250 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



metliods of scientific instruction are urgently in need of reform. It 

 remains to show that the practice of crowding so many different sci- 

 ences into the brief period of school life is causing serious injury, not 

 only to the sciences themselves but to education as a whole. This 

 injury is especially due to the practice, which is part and parcel of 

 the present system, of introducing scientific studies into the work of 

 each one of the seven or eight years of school education, Nearly as 

 much time is now devoted to science in the early years of school life 

 as in the later, and before any real improvement can take place in 

 scientific instruction the impression at present obtaining, that the 

 earlier physical science is made a part of school education the better, 

 must undergo some modification. This idea is based on the fact, 

 which is a matter of common observation, that young children dis- 

 play great curiosity in regard to natural phenomena, and derive much 

 pleasure from information in response to their questions concerning 

 causes and results. But while this constitutes an excellent reason 

 for encouraging the spontaneous activity of childish minds in the 

 direction of Nature's laws, it hardly affords adequate ground for in- 

 corporating systematic scientific instruction into the routine work 

 of their early years. It seems to be pretty generally agreed that the 

 object of school education is to train the intellect to act readily as 

 the servant of the will in that life-work whose honorable fulfillment is 

 the aim of all education, and to store the mind with knowledge on 

 the many subjects where ignorance would be prejudicial to success in 

 that life-work. Now, the first of these objects is not likely to be 

 furthered by allowing the studies most agreeable to a pupil to take 

 precedence of others which require more effort, and therefore con- 

 stitute a better mental training. There is a great deal of sound com- 

 mon sense in the old nursery rhyme which tells us: 



" The twelve Miss Pelicoes, you plainly see, were taught 

 To do the things they did not like, which means the things they ought." 



To be taught to do the things we do not like is a very important 

 element in our education, especially in the education of our early 

 years, for if that part of our training is neglected then, it can never 

 be really made up to us, and we are at a disadvantage in adult life 

 as regards the habit of self-restraint which constitutes the best basis 

 for ultimate success. I do not apologize for obtruding what may 

 appear a truism, for the neglect of the vital principle it contains is 

 fast becoming a crying evil in the education of young children. As 

 regards the second object of education, that of informing the mind, 

 it can only be achieved by prolonged and vigorous exertion in the 

 acquirement of many kinds of knowledge besides that of natural sci- 

 ence; which knowledge, while it may be less interesting to a young 



