656 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



The modern method is not even to present the case of the 

 opponent — the student is not allowed the choice of alternatives, 

 he is rarely, if ever, informed that there are alternatives. 



Prof. J simply asserts : " This is truth ; believe it you must 



and shall." Of such kind has been the Leipzig message from the 

 beginning. The spirit of intolerance is abroad among us. If 

 we are not almost back to the days of the Inquisition, we are at 

 least as dogmatic as are the adherents of any religious persuasion. 

 And all this in the sacred name of science and of scientific 

 method, of the discipline upon which we are placing so much 

 hope of future enlightenment of society. 



A large proportion of those who are being taught on such 

 lines will become teachers in the future— the result must be 

 disastrous ; indeed, we can see already that such is the case. 

 In the main the teaching of science is a failure, not only in our 

 universities but also in our schools. The hopes formed by 

 men like Charles Kingsley, Herbert Spencer, Huxley, Tyndall, 

 are in no way being fulfilled. So little true scientific method is 

 taught — the great lessons of truth to be learnt by the study of 

 science, of which Kingsley speaks with such rare eloquence in 

 his volume of Scientific Essays, is in no way brought properly 

 before the notice of scholars. 



The ideal philosopher contemplated by Faraday was one 

 who pursues inquiry " zealously and cautiously, combining ex- 

 periment with analogy, suspicious of preconceived notions, 

 paying more respect to a fact than a theory, not too hasty to 

 generalise and, above all things, willing at every step to cross- 

 examine his own opinions both by reasoning and experiments." 

 This ideal is that which Faraday himself always had in mind 

 and which gave to his work its incomparable value. We later 

 workers may well strive to follow him. 



The history of the development of the ionic dissociation 

 hypothesis appears to me to be one of gravest warning, which 

 we should heed before it be too late ; the great ethical value of 

 the lessons to be derived from it should not be overlooked. 



