180 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



The students in question have studied the elements of trigo- 

 nometry in an earlier year. On the other hand, mechanics is 

 not taught in mathematical time. But the marked contrast 

 between the amount of time given to mathematics in France 

 and England leaves us with no doubt that English boys can 

 reach the above limit, even if mechanics be included with 

 mathematics ; probably English boys give twice as much time 

 to mathematics as do their French contemporaries. And we 

 need not rely upon probabilities ; given the required reduction 

 of arithmetic and algebra such a course of trigonometry, 

 mechanics and calculus as I have outlined has been shown to 

 be within the range of English boys by the experience of more 

 than one school in this country ; moreover the objects of the 

 experiment can even pass Responsions. 



The boy of no marked ability usually carries on his 

 mathematics, in England, to the end of his school life but 

 the classical specialist not infrequently is released from mathe- 

 matics during the last two years. Partly this is due to the 

 pressure of competition for specialist scholarships in classics. 

 But it is due also and fundamentally to the belief of both boys 

 and headmasters that mathematical studies during these two 

 years would not be a valuable element of education. And if 

 a non-specialist mathematical curriculum is to be confined to 

 the cramped limits now customary here, the belief is well 

 founded. A recognition that a wider field of ideas is accessible 

 to the general and to the classical student would eventually raise 

 mathematics to its true position in the appreciation of those 

 who control our great schools and might finally have a far- 

 reaching effect on national thought and efficiency. 



