250 Onto State ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
present time due to the classical education that is dealt out by 
our institutions of Higher Education? Surely he must be a 
prejudiced partisan who will dare to answer this question in the 
affirmative. 
Unquestionably, my friends, the scientific side of life has 
the upper hand at the present time. The greatest advancement 
in modern times has been along all lines of science and no one 
can doubt that this will continue for many generations to come. 
Our secondary schools are and, of course, should be con- 
servative institutions, but they like everything else must bow to 
the inevitable. They cannot maintain a course that is not in 
harmony with modern development. It is difficult to make an 
engineer believe that his success is due to the classical education 
that he may have had in his youth, and it will be still harder to 
make him see how his son’s prospects in life will be spoiled by 
pursuing the sciences in the high school rather than Latin. 
A new doctrine of philosophy put forth today, however 
plausible it may be, does not cause more than a ripple on the 
surface. The world reads about it, gives it a moment’s thought 
and then forgets it. It is not so with the fate of some new 
invention or discovery. Surely no philosopher or literary man 
of modern times has stirred the world of thought as has Marcon. 
Nothing but theories in former times could furnish wings to the 
imagination, while today man finds outlet in things that are real, 
in things that will benefit the human race in a material way. 
This is a materialistic age, however much we may regret the 
fact, yet fact it remains. The whole tendency of modern times 
is in this direction. Man is no longer punished for what he 
thinks. Little does it matter to me what my neighbor’s theories 
and beliefs are, provided his acts are right and he allows me to 
live in peaceable possession of what I call my own. The modern 
institution of learning, be it Higher or Secondary, must recognize 
these facts and govern itself accordingly. 
If we but pick up the text books of science of twenty years 
ago we shall see that the science work that was done at that time 
by our colleges is now being better done by our high schools. Is 
this true of other things? Did not our youth who were intended 
for the university 1n former times begin the study of Latin at 
the age of seven or eight years? Does anyone advocate this idea 
at the present time? 
Then is it not plain that this scientific idea has already influ- 
enced and is still influencing our schools? And who will dare to 
say where the end may be? No, my friends, hard as it may seem 
to some of us, our schools must and will reflect, and be in har- 
mony with the modern tendency, and all the argument and 
eloquence of a Demosthenes or a Gladstone can not prevent it 
