too SCIENCE PROGRESS 



it has done far more than this. It has elaborated an organised 

 scheme of education, beginning with the Elementary and Pre- 

 paratory Schools, extending through the Secondary Schools 

 to the Universities and Professions, and through and beyond 

 the Universities to post-graduate education. I shall have a 

 few objections to make, but the main task of the Committee 

 has been admirably performed. 



The Committee does not formulate the aim or aims that 

 education should set itself to accomplish ; and no doubt, in 

 view of the national detestation of general principles, the 

 abstention was wise, though for my own part I must regret it ; 

 for the validity of the whole scheme depends upon the degree in 

 which it is calculated to fulfil the ultimate purpose of educa- 

 tion, whatever that may be ; but the Committee leaves us in 

 no doubt as to the purpose of its own scheme of education, as 

 distinguished from the general purpose of education itself. 

 The scheme of the Committee is designed to put a stop to the 

 shocking waste of ability that at present prevails ; to discover 

 ability wherever it may be found and of whatever kind it may 

 consist ; to give it its chance ; to educate it, develop it, and 

 utilise it for the benefit of its possessor and for the service of 

 the nation and of mankind. Surely this is a laudable purpose. 

 Surely it is well that the Committee has stepped outside its 

 province to point the way. 



The Committee prefaces its Report with some general 

 remarks : 



" There can be no need now to labour the important part 

 that Science should play in our education, but memories are 

 short and it may be well to register in formal words for future 

 comfort, if not reproach, what all would readily grant at this 

 moment. It is not possible to give an exhaustive account of 

 the scope of Science, but it is not superfluous to point out that 

 it has several distinct kinds of educational value. It can 

 arouse and satisfy the element of wonder in our natures. As an 

 intellectual exercise it disciplines our powers of mind. Its 

 utility and applicability are obvious. It quickens and culti- 

 vates directly the faculties of observation. It teaches the 

 learner to reason from facts which come under his own notice. 

 By it, the power of rapid and accurate generalisation is strength- 

 ened. Without it, there is a real danger of the mental habit of 

 method and arrangement never being acquired. Those who 

 have had much to do with the teaching of the young know that 



