io8 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of them have even chemical laboratories 

 which mauy a professional chemist would 

 not despise. 



Now, is not all this truly admirable and 

 worthy of imitation ? Is it a wonder that 

 we find among the Germans so many scien- 

 tific speciahsts, so many laymen taking the 

 liveliest and most intelligent interest in sci- 

 entific researches, so many journals devoted 

 to popular science ? What do we have in 

 France instead of all this ? Only a few dry 

 scientific lessons a week, which repel rather 

 than interest most of the pupils of our ly- 

 ceums. Those who achieve eminence in 

 science afterward have to learn their rudi- 

 ments in natural history at the colleges, and 

 then to possess not only a natural procUv- 

 ity, but also special gifts for that kind of 



study. England is in this respect still worse 

 off than we. The best proof of this is to be 

 found in the fact that, whenever that coun- 

 try sends out a scientific expedition, most 

 of the branches of research have to be in- 

 trusted to German savants. May our gov- 

 ernment, which I know to be animated with 

 the earnest desire of perfecting our system 

 of instruction in our lyceums, turn no deaf 

 ear to my humble voice. Let us learn from 

 our powerful neighbors in Germany. They 

 appreciate the value of early practical and 

 theoretical instruction in natural science. 

 True, they have not so brilliant a galaxy 

 of scientists as we have in Paris ; but the 

 knowledge which their youngest pupils pos- 

 sess in natural history far surpasses that 

 acquired in our lyceums. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



COFFEE-HOUSES AGAINST RUM-SHOPS. 



THE contrasts of the deductive and 

 inductive habits of mind are seen 

 in philanthropy as well as philosophy, 

 and give rise to two schools of reform- 

 ers. What we may call deductive re- 

 formers start from general principles, 

 and many of them never get much fur- 

 ther. Reformers of this stamp are apt 

 to be impracticable. Whether their 

 plans can be carried out, or what the 

 results may be, concerns them much 

 less than the soundness of the postu- 

 lates. If the cause be right, and the 

 evils and wrongs attacked are undoubt- 

 ed evils and wrongs, they hammer away 

 at them, generation after generation, 

 regardless of anything except that they 

 are in the line of their duty. This 

 school has no patience with expediency, 

 which seeks for the best thing under 

 the circumstances, because it abhors 

 the philosophy of circumstances, and 

 will never compromise high principles. 

 Reformers of this type generally work 

 with the tongue rather than the hand, 

 and their crusades are for the dissemi- 

 nation of their doctrines. They may 

 do a great deal of good, but there is a 

 great deal of practicable good that they 

 certainly tail to do. 



There is another class of reformers 



whose habits of thought are more in- 

 ductive, viz., they study the facts first, 

 perhaps make trial or experiments with 

 them, allow for conditions, aim at at- 

 tainable ends, and form their conclu- 

 sions on the basis of experience. They 

 may have just as decisive views in re- 

 gard to abstract rights and wrongs as 

 the opposite school ; but, as the world 

 is constituted, they think that wisdom 

 consists in following expedient and prac- 

 ticable courses by which actual results 

 can be reached. They therefore take 

 into account many considerations which 

 the other party ignores, and are apt to 

 be looked upon as temporizing, make- 

 shift, and patchwork philanthropists. 



These two attitudes of mind are 

 well illustrated in the temperance re- 

 form. A large party has been striving 

 for half a century to eradicate the evils 

 of intemperance by proclaiming certain 

 great inflexible principles and insisting 

 upon their being uncompromisingly 

 carried out. Immense evils result from 

 the use of alcoholic drinks as bever- 

 ages, and it has been thought to extir- 

 pate these evils by reprobating the use 

 of anything alcoholic under any cir- 

 cumstances, and by outlawing the com- 

 merce in these beverages. The rum- 

 shops have been denounced, and the 



