iv.] SCIENTIFIC ED U CAT ION. G 5 



the whole of the scientific curriculum of schools. Indeed, 

 I conceive it would be one of the greatest boons which 

 could be conferred upon England, if henceforward every 

 child in the country were instructed in the general 

 knowledge of the things about it, in the elements 

 of physics, and of botany. But I should be still 

 better pleased if there could be added somewhat of 

 chemistry, and an elementary acquaintance with human 

 physiology. 



So far as school education is concerned, I want to go 

 no further just now ; and I believe that such instruction 

 would make an excellent introduction to that preparatory 

 scientific training which, as I have indicated, is so essen- 

 tial for the successful pursuit of our most important pro- 

 fessions. But this modicum of instruction must be so 

 given as to ensure real knowledge and practical discipline. 

 If scientific education is to be dealt with as mere book- 

 work, it will be better not to attempt it, but to stick to 

 the Latin Grammar, which makes no pretence to be any- 

 thing but bookwork. 



If the great benefits of scientific training are sought, 

 it is essential that such training should be real : that is 

 to say, that the mind of the scholar should be brought 

 into direct relation with fact, that he should not merely 

 be told a thing, but made to see by the use of his ow r n 

 intellect and ability that the thing is so and no otherwise. 

 The great peculiarity of scientific training, that in virtue 

 of which it cannot be replaced by any other discipline 

 whatsoever, is this bringing of the mind directly into 

 contact with fact, and practising the intellect in the 

 complctest form of induction ; that is to say, in drawing 

 conclusions from particular facts made known by imme- 

 diate observation of Nature. 



The other studies which enter into ordinary education 

 do not discipline the mind in this way. Mathematical 



