NATURAL OR SCIENTIFIC METHOD IN EDUCATION. 21 



then considered education. I have for a long period been trying 

 to undo the harm wrought and make up for what was omitted at 

 the most impressionable period of life, and I feel to this day that 

 I have not wholly got rid of some of the evil effects. There was 

 not only no science in the course, but the very methods used were 

 radically opposed to science and to such knowledge of our organi- 

 zation as I am endeavoring to show is now well enough estab- 

 lished. There was no freedom ; the senses were utterly neglected ; 

 and human nature could not develop by such methods as were in 

 vogue. 



But many will no doubt think the case overdrawn, and point 

 to the fact that development has actually gone on satisfactorily, 

 and that our present standing in science and other subjects is a 

 proof of it. Happily, it is not possible for Nature to be wholly 

 repressed. We develop in spite of bad methods. The boy de- 

 velops out of school if not in it. The great mass are educated by 

 their work and other associations that make up their every-day 

 life. Some of the best-educated people have never been inside of 

 a school. 



The great fertilizing ideas of our age, coming from the mint 

 of genius and embodied in a way that appeals to all and in a 

 measure educates all, have been at work. Who can estimate how 

 great a part such a man as Edison, to mention a single instance, 

 has played in the true education of our period ? I purposely now 

 select a practical man rather than a pure scientist. The great 

 difficulty that most teachers would mention, I suppose, in the way 

 of accomplishing their ends is in getting children interested, for 

 children work when they are stimulated by interest. Yet this 

 difficulty is not experienced with the kindergarten method at the 

 beginning, nor in any serious degree with wisely devised labora- 

 tory work later at college. Why is a boy more interested in his 

 sports than in his studies ? Partly, at all events, because the 

 former are better suited to his nature, to his development, than 

 his studies as sometimes conducted. 



Introduce scientific methods, and introduce science itself ac- 

 cording to the laws that underlie our organization, and you will 

 revolutionize our schools. To hope for this at once, even if 

 the object were clearly perceived by all immediately concerned 

 in education, would be Utopian; but success comes to those 

 who strive persistently and wisely with a true ideal clearly in 

 view. 



I should like it well understood that the same methods that 

 apply to what is usually termed science are also adapted for all 

 other subjects. We use at least some of the same faculties, and 

 it is the same mind that is engaged, whether with literature or 

 science. I have already endeavored to show that one who pursues 



