33 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



enjoys is greatly due to bis having early learned one simple physio- 

 logical lesson. 



Turning again to the class subjects, last year elementary science 

 was only taken in forty-five schools out of twenty thousand. Tbis, 

 however, was not because it was unpopular, but simply on account of 

 tbe rules laid down in the Code. According to Mr. Williams, gram- 

 mar — which, under compulsion, was taken in over nineteen thousand 

 schools — was not a popular subject, and, if only the Code permitted it, 

 it would be dropped in half his schools. One of her Majesty's inspect- 

 ors, in the last report, seemed to regard it as an advantage of gram- 

 mar that " its processes require no instruments, no museums, no labora- 

 tories." This, on tbe contrary, is one of its drawbacks. It fails to 

 bring the children into any contact with Nature. Indeed, Helmholtz is 

 probably correct in his view, that the rules of grammar; followed, as 

 tbey are, by long strings of exceptions, weaken the power of realizing 

 natural laws. Again, it is surely undesirable to attach so much impor- 

 tance to the minutiae of spelling. Dr. Gladstone has shown that the 

 irregularities of English spelling cause, on an average, the loss of more 

 than one thousand hours in the school-life of each child. "A thousand 

 hours in the most precious seed-time of life of millions of children, 

 spent in learning that i must follow e in conceive, and precede it in be- 

 lieve ; that two e's must, no one knew why, come together in proceed 

 and exceed, and be separated in precede and accede ; that uncle must 

 be spelled with a c, but ankle with a Jc, and numberless other and 

 equally profitless conventions ! And this, while lessons in health and 

 thrift, sewing and cooking, which should make the life of the poor 

 tolerable, and elementary singing and drawing, which should make it 

 pleasant and push out lower and degrading amusements, are, in many 

 cases, almost vainly trying to obtain admission." At present, we really 

 seem to follow the example of Democritus, who is said to have put out 

 his eyes, in order that he might reason better. It was a truer instinct 

 which identified the "seer" and the "prophet." It seems very unde- 

 sirable that our rules should be so stringent as to lay down a " flatten- 

 ing-iron " over schools, but if the cboice of subjects were dictated at 

 all, why, of all subjects in the world, should grammar, with its dry 

 and bewildering technicalities, be especially favored ? I do not, how- 

 ever, wish to disparage grammar ; all I desire is, that it should not 

 block the way ; that elementary science should have a fair chance. 

 The three objections which are sometimes heard, especially at school- 

 board elections, are over-pressure, over-expense, and over-education. 

 That there is really no general over-pressure, Mr. Fitch and Mr. Syd- 

 ney Buxton have satisfied most impartial judges. Still, the relief af- 

 forded by a change from literature to science, from books to nature, 

 from taxes on memory to the stimulus of observation, is no doubt of 

 the most grateful character. 



Mr. Matthew Arnold, in his recent " Report on Certain Points 



