Liberal Education. 271 



cosmopolitan and hospitable in mind. These are 

 reasons why classical learning should not be given 

 up. They are reasons why it will never be given 

 up, but will be rationalized in its method and ex 

 tended in its province. 



To illustrate more fully what is meant by say 

 ing that the proper way to teach is to begin with 

 the concrete, we shall take the case of one of the 

 natural sciences as it has been skilfully treated 

 by Mr. Wilson, in his contribution to the present 

 volume. His essay shows that science is often 

 quite as cumbrously taught as the classics ; but it 

 also shows how it ought to be taught. 



Botany and experimental physics, according to 

 Mr. Wilson, are of all branches of science the most 

 interesting and the most intellectually profitable 

 to children. Let us suppose, then, that we have 

 a class of moderately intelligent children to start in 

 botany : how shall we begin the subject in order 

 that it may be made at once interesting and intel 

 lectually profitable ? Text-books will not help us 

 much. For instance, Dr. Gray s excellent little 

 book, &quot; How Plants Grow,&quot; begins as follows : 



Plants are chiefly made up of three parts, namely, 

 of root, stem, and leaves. These are called the plant s 

 organs ; that is, its instruments. And as these parts 

 are all that any plant needs for its growth, or vegeta 

 tion, they are called the ORGANS OF VEGETATION. 



