THE PLACE OF RESEARCH IN EDUCATION. 337 



scheme in which the master's personality is eliminated, and 

 that must follow in any scheme of wholesale tuition. 



But what meaning have the words science and scientific 

 in English ears generally ? Do they excite visions of a 

 complicated picture of things concerning our daily life in 

 its minutest details ? Certainly not ! Their utterance 

 before those who know a little chemistry recalls fireworks 

 and smells and perhaps simple salts ; whilst those who 

 take an interest in electricity have thoughts of bells ringing, 

 galvanometer needles wagging, or glowing electric lights ; 

 and teachers dream of South Kensington certificates and 

 hardly earnt grants. In the minds of the general public 

 they call forth no response, especially in those of that very 

 numerous section of the community which is concerned in 

 commercial transactions and has no knowledge of manu- 

 factures. Science in the eyes of the average Englishman 

 consists of a new-fangled set of ideas, all very well for those 

 who can afford the time to study them, but in his opinion 

 not of such daily practical importance that it is necessary 

 for the nation to pay attention to them. And this unfor- 

 tunately is the opinion even of "educated" men and of 

 many men of culture. This is perhaps the primary defect 

 in our system to which the Medical Officer of Health for 

 Science is bound to call attention ; it is one which we must 

 all unite in overcoming and which Polytechnics such as this 

 should do much to remove. 



If public appreciation of scientific procedure can be 

 secured to even a moderate extent, a complete popular 

 victory for those who press for its introduction must soon 

 follow ; the advantages to be derived from the general 

 application of scientific method to the affairs of life are 

 demonstrably so great that when once they are made 

 known at all commonly its adoption will be insisted on. 



Science is but exact knowledge, and there are as many 

 branches of science as there are of exact knowledge. Re- 

 member, however, a loose incoherent body of facts does not 

 constitute a science — a man who is merely possessed of such 

 facts is not scientifically trained. A scientific man is a 

 " knowing man " — not merely a man who knows, but one 



