REFORMS IN THE TEACHING OF ELECTRICITY 527 



from Faraday's original line that the theory does not apply in 

 this subject, at present at any rate. 



It may therefore be worth while to consider whether it be not 

 possible to teach current electricity to young boys, say of four- 

 teen or fifteen, whose mathematical equipment is small and 

 whose acquaintance with the rest of Physics is small or 

 altogether lacking. 



The first question is whether it be possible to dispense with 

 a knowledge of electrostatics, for the delay in beginning 

 electricity is caused by the necessity of acquiring enough 

 mechanics to treat this subject with sufficient fulness. Useful 

 testimony can be had from those who have tried to do so. 

 Here a personal reference may be permitted. As a Civil 

 Servant, I am precluded from publishing, even in the most 

 general terms, any results of experience gained in the Govern- 

 ment establishments with which I have had the honour to be 

 connected and what is said in this paper has reference only to 

 other schools, where of course the conditions are in many 

 respects different ; but some fifteen years ago I made this 

 experiment at a great public school and each year's experience 

 there only strengthened my conviction that it was workable and 

 advantageous. 



By following the lines of Clerk Maxwell's treatise on electricity, 

 it is possible to produce an excellent course for boys of eighteen 

 or nineteen who have a fair knowledge of mathematics and 

 elementary mechanics. An outline of the steps leading to Ohm's 

 Law in such a course will be useful for comparison with what is 

 proposed for much younger boys. First comes a somewhat 

 abstract treatment of electrostatics, in which charge is regarded 

 as the end of a tube of force and much ingenuity is required 

 in order to bring the mathematical problems of Attractions 

 within range of schoolboys. The flow of electricity is then con- 

 sidered ; electromotive force is defined on an electromechanical 

 and current on an electromagnetic basis ; the ratio of the former 

 to the latter in a conductor is named its Resistance and this 

 ratio is proved experimentally to be independent of the current 

 density and electric potential of the conductor but to depend on 

 its material, form and temperature. 



This is a perfectly logical treatment of potential and Ohm's 

 Law ; but it is entirely unsuitable for young boys and will be 

 more intelligible to older boys if they have previously acquired 



