THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE IN OUR SCHOOLS 433 



and any one branch of science. We ought not to speak of 

 teaching geology or physics or chemistry or biology in schools 

 any more than we speak of teaching addition, subtraction, 

 multiplication and division ; just as we include all these latter 

 under arithmetic, so ought we to include all that is necessary 

 under the one term " experimental science." The point is one 

 of great importance, as it will affect the training of teachers as 

 well as school practice. The object in view must be that our 

 pupils gain understanding of the world in which they live and 

 work. The twaddle that is generally taught as science to-day 

 is worthless for all practical purposes, both as discipline and 

 as knowledge : it is far too didactic and lacks both point and 

 argument ; its educational value is therefore almost nil ; literary 

 critics are right in rating it low. 



Physics and chemistry are as much inseparable subjects 

 as are addition and multiplication ; moreover, they are fundamental 

 to all other branches of natural science — all other experimental 

 and observational sciences are little else than applied physics 

 and chemistry, differing mainly in the subject-matter treated. 

 Physics, properly speaking, is that science which has to do 

 with the intrinsic properties of materials ; so soon as any 

 change in molecular composition takes place, whether in 

 individual substances or as a consequence of the interaction 

 of molecules, the phenomena come within the province of 

 chemistry. There is much misunderstanding on this subject. 

 Much that is taught as physics belongs to chemistry — the 

 changes which attend the passage of water into the solid or 

 gaseous condition, for example, are essentially chemical changes, 

 changes in molecular composition ; unfortunately, as a rule, 

 the physical phenomena are alone considered, the chemical 

 are left out of account. This is largely because of the tendency 

 to develop physics on the mathematical rather than on the 

 rational side — of the tendency to be satisfied when formal 

 expression has been given to outward and visible signs and 

 to overlook inward and spiritual grace. True chemistry is the 

 science of inward and spiritual grace. 



Or to take another illustration, it is not improbable that 

 the phenomena of magnetism are largely chemical — that is to 

 say, that they include changes in composition, alterations in 

 molecular structure or configuration. Oscillatory structural 

 changes are probably at the root of the production of electric 



28 



