284 SCIENCE IN EDUCATION 



absent from the minds of the reformers. Science has 

 many and far-reaching practical applications. It has 

 called into existence many new trades and professions, 

 and has greatly modified many of those of older date. 

 In a thousand varied ways it has come into the ordi- 

 nary affairs of every-day life. Its cultivation has 

 brought innumerable material benefits ; its neglect 

 would obviously entail many serious industrial dis- 

 advantages, and could not fail to leave us behind in 

 the commercial progress of the nations of the globe. 



So much have these considerations pressed upon 

 the attention of the public in recent years that, besides 

 all the other educational machinery to which I have 

 referred, technical schools have been established in 

 many towns for the purpose of teaching the theory 

 as well as the practice of various arts and industries, 

 and making artisans understand the nature of the 

 processes with which their trades are concerned. 



That this educational transformation, which has 

 been advancing during the century, has resulted in 

 great benefit to the community at large can hardly 

 be denied. Besides the obvious material gains, there 

 has been a widening of the whole range and methods 

 of our teaching ; the old subjects are better, because 

 more scientifically, taught, and the new subjects enlist 

 the attention and sympathy of large classes of pupils 

 whom the earlier studies only languidly interested. 

 Nevertheless, it is incumbent on those who have ad- 

 vocated and carried out this change to ask themselves 

 whether it has brought with it no drawbacks. They 

 may be sure that no such extensive reform could 

 possibly be introduced without defects appearing in it 



