836 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION I. 



which will serve thetn in good stead when in the higher of 

 the school classes they come to study the different branches 

 of science more fully. It goes without saying, that in order 

 to ensure children's education being- real and not mere in- 

 struction or cram, no managers and teachers of the Gradgrind 

 and Chokemchild type should have control of primary schools. 

 But such types are now happily uncommon. 



As to the time when children might profitably begin to learn 

 science, I consider that under pi'operly quahfied teachers, who 

 know how to respect mental as well as bodily weakness in 

 the imposition of burdens, there is no reason why scientific 

 education should not begin in the nursery or Kindergarten ; 

 where, rather in the way of amusement than by set lessons, 

 clear notions may be gained by children about things that 

 can be seen, handled, and compared ; curiosity may be 

 excited ; and the instructive tendency to generalise and to 

 trace causes may be developed and directed. I do not mean 

 it to be implied that children should be instructed about 

 nothing beyond what they can see, hear, handle, or taste. 

 It is essential that the faculty of imagination should be 

 exercised within due bounds. It is good for them to be 

 helped in forming some clear conceptions about many things 

 that cannot be brought bodily under their observation. For 

 this purpose a plentiful supply of pictures will be found 

 useful ; and, with or without these, graphic descriptions should 

 be given in easy language, care being taken to assist their 

 conception of the unseen as far as possible by comparison 

 with things they have seen. Nor is it desirable to occupy so 

 much of the children's time with the beginnings of science, 

 as to leave too little for the beginnings of literature. Nursery 

 rhymes and easy poetry, the learning of which is objected to 

 by many parents as a waste of time, have important uses, as 

 likewise have fables and interesting stories of adventure. 

 Recitation of rhymes and poetry is a valuable exercise for 

 developing clearness in the articulation of words. Fables 

 and stories, in the reading of which no stress is laid on 

 remembrance of the subject-matter, give the imagination 

 scope, and afford a good relaxation from more serious work ; 

 while facility in the art of reading is acquired pleasantly, 

 instead of painfully. But even the subject-matter may 

 sometimes be turned to good account. For instance, a 

 beginning might be made in developing the critical faculty, 

 by leading children in a humorous way to perceive little Jack 

 Horner's inistake, yyhen he thought, as the rhyme seems tq 



