182 THE IDEALS OF A SCIENCE SCHOOL 



interest in the established order of things in league 

 against it, happily, as we now may feel assured, quite 

 in vain. Haphazard as we are as a nation, mere 

 mental inertia and conservatism does not explain the 

 unfortunate position in which we find ourselves 

 to-day as regards the neglect of science in our 

 universities and educational institutions. Without 

 the powerful and active opposition of the representa- 

 tives of the established and organised religions, 

 clinging to old creeds which have ceased to be 

 credible, the classical element alone would have been 

 powerless. Men of common sense may be trusted 

 not to commit the cause, say, of temperance to 

 brewers, or to hand over key industries to the control 

 of foreign rivals and competitors. So in the new 

 regime, which may not be better but at least can 

 hardly be worse, I trust there may be sufficient men 

 of ordinary common sense not to entrust the direction 

 of science in our universities to the unholy alliance of 

 the pagan classics and the Christian Church which 

 hitherto has been dominant therein. 



It is only because of the lessons we, as a nation, 

 have learned in the war that I have thought it worth 

 while raising again such questions while I have been 

 in Aberdeen. I am well aware that for more than 

 fifty years scientific men in this country have given 

 their testimony in vain, regarding the evil conse- 

 quences of the survival of the classical system of 

 education and the ignorance and misunderstanding 

 of science. The sphere of knowledge in which, by 

 common consent, this age is the greatest that the 

 world has ever seen remains still outside the under- 

 standing of those in whose hands our national and 

 educational destinies have been committed. Its 

 rightful place has been taken by the studies of the 

 languages, history and customs of two, or, if we 

 include the ancient Hebrews, three nations, which, 



