290 SCIENCE IN EDUCATION 



put. Science must be pursued for her own sake, in 

 the first instance, and without reference to any- 

 pecuniary benefits she may be able to confer. We 

 never can tell when the most theoretical part of pure 

 science may be capable of being turned to the most 

 important practical uses. Who could have surmised, 

 for instance, that in the early tentative experiments 

 of Volta, Galvani, and others last century lay the germ 

 of the modern world-grasping electric telegraph ? Or 

 when Wedgwood, at the beginning of this century, 

 copied paintings by the agency of light upon nitrate 

 of silver, who could have foretold that he was laying 

 the foundations of the marvellous art of photo- 

 graphy. 



There can be no more pernicious doctrine than 

 that which would measure the commercial value of 

 science by its immediate practical usefulness, and would 

 restrict its place in education to those only of its 

 sub-divisions which may be of service to the industries 

 of the present time. Such a curtailed method of 

 instruction is not education in the true sense of the 

 term. It is only a kind of cramming for a specific 

 purpose, and the knowledge which it imparts, being 

 one-sided and imperfect, is of little value beyond its 

 own limited range. I by no means wish to under- 

 value the importance of technical instruction. By 

 all means let our artisans know as much as can be 

 taught them regarding the nature and laws of the 

 scientific processes in which they are engaged. But 

 it is not by mere technical instruction that we shall 

 maintain and extend the industrial and commercial 

 greatness of the country. If we are not only to hold 



