iv.] SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION. 55 



That is what I understand by scientific education. To furnish 

 a boy with such an education, it is by no means necessary that 

 he should devote his whole school existence to physical science : 

 in fact, no one would lament so one-sided a proceeding more 

 than I. Nay more, it is not necessary for him to give up more 

 than a moderate share of his time to such studies, if they be 

 properly selected and arranged, and if he be trained in them in a 

 fitting manner. 



I conceive the proper course to be somewhat as follows. To 

 begin with, let every child be instructed in those general views 

 of the phenomena of Nature for which we have no exact English 

 name. The nearest approximation to a name for what I mean, 

 which we possess, is &quot; physical geography. 1 The Germans have a 

 better, &quot; Erdkunde,&quot; (&quot; earth knowledge &quot; or &quot; geology &quot; in its 

 etymological sense,) that is to say, a general knowledge of the 

 earth, and what is on it, in it, and about it. If any one who has 

 had experience of the ways of young children will call to mind 

 their questions, he will find that so far as they can be put into 

 any scientific category, they come under this head of &quot; Erdkunde.&quot; 

 The child asks, &quot; What is the moon, and why does it shine ? 

 &quot; What is this water, and where does it run ? &quot; &quot; What is the 

 wind ? &quot; &quot; What makes the waves in the sea ? &quot; &quot; Where does 

 this animal live, and what is the use of that plant ? &quot; And if 

 not snubbed and stunted by being told not to ask foolish 

 questions, there is no limit to the intellectual craving of a young 

 child ; nor any bounds to the slow, but solid, accretion of know 

 ledge and development of the thinking faculty in this way. To 

 all such questions, answers which are necessarily incomplete, 

 though true as far as they go, may be given by any teacher whose 

 ideas represent real knowledge and not mere book learning ; and 

 a panoramic view of Nature, accompanied by a strong infusion of 

 the scientific habit of mind, may thus be placed within the reach 

 of every child of nine or ten. 



After this preliminary opening of the eyes to the great spec 

 tacle of the daily progress of Nature, as the reasoning faculties of 

 the child grow, and he becomes familiar with the use of the tools 



