iss-l I I riON -141 



///////?' They seem to me very clever, though obscurely Letter 773 

 written; and I agree with almost everything he says, exc 

 with some passages which appear to imply that 11 peri- 



ments should bo tried unless some immediate good can be 

 predicted, and this is ntic mistake contradicted by the 



whole history of science. 



P.S.— That is a curious fact about babies. I remember 

 on good authority that very young babies when 

 moved arc apt to clutch hold of anything, and I thought of 

 your explanation ; but > "Ur case during sleep is a much more 

 interesting one. Very man}' thanks for the book, which I 

 much wanted to see; it shall be sent back to-day, as from 

 iu, to the Society. 



II. Miscellaneous Subjects, 1S67 — 18S2. 



To Canon Farrar. I , -- 



The lecture which forms the subject of this letter was one delivered 

 by Canon Farrar at the Royal Institution, "On Some Defects in Public 

 S< hool Education." 



Down, March 5th, 1S67. 



I am very much obliged for your kind present of your 

 lecture. We have read it aloud with the greatest interest, 

 and 1 agree to every word. 1 admire your candour and 

 wonderful freedom from prejudice; for I feel an inward 

 conviction that if I had been a great classical scholar 1 should 

 never have been able to have judged fairly on the >u ] 

 As it is, I am one of the root and branch men, and would 

 have classics to be learnt by those alone who have sufficient 

 zeal and the high taste requisite for their appreciation. Y. u 

 have indeed done a great public service in speaking out • 

 boldly. Scientific men might rail for ever, and it would only 

 be said that they railed at what they did not understand. 1 

 was at school at Shrewsbury under a great scholar, Dr. Butler; 

 1 learnt absolutely nothing, except by amusing myself by 

 reading and experimenting in chemistry. Dr. Butler somehow- 

 found this out, and publicly sneered at me before the whole 

 school for such gross waste <.A time ; I remember he called me 



1 Fortnightly AVr .'.:,■. XXX., p. 778 ; ( nhill Afq& . XLV., 



p. 191. The articles are by the late Edmund Gurney, author 1 1 . 

 Port 'cr of Sound. 1 SSo. 



