io SCIENCE PROGRESS 



The disproportion between the encouragement given to 

 classics and to all other subjects is very striking ; it is still 

 more striking when the share of classics is contrasted with 

 that of science and the preponderant value of the latter in 

 the modern world is taken into account : if the order of en- 

 couragement given to the two subjects were reversed, a reform 

 would be brought about which at no distant date probably 

 would determine a complete change in attitude on the part of 

 the University ; the intellectual stimulus derived from a stay at 

 the University would then be of a totally different order from 

 that which the present conditions afford. 



It is only necessary to note the difference between Oxford 

 and Cambridge to see that this must be the case. The vigour 

 and activity of the latter in comparison with the former is 

 very striking — and we know the extent to which science is 

 cultivated at Cambridge to be far greater than at Oxford ; 

 moreover that she has been largely influenced by active and 

 broad-minded advocates of the value of scientific training, 

 especially by men with ideas, such as the late gifted Sir 

 Michael Foster. Oxford unfortunately has not yet had its 

 Foster — a man knowing his subject thoroughly, enthusiastic on 

 its behalf and loving to help young men. On the other hand, 

 no school at Cambridge appears to be quite so philosophical in 

 its tendency as the Greats school at Oxford ; if this could be 

 deprived of its one-sidedness, great things might come of it. 



In the future, it is to be hoped the student will proceed to 

 Oxford or Cambridge with the object of acquiring ideas and the 

 scientific habit of mind, not mere technical proficiency, whatever 

 the subjects of study he may select ; at the same time he will 

 be trained socially through the enjoyment of the opportunities 

 which these Universities provide in such an incomparable 

 manner — opportunities which are not found elsewhere. 



It has been said that the function of criticism is " to see the 

 object as in itself it really is." This may be applied to the 

 teaching of science and indeed of all subjects at the Universities 

 — we do not train our students at present in such a way that 

 they learn to see clearly but too often obscure their vision 

 by a mass of blinding detail bereft of nearly all principle; the 

 object is seen not "as in itself it really is" but merely as the 

 teacher chooses to present it, too often only as he thoughtlessly 



