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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



HO W SCIENTIFIC EDUCA TION IS 

 EVADED. 



Of the two great phases of educa- 

 tional reform, the improvement of its 

 quality, and the increase of its quantity, 

 in our judgment, as we have frequent- 

 ly said, the former is much the most im- 

 portant. W6 have abundant evidence 

 on all sides as to how easy it is to ex- 

 tend education, or that which passes 

 under its name. And the evidence is 

 equally abundant and clear of the great 

 difficulties of improving the quality of 

 that which is established under the 

 name of education. And the more it 

 is extended and organized, and official- 

 ized, the more formidable are the obsta- 

 cles to any change of method that shall 

 make it increasingly rational. A fresh 

 illustration of the tenacity of tradition- 

 al ideas, and the ingenuity with which 

 reforms of great and conceded impor- 

 tance are evaded and turned to naught, 

 was lately furnished by Sir John Lub- 

 bock in pointing out the tactics of the 

 leading English universities by which 

 the study of science and the modern 

 languages is escaped. To show how 

 the subject stands as a matter of reason 

 he first called attention to the views 

 put forth by the several English com- 

 missions appointed to inquire into the 

 management of the higher institutions. 

 The commission of 1861, which took 

 up the great public schools, reported 

 that more time should be devoted to 

 the study of modern languages, while, 

 as regards science, that it was practi- 

 cally excluded from the education of 

 the higher classes in England. "Edu- 

 cation," they say, "is, in this respect, 

 narrower than it was three centuries 

 ago, while Science has prodigiously ex- 

 tended her empire, has explored im- 

 mense tracts, divided them into prov- 

 inces, introduced into them order and 

 method, and made them accessible to 

 all. This exclusion is, in our view, a 

 plain defect, and a great practical evil. 

 It narrows unduly and injuriously the 



mental training of the young, and the 

 knowledge, interests, and pursuits, of 

 men in maturer life. Of the large 

 number of men who have little apti- 

 tude or taste for literature, there are 

 many who have an aptitude for science, 

 especially for science which deals, not 

 with abstractions, but with external 

 and sensible objects ; how many such 

 there are can never be known, as long 

 as the only education given at schools is 

 purely literary, but that such cases are 

 not rare or exceptional can hardly be 

 doubted by any one who has observed 

 either boys or men." 



In 1868 another commission was ap- 

 pointed to examine the management of 

 the English endowed schools. In their 

 report they say : "We think it estab- 

 lished that the study of natural science 

 develops, better than any other studies, 

 the observing faculties, disciplines tlie 

 intellect by teaching induction as well 

 as deduction ; supplies a useful balance 

 to the studies of language and mathe- 

 matics, and provides much instruction 

 of great value for the occupations of 



after-life." 



Finally, a third commission was ap- 

 pointed, under the presidency of the 

 Duke of Devonshire, to inquire into 

 the state of scientific instruction in 

 Great Britain, and they report that 

 " though some progress has no doubt 

 been achieved, and though there are 

 some exceptional cases of great im- 

 provement, still no adequate eftort has 

 been made to supply the deficiency of 

 scientific instruction pointed out by the 

 commissioners of 1861 and 186-t. We 

 are compelled, therefore, to record our 

 opinion that the present state of scien- 

 tific instruction in our schools is ex- 

 tremely unsatisfactory." 



These are well-matured views put 

 forth with the weight of a large num- 

 ber of the most eminent names in Eng- 

 land. The claims of scientific men for 

 time to be devoted to scientific stud- 

 ies liave been moderate. Assuming 

 the number of study-hours in a week 



