418 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



probably continue to furnish matter for 

 debate for some time to come. Mr, 

 Preece finds fault with those physicists 

 who object to recognize in electricity a 

 form of energy, and insists that the en- 

 gineer has a right to speak of electricity 

 as he finds it, and therefore to speak 

 of it as " energy." This is a dispute 

 into which we can not enter further 

 than to say that the arguments urged 

 by Mr. Preece do not seem to us to 

 touch the position of the physicists. 

 We are with him entirely, however, 

 when he says that "the engineer feels 

 tliat steam and electricity in his hands 

 have done more to economize labor, to 

 cheapen living, to increase wealth, to 

 promote international friendship, to al- 

 leviate suffering, to ward oflf war, to 

 encourage peace, than all the legislation 

 and all the verbosity of the politician." 

 It is satisfactory to think that, while 

 science is being railed at in certain quar- 

 ters, its methods are being ever more 

 fruitful of good to mankind. Science 

 is doing its part nobly in the world, 

 and, if moral results do not seem to 

 keep pace with the enlightenment of the 

 age, that should be a matter of special 

 concern to those who feel themselves 

 responsible for the moral interests of 

 the community. May it not be reason- 

 ably said that, if they would do their 

 work as well as the man of science is 

 doing his, an equal success would crown 

 their labors ? It is all doubtless a mat- 

 ter of the adjustment of means to end ; 

 and, when the right means are employed 

 in the moral sphere, we may expect to 

 see there a progress not less marked 

 than that which is now taking place in 

 theoretical and practical science. 



THE ABUSE OF EXAMI2^ATI0N3. 



No more timely or important docu- 

 ment has been given to the world, of 

 late years, than the protest reprinted in 

 our present number from the " Nine- 

 teenth Century," on the subject of the 

 sacrifice of education to examinations. 

 The protest in question is signed by the 



leading educators of Great Britain, and 

 by many others eminent in science and 

 letters. It is re-enforced by separate ar- 

 ticles by England's greatest philologist, 

 Prof. Max Muller; her greatest historian, 

 Prof. Freeman; and her most brilliant 

 and philosophical essayist, Mr. Frederic 

 Harrison. All these men see clearly 

 that a great intellectual and moral in- 

 jury is being done to the nation by an 

 excessive use of examinations, and, gen- 

 erally, by an excessive stimulation of the 

 work of education. The universities do 

 their own share of mischief by offering 

 large pecuniary prizes as the rewards of 

 proficiency tested by examinations. The 

 Government helps on the evil cause by 

 making access to the public service a 

 simple question of " marks." Teachers 

 obtain their positions and schools their 

 grants in the same way ; while the un- 

 fortunate pupils are having their studies 

 continually interrupted in order that 

 some one may grub at the roots of their 

 growing knowledge for the purpose of 

 spying out how weak a thing it is, and, 

 in doing so, making it still weaker. 



The philosophy of the whole businecs 

 is simple enough. So long as the intel- 

 lectual development of a country is fol- 

 lowing a simple, unforced course, educa- 

 tion will be pursued for the sake of the 

 essential benefits it brings; and edu- 

 cators will think chiefly, if not exclu- 

 sively, of the true intellectual interests 

 of their pupils. There will not be a fe- 

 verish anxiety to ascertain the precise 

 results achieved at a score of different 

 points in a course of instruction. It 

 will rather be taken for granted that 

 only those who desire to profit wUl seek 

 instruction, and that the result of their 

 studies will appear in some spontaneous 

 form in later days. If questions are 

 asked, it will be for the sake of exciting 

 intellectual interest, or of giving an op- 

 portunity for diversities of treatment of 

 a certain topic. It will not be done in 

 the spirit of the highwayman who offers 

 ybu the alternative of surrendering your 

 money or your life. But wiien once a 



