122 SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION : v 



The next question to which I have to address 

 myself is, What sciences ought to be thus taught ? 

 And this is one of the most important of ques- 

 tions, because my side (I am afraid I am a terribly 

 candid friend) sometimes spoils its cause by going 

 in for too much. There are other forms of culture 

 beside physical science ; and I should be pro- 

 foundly sorry to see the fact forgotten, or even to 

 observe a tendency to starve, or cripple, literary, 

 or aesthetic, culture for the sake of science. Such 

 a narrow view of the nature of education has 

 nothing to do with my firm conviction that a 

 complete and thorough scientific culture ought to 

 be introduced into all schools. By this, however, 

 I do not mean that every schoolboy should be 

 taught everything in science. That would be a 

 very absurd thing to conceive, and a very mischie- 

 vous thing to attempt. What I mean is, that no 

 boy nor girl should leave school without possessing 

 a grasp of the general character of science, and 

 without having been disciplined, more or less, in 

 the methods of all sciences ; so that, when turned 

 into the world to make their own way, they shall 

 be prepared to face scientific problems, not by 

 knowing at once the conditions of every problem, 

 or by being able at once to solve it ; but by being 

 familiar with the general current of scientific 

 thought, and by being able to apply the methods 

 of science in the proper way, when they have 

 acquainted themselves with the conditions of the 

 special problem. 



