NATURAL SCIENCE IN A LITERARY EDUCATION, loi 



I grant that literary students should study some one funda- 

 mental science more fully than I have indicated, as a guard 

 against habits of superficiality ; but if they are to make any such 

 acquaintance as it seems to me that they should with the " circle of 

 the sciences/^ it must be by means of synoptic culture courses, since 

 their literary studies will of necessity claim most of their time. 



Some scientists will think my proposal foolish and imprac- 

 ticable. It will seem to them absurd that a man should try to 

 study chemistry, for example, especially on the side of its value 

 for mental culture ; that he should be vitally interested in the 

 fundamental facts of metallurgy, in the law of definite and mul- 

 tiple proportions, and the atomic theory, and have only a very 

 languid interest in bad smells and the details of the chemical 

 laboratory. But I know that there are scientists whose standing 

 is unquestioned who believe in the value and practicability of the 

 courses that I am advocating. 



Undoubtedly some work in natural science can be satisfac- 

 torily accomplished in the schools preparatory to college. The 

 more external study of plants and animals should be made promi- 

 nent here. Ornithology in particular, now that Mr. Chapman's 

 admirable handbook and helpful works by others have been pub- 

 lished, may well furnish delight and refreshment to the youth of 

 the present and coming generations. Who can fail to be inter- 

 ested in birds — in voiced sunshine and winged music — especially 

 when the appeal is re-enforced by such writers as John Burroughs, 

 Olive Thorne Miller, Bradford Torrey, and Frank Bolles ? 



I can not think, however, that other branches of natural sci- 

 ence can be handled in a manner adequate to the needs of a broad 

 education in the secondary schools. A certain preparedness of 

 mind for college courses and a very moderate amount of acquire- 

 ment seem to be all that can be expected in many departments of 

 science from such preparatory work ; but I am not entitled to 

 have a very definite opinion on this point. 



If I say a few words in favor of natural science as a mental 

 discipline, I shall take a line of argument that is not now popu- 

 lar. Still, the educational world has its fashions. Our present 

 way of thinking, therefore, may change, at least to some degree ; 

 and mental discipline in education, the old idea of to-day, may 

 become one of the new ideas of to-morrow. 



Since Harvard University gave to its undergraduates practi- 

 cally complete freedom in the choice of the courses which lead to 

 something that it was nevertheless decided to call the A. B. de- 

 gree, the principle of election in undergraduate study has had 

 free course and been glorified. Some persons would even claim 

 that the various departments of study are substantially equal and 

 identical in disciplinary power and general educational value. 



