350 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



and girls at school must be taught from the very earliest 

 moment to do and to appreciate. It is of no use our teach- 

 ing them merely about things, however interesting — no 

 facts must be taught without their use being taught simul- 

 taneously ; and, as far as possible, they must be led to 

 discover the facts for themselves. Instead of our placing 

 condensed summaries in their hands, we must lead them to 

 use works of reference and acquire the habit of finding out ; 

 they must always be at work applying their knowledge and 

 solving problems. It is a libel on the human race to say, 

 as many do, that children cannot think and reason, and 

 that they can only be taught facts ; early childhood is the 

 time at which these faculties are most apparent, and it is 

 probably through failure to exercise them then that they 

 suffer atrophy. The so-called science introduced into a 

 few schools in answer to the persistent demands of its advo- 

 cates has been in most cases a shallow fraud, of no value 

 whatever educationally. Boys see oxygen made and things 

 burnt in it, which gives them much pleasure ; but, after all, 

 this is but the old lesson learning in an interesting shape, 

 and has no superior educational effect. I would here re- 

 peat what I have recently urged elsewhere, that in the future 

 all subjects must be taught scientifically at schools, in order 

 to inculcate those habits of mind which are termed scientific 

 habits ; the teaching of scientific method — not the mere 

 shibboleths of some branch of natural science — must be in- 

 sisted on. No doubt some branch of chemistry, with a due 

 modicum of physics, etc., is the subject by means of which 

 we may, in the first instance, best instil the scientific habits 

 associated with experimental studies, but it must be the true 

 chemistry of the discoverer, not the cookery-book-receipt 

 pseudoform w T hich has so long usurped its place. What- 

 ever be taught, let me repeat that mere repetition work and 

 lesson learning must give place to a system of allowing 

 children to do things themselves. Should we succeed in 

 infusing the research spirit into our teaching generally, then 

 there will be hope that, in the course of a generation or so, we 

 shall cease to be the Philistines we are at the present time ; 

 the education given in our schools will be worthy of being 



