1868.] SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS. 261 



principle, the learner may be stimulated to deduce from it results 

 which lie beyond the bounds of his experience. The subsequent 

 verification of his deduction by experiment never fails to excite 

 his interest and awaken his delight. The effects obtained in the 

 class-room will be made the key to the explanation of natural 

 phenomena, — of thunder and lightning, of rain and snow, of dew 

 and hoar-frost, of winds and waves, of atmospheric refraction and 

 reflection, of the rainbow and the mirage, of meteorites, of terres- 

 trial magnetism, of the pleasure and buoyancy of water and of 

 air. Thus the knowledge acquired by the study of experimental 

 physics is, of itself, of the highest value, while the acquisition of 

 that knowledge brings into healthful and vigorous play every 

 faculty of the learner's mind. Not only are natural phenomena 

 made the objects of intelligent observation, but they furnish 

 material for them to wrestle with and overcome ; the growth 

 of intellectual strength being the sure concomitant of the enjoy- 

 ment of intellectual victory. We do not entertain a doubt that 

 the competent teacher who loves his subject and can sympathise 

 with his pupils, will find in experimental physics a store of know- 

 ledge of the most fascinating kind, and an instrument of mental 

 training of exceeding power. 



ii. Chemistry is remarkable for the comprehensive character of 

 the training which it affords. Not only does it exercise the memory 

 and the reasoning powers, but it also teaches the student to gather 

 by his own experiments and observations the facts upon which to 

 reason. 



It affords a corrective of each of the two extremes against which 

 real educators of youth are constantly struggling. For on the one 

 hand, it leads even sluggish or uncultivated minds from simple 

 and interesting observations to general ideas and conclusions, and 

 gives them a taste of intellectual enjoyment and a desire for 

 learning. On the other hand, it checks over-confidence in mere 

 reasoning, and shows the way in which valid extensions of our 

 ideas grow out of a series of more and more rational and accurate 

 observations of external nature. 



It must not, however, be supposed that all so-called teaching of 

 chemistry produces results of this kind. Young men do occa- 

 sionally come up to public examinations with a literary acquaintance 

 with special facts and even principles of chemistry, sufficient to 

 enable them to describe those facts from some one point of view 

 and to enunciate the principles in fluent language, and yet who 



