iv.J SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION. 57 



form of induction ; that is to say, in drawing conclusions from par 

 ticular facts made known by immediate observation of Nature. 



The other studies which enter into ordinary education do not 

 discipline the mind in this way. Mathematical training is almost 

 purely deductive. The mathematician starts with a few simple 

 propositions, the proof of which is so obvious that they are called 

 self-evident, and the rest of his work consists of subtle deductions 

 from them. The teaching of languages, at any rate as ordinarily 

 practised, is of the same general nature, authority and tradition 

 furnish the data, and the mental operations of the scholar are 

 deductive. 



Again : if history be the subject of study, the facts are still taken 

 upon the evidence of tradition and authority. You cannot make 

 a boy see the battle of Thermopylae for himself, or know, of his 

 own knowledge, that Cromwell once ruled England. There is no 

 getting into direct contact with natural fact by this road ; there is 

 no dispensing with authority, but rather a resting upon it. 



In all these respects, science differs from other educational 

 discipline, and prepares the scholar for common life. What have 

 we to do in every-day life ? Most of the business which demands 

 our attention is matter of fact, which needs, in the first place, to 

 be accurately observed or apprehended ; in the second, to be 

 interpreted by inductive and deductive reasonings, which are 

 altogether similar in their nature to those employed in science. 

 In the one case, as in the other, whatever is taken for granted is 

 so taken at one s own peril ; fact and reason are the ultimate 

 arbiters, and patience and honesty are the great helpers out of 

 difficulty. 



But if scientific training is to yield its most eminent results, it 

 must, I repeat, be made practical. That is to say, in explaining 

 to a child the general phenomena of Nature, you must, as far as 

 possible, give reality to your teaching by object-lessons ; in teach 

 ing him botany, he must handle the plants and dissect the flowers 

 for himself ; in teaching him physics and chemistry, you must not 

 be solicitous to fill him with information, but you must be careful 

 that what he learns he knows of his own knowledge. Don t be 



