1889.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 37 



It was SO voted; and the Chair announced that lie would name 

 the Committee afterward. 



The paper of the evening was then read^ entitled 



THE TEACHING OF NATURAL SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS. 

 BY H. HENSOLDT. 



The author presented, with great beauty and clearness, the 

 varied and important grounds upon which science has claimed, 

 and in measure obtained, a larger share than formerly was ac- 

 corded to it in the curricula of schools and colleges both in this 

 country and abroad. He pleaded earnestly for yet further en- 

 largement in this direction, and opposed strongly the occupa- 

 tion of time in our institutions by the pursuit of ancient classics 

 and higher mathematics, regarding these as bygone forms of 

 culture, which have served their purpose, and must be laid 

 aside, or reduced, in the interest of branches more adapted to 

 the needs and the spirit of the present time. 



The paper called forth an active discussion, participated in by 

 Mr. Sieberg, Dr. Boltox, Dr. A. J. Eickoff, Mr. H. A. 

 Kelly, Dr. Friedrich, the President, and others. The 

 general trend of the discussion, while recognizing all that is 

 claimed as to the importance of science in education, was not 

 favorable to the abolition of either classics or higher mathema- 

 tics as important elements of the course. 



A VISITOR presented an earnest plea for the classical lan- 

 guages as the basis of all general culture, in distinction from a 

 narrow specialism or alow "j^ractical'' materialism. 



Dr. Bolton spoke of his experience during the years of his 

 connection with Trinity College, as professor of chemistry, and 

 of the marked superiority, even in scientific study, of those stu- 

 dents who had enjoyed a classical training over those who had 

 not. 



Dr. Friedrich described the methods of science-teaching 

 employed in the schools of Switzerland. 



Dr. Rickoff stated that practical scientific instruction had 

 been introduced with great success into the course pursued in 



