Nov. i8, 1875J 



NATURE 



49 



WTien we first began teaching botany and chemistry here, 

 I was so strongly impressed by the truth of this view of 

 the proper place of science in education, that I started by 

 malung the boys examine flowers and do simple reactions 

 without making them learn anything by heart, hoping fo 

 induce them to collect their facts and build up their 

 science for themselves. The result was that they did not 

 know what to do with the facts which they collected, and 

 kept losing them as fast as they picked them up. But 

 since the botany boys have been set to learn the chart by 

 heart, and since the chemistrj' boys have been using a 

 text-book, the progress made has beenfarmore satisfactory. 

 A young child's reasoning powers are so feeble that he 

 needs to be constantly guided in the use of them, and 

 before being set to observe he requires to be furnished 

 with a "cadre" in which to arrange his battalions of 

 facts. 



It may be asked why botany and chemistry should be 

 chosen in preference to other sciences, such as geology or 

 physics, which might seem likely to prove more attractive 

 to boys. Botany was chosen because it is purely a sci- 

 ence of perception, of observation and co-ordination of 

 existmg facts, and because it calls into play and directs 

 into a useful channel that natural propensity of boys to 

 collect and classify which is seen in butterfly catching and 

 stamp albums. A good deal more might be made of 

 entomology than has hitherto been attempted, but it is 

 rather a holiday than a school subject, the bases of its 

 classilication are too minute and even arbitrary, and it has 

 the disadvantage of leading almost of necessity up to sub- 

 jects too wide for boys to grasp. Chemistry was chosen 

 because it is a science of reflection, and forms the best 

 introduction to the experimental method. In chemical 

 analysis a boy has first to produce the results on which 

 he must afterwards exercise his reason ; he has to reflect 

 on and draw his conclusions from not only what he sees, 

 but what he does. He thus learns never to do anything 

 without knowing why he does it and what result he expects 

 to obtain. Chemistry also has the advantage of giving a 

 first insight into the practical applications of mathematics. 

 That indeed is the part of the subject which the majority 

 of boys find most difficult. It is rare to find a boy who 

 will readily work out arithmetically even a simple reaction. 

 In the only possible rival to chemistry — physics — the 

 simpler phenomena are much less varied and interesting, 

 the bond of union between them is less apparent, the 

 reasoning from effect to cause less patent, and there are 

 comparatively few experiments which a child could per- 

 form for itself. Physics form an admirable lecture subject, 

 but even then the necessary mathematical reasoning is 

 far beyond the capacity of an average boy of twelve. 

 Such subjects as geology and astronomy may be made 

 most interesting, and a great deal may be done by direct- 

 ing children's attention to the physical actions going on 

 in the world around them, but they are what, from a 

 schoolmaster's point of view, I should call informational 

 rather than educational sciences, their phenomena are 

 generally too vast for a child's mind really to exercise 

 itself upon them. 



It will have been noticed that in no case are we able to 

 give to science the full six hours per week recommended 

 by the Commissioners. I would gladly do so, but do not 

 think that it would be possible unless the standard for 

 the classical entrance scholarships at the public schools, 

 which of necessity fixes that of the first class at private 

 schools, were lower than it is now, and although the 

 entrance scholarships have raised this standard con- 

 siderably above what it was only a few years ago, yet I do 

 not think that it would be desirable to lower it, at least in 

 translation and grammar. In composition, and especially 

 in verse composition, I think it is a matter for considera- 

 tion whether classical scholarship really benefits by 

 expecting so much from very young boys ; whether they 

 would not learn to appreciate Uie delicacies of style more 



quickly and thoroughly if they did not spend so much 

 time over artificial composition before they have gained 

 that natural facility of expressing their thoughts in their 

 own tongue which only practice and varied reading can 

 give ; and whether therefore some part of the time 

 now given to that subject might not, in many cases 

 at least, be more usefully employed on other subjects, 

 such as science and English composition, or perhaps 

 drawing, in which boys naturally take a keen interest, 

 and which certainly tend to give breadth of view and 

 largeness of mind, and what is equally important, " a 

 ready wit." Even in translation boys fail much oftener 

 from want of knowledge of English than from want of 

 power to construe. At present the number of entrance 

 scholarships in which science counts for anything is so 

 small that they may be disregarded, and certainly nothing 

 could be less desirable for the interests of science itself, 

 or more productive of " cram," than for scholarships to 

 be given to boys in science alone. Would it not, however, 

 be possible for the classical composition standard to be 

 lowered in a considerable number of scholarships, and 

 for one-third or one-half of the marks in them to be given 

 to science, including practical work ? The remaining 

 scholarships might keep to their present standard in every 

 respect, a standard which is certainly not at all too high 

 for boys who possess real literary power, and possibly 

 not for average boys who do not seem to possess any 

 special bias either towards the Hterary or the scientific 

 side. A plan of this sort would avoid giving that 

 encouragement to " modem sides " which would be given 

 by special science scholarships, and that would be an 

 advantage, for any bifurcating arrangement is always 

 practically very difficult to work, and has never yet 

 produced a satisfactory result either in science or in 

 classics. 



The Commissioners are, I believe, in the right in thinking 

 that education should be brought under the great law of 

 progress from the more general to the special, and that it 

 will be quite soon enough for any ordinary student to 

 begin to concentrate all his energies on that particular 

 line of study which is likely to prove the most valuable to 

 him in his future career, when he has entered the 

 university, and ought therefore to be of such an age and 

 discretion as to be able to decide for himself what will be 

 the probable course of his future life. From this opinion 

 it is true that Prof. Stokes dissents, on the ground that " a 

 wider discretion should be left to the governing bodies or 

 head masters as to the degree to which what has been 

 called * stratification ' of studies should be carried out." 

 Now I am convinced, not only from theory, but from 

 practical experience, that though stratification is un- 

 doubtedly the right course for an adult to pursue, yet that 

 the advocates of that system do not make sufficient allow- 

 ance for the intense love of novelty innate in a child, nor 

 for the incapacity of a brain not fully developed of sus- 

 tained application to any one subject. We have been led 

 here, little by little, to diminish the length of the lessons 

 in every subject until now scarcely any lesson exceeds 

 half, or at the most three-quarters, of an hour in length ; 

 and the masters all agree in saying that with fairly intelli- 

 gent boys they can get quite as much work done in the 

 shorter time as in the longer. No boy can fix his 

 attention on one subject for long together, and the 

 moment it flags he might just as well be out in the 

 playground as in the school-room. But if, before he 

 has got weary of one subject, another which interests 

 him is brought before him, he will turn to it with as 

 much zest as if he were just beginning work. It has 

 more than once happened that a boy in this school has 

 needed to give special attention to certain subjects. 

 Formerly I used to take such a boy out of his less im- 

 portant classes, in order that he might give extra time 

 to his special subject. But in no case have we found 

 that such a boy at the end of the term has made any 



