354 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



the way in which science was taught and applied in each 

 town. 



But we must be careful that in leaving the science and 

 art frying-pan we do not jump into a worse municipal fire, 

 of which there is clearly some danger ; for while all the 

 world is engaged in decrying- examinations, our County 

 Council is bent on devising new ones. Scholarships at 

 times are of great value to students, provided they fall into 

 the rieht hands, and are obtained as well as held under 

 right conditions. But it is easy to give too many scholar- 

 ships, and still more so to give them to the wrong- persons. 

 Unless the examinations are placed in very competent 

 hands, not only will a serious injury be done to our general 

 system of education by leading those who are preparing 

 boys and girls to adopt methods which it is unwise to 

 follow in schools and to unduly force on their pupils, but 

 the wrong people may be selected ; the growth of a class 

 of overtrained pot hunters may be encouraged instead of 

 a vigorous, keen-witted, observant and resourceful race. 

 Those who prove themselves the most apt scholars under 

 the tutelage of the crammer, however able as desk workers, 

 may in the end entirely disappoint the hopes of those who 

 desire most to encourage the development of ability. Hux- 

 ley has said much as to the importance to the nation of 

 catching the potential Faraday, but it is doubtful whether 

 such would ever shine in a competitive examination in which 

 among other tasks they were asked to write an essay on 

 Oliver Cromwell, or some other like topic equally remote 

 from the daily experience of a healthy lad. If we depend 

 too much on examinations we may easily select the unfittest 

 for the work of the world, and unless very careful we are 

 almost bound to select but one kind of ability — clerical rather 

 than practical ability ; unless indeed we altogether change 

 our system of school education, and examine very differ- 

 ently. 



It is also difficult to understand what is to be gained by 

 examining candidates for ^5 evening scholarships ; it must 

 prove to be a very expensive mode of distributing such doles, 

 and it ought to be possible to find some other more prac- 



