58 LAY SERMONS, ESSAYS, AND REVIEWS. [iv. 



satisfied with telling him that a magnet attracts iron. Let him 

 see that it does ; let him feel the pull of the one upon the other 

 for himself. And, especially, tell him that it is his duty to doubt 

 until he is compelled, by the absolute authority of Nature, to 

 believe that which is written in books. Pursue this discipline 

 carefully and conscientiously, and you may make sure that, how 

 ever scanty may be the measure of information which you have 

 poured into the boy s mind, you have created an intellectual 

 habit of priceless value in practical life. 



One is constantly asked, When should this scientific education 

 be commenced ? I should say with the dawn of intelligence. 

 As I have already said, a child seeks for information about 

 matters of physical science as soon as it begins to talk. The 

 first teaching it wants is an object-lesson of one sort or another ; 

 and as soon as it is fit for systematic instruction of any kind, 

 it is fit for a modicum of science. 



People talk of the difficulty of teaching young children such 

 matters, and in the same breath insist upon their learning their 

 Catechism, which contains propositions far harder to comprehend 

 than anything in the educational course I have proposed. Again : 

 I am incessantly told that we, who advocate the introduction of 

 science in schools, make no allowance for the stupidity of the 

 average boy or girl ; but, in my belief, that stupidity, in nine 

 cases out of ten, &quot;Jit, non nascitur&quot; and is developed by a long 

 process of parental and pedagogic repression of the natural intel 

 lectual appetites, accompanied by a persistent attempt to create 

 artificial ones for food which is not only tasteless, but essentially 

 indigestible. 



Those who urge the difficulty of instructing young people in 

 science are apt to forget another very important condition of 

 success important in all kinds of teaching, but most essential, I 

 am disposed to think, when the scholars are very young. This 

 condition is, that the teacher should himself really and practically 

 know his subject. If he does, he will be able to speak of it in the 

 easy language, and with the completeness of conviction, with which 

 he talks of any ordinary every-day matter. If he does not, he 



