INTRODUCTION 9 



these institutions without giving evidence of good general 

 education, and four years will generally be occupied in securing 

 the diploma. In all such cases it is necessary to bear in mind 

 that a thorough grounding in general principles is essential to 

 the successful study of the technical applications of the different 

 branches of science concerned. Mathematics are becoming 

 more and more indispensable to the student of chemistry. 



It is sufficient here to point out that an ordinary schoolboy 

 cannot be made into a chemist in a day or in a year or two, and 

 the process is expensive. 



The relation of our educational systems to practical ends in 

 manufactures and in trade and commerce has been the subject 

 of much discussion in recent times. So also has the difficult 

 problem as to the arrangements by which manufacturers can 

 make use of scientific assistance and the chemists engaged for 

 industrial employment can gain that knowledge of the business 

 into which they are introduced which alone can enable them to 

 apply their scientific training and skill to the problems which 

 confront them in the works. 



There can be no doubt that in the universities and colleges, 

 and perhaps also in secondary and even elementary schools, 

 the view to practical applications of knowledge will in future 

 be kept more distinctly before both teachers and taught. In- 

 centives to industry and concentrated attention will probably 

 be found for the majority of both boys and girls when they 

 realise that what they are expected to learn at school will have 

 a direct influence on their material progress when they go out 

 into the world. And in this connection it will be an advantage 

 if the principles of economics and the sources of the wealth of 

 nations are not overlooked by the teacher in laying the founda- 

 tion of a sound knowledge of the physical and biological branches 

 of science. The relation of man to the universe in which he finds 

 himself will continue to exercise a fascination sufficient for the 

 exceptional few, but it is probable, and doubtless for the best, 

 that " bread-and-butter " studies will continue to be most 

 attractive to the many. The most serious charge which can be 

 preferred against the time-honoured classical system of education 

 is not so much that a knowledge of two dead languages and their 

 literature has but little to do with the conditions of modern life, 

 but that in consequence of the defective methods of teaching 

 hitherto prevalent, school teachers have failed to communicate 



