92 FKAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



child is like a sheet of white paper, on which by edu- 

 cation we can write what characters we please. This 

 doctrine assuredly needs qualification and correction. 

 In physics, when an external force is applied to a body 

 with a view of affecting its inner texture, if we wish to 

 predict the result, we must know whether the external 

 force conspires with or opposes the internal forces of 

 the body itself; and in bringing the influence of edu- 

 cation to bear upon the new-born man his inner powers 

 also must be taken into account. He comes to us as a 

 bundle of inherited capacities and tendencies, labelled 

 * from the indefinite past to the indefinite future; ' 

 and he makes his transit from the one to the other 

 through the education of the present time. The ob- 

 ject of that education is, or ought to be, to provide wise 

 exercise for his capacities, wise direction for his ten- 

 dencies, and through this exercise and this direction to 

 furnish his mind with such knowledge as may con- 

 tribute to the usefulness, the beauty, and the noble- 

 ness of his life. 



How is this discipline to be secured, this knowledge 

 imparted? Two rival methods now solicit attention, 

 the one organised and equipped, the labour of centuries 

 having been expended in bringing it to its present 

 state of perfection; the other, more or less chaotic, but 

 becoming daily less so, and giving signs of enormous 

 power, both as a source of knowledge and as a means of 

 discipline. These two methods are the classical and 

 the scientific method. I wish they were not rivals; it 

 is only bigotry and short-sightedness that make them 

 so; for assuredly it is possible to give both of them fair 

 play. Though hardly authorised to express an opinion 

 upon the subject, I nevertheless hold the opinion that 

 the proper study of a language is an intellectual disci- 

 pline of the highest kind. If I except discussions on 



