrender of the whole ground ; 

 yet it is the position taken in the great 

 mass of schools in which the sciences 

 are regarded as only fit for finishing 

 studies. The physicists and chemists 

 are more in earnest, and believe in the 

 educational usefulness and importance 

 of their subjects, but they seem more 

 concerned about the consideration given 

 to their chosen sciences than about the 



