492 



NATURE 



{April 20, 1876 



of five classes. No science work (at present) is done in 

 the preparatory school, but all boys in the upper school 

 do some. With the lowest class the subjects are physical 

 geography, and in the summer, botany. 



The two reasons why science should be taught in 

 schools are (to quote from Mr. Wilson) that it " is the 

 best teacher of accurate, acute, and exhaustive observa- 

 tion of what is," and that " of all processes of reasoning 

 it stands alone as the exhaustive illustration." And the 

 teaching of physical geography and botany I regard as 

 fulfilling the first of these purposes. We enjoy unusual 

 advantages for the study of these two subjects in the 

 nature of the surrounding country. We are upon the 

 millstone grit, but only a few hundred yards from the great 

 Craven Fault, where the mountain limestone is elevated 

 some 800 feet above the grit into the Giggleswick Scar. 



At the distance of a few miles we have the limestone 

 and Yoredale rocks resting unconformably upon the 

 vertical Silurian rocks. Traces of glacial action are 

 numerous — the new line from Settle to Carlisle cuts 

 through moraines, where scratched pebbles may be 

 picked up by the dozen. Erratic blocks are scattered 

 thickly over the whole country. At hand we have the 

 Victoria Cave, and the remains it has yielded are pre- 

 served in the school museum, and we are within an alter- 

 noon's ramble of the summits of Ingleborough and Peny- 

 ghent, and of Clapham Cave, and numerous others. We 

 are equally well off in the matter of botany ; a radius of 

 six miles round the school probably includes a greater 

 variety of plants than any equal area in England. 



Supposing a boy to enter the upper school at the age of 

 twelve, he would perhaps remain in the class for a year, 

 and at the age of thirteen would enter upon the sysietnaiic 

 study of science ; and his first subject would be chemistry, 

 which he would attack at once practically. Four hours a 

 week are given in this class to the study of chemistry — 

 a practical lesson of two hours and two oral lessons of an 

 hour each. In the class of perhaps twenty-five, all the 

 boys are making the same experiments at the same time, 

 and the work consists mainly in the study of the 

 properties of the salts of particular metals. The boys 

 are led to infer for themselves from their own experiments 

 the solubility or insolubility of the salts of the metals in 

 water, acids, &c., and from that to advance to simple 

 analysis. No text-book is used. 



In the oral lessons we advance very slowly ; one term 

 suffices probably to get through not more than oxygen, 

 hydrogen, and water, and perhaps to begin air. It seems 

 to me that a boy learns much more by understanding 

 thoroughly the experimental evidence that nine pounds 

 of water contain eight pounds of oxygen, than in learning 

 the " mode of preparation and properties " of the oxides 

 of nitrogen and a dozen other substances. In the next 

 class in which the average age is perhaps fourteen to 

 fifteen, we get through nitrogen, carbon, chlorine, bro- 

 mine, iodine, fluorine, and perhaps sulphur, practical 

 work being continued at the same rate as before. 

 In the second class we have two hours a week for 

 chemistry, two hours for practical work, and two hours 

 for physics. In physics we take the various branches in 

 succession, and get through the subjects of Balfour 

 Stewart's " Physics " in about two years, which is the time 

 many boys remain in the class, the ages being fifteen to 

 seventeen. In the first class we have eight hours a week. 

 The subjects we are taking at present are : — Inorganic 

 and Oiganic Chemistry, two hours ; Analysis, two hours ; 

 Electricity and Magnetism, two hours ; Astronomy, two 

 hours. 



We shall shortly be able, in consequence of the exten- 

 sion of the buildings, to add some practical work in 

 physics. But this will be only for the highest class. 



Will you allow me, in conclusion, to quote some of the 

 conclusions of the British Association Committee on 

 Scientific Education in Schools, which appear to me to 



be still as important as when they were first written. 

 The Committee included Mr. Farrar, Prof. Huxley, Prof. 

 Tyndall, and Mr. Wilson : — 



" There is an important distinction between scientific 

 tji/orvtation and scientific training; in other words, 

 between general literary acquaintance with scientific 

 facts, and the knowledge of methods that may be gained 

 by studying the facts at first hand under the guidance of 

 a competent teacher." Both of these are valuable ; it is 

 very desirable, for example, that boys should have soaie 

 general information about the ordinary phenomena of 

 nature, such as the simple facts of astronomy, of geology, 

 of physical geography, and of elementary physiology. 

 On the other hand, the scientific habit of mind, which is 

 the principal benefit resulting from scientific training, 

 and which is of incalculable value, whatever be the pur- 

 suits of after-life, can better be attained by a thorough 

 knowledge of the facts and principles of one science than 

 by a general acquaintance with what has been said and 

 written about many. 



" The subjects we recommend for scientific information 

 should comprehend a general description of the solar 

 system, of the form and physical geography of the earth, 

 and of such natural phenomena as tides, currents, winds, 

 and the causes that influence climate, of the broad 

 facts of geology, of elementary natural history with 

 especial reference to the useful plants and animals. And 

 for scientific training we are decidedly of opinion that the 

 subjects which have paramount claims are experimental 

 physics, elementary chemistry, and botany. The science 

 of experimental physics deals with subjects which come 

 within the range of every boy's experience. It embraces 

 the phenomena and laws of light, heat, sound, electricity, 

 and magnetism, the elements of mechanics, and the me- 

 chanical properties of liquids and gases. The thorough 

 knowledge of these subjects includes the practical mastery 

 of the apparatus employed in their investigation. The 

 study of experimental physics involves the observation 

 and colligation of facts, and the discovery and appli- 

 cation of principles. It is both inductive and deductive. 

 It exercises the attention and the memory, but makes both 

 of them subservient to an intellectual discipline higher 

 than either. The teacher can so present his facts as to 

 make them suggest the principles which underlie them 

 and which once in possession of the principle, the learner 

 may be stimulated to deduce from it results which lie 

 beyond the bounds of his experience. The subsequent 

 verification of his deduction by experiment never fails to 

 excite his interest and awaken his delight. 



" Chemistry is remarkable for the comprehensive cha- 

 racter of the training which it affords. Not only does it 

 exercise the memory and the reasoning powers, but it 

 also teaches the student to gather by his own experiments 

 and observations the facts upon which to reason. 



" Of the value of the elementary teaching in chemistry 

 (at Rugby) there can be only one opinion. It is felt to be 

 a new era in a boy's mental progress when he has realised 

 the laws that regulate chemical combination and sees 

 traces of order among the seeming endless variety. But 

 the number of boys who get real hold of chemistry //vw 

 lectures alone is small, as might be expected from the 

 nature of the subject." W. Marshall Watts 



Giggleswick, April 15 



We teachers must keep clear in our minds the twc 

 sides of the question : the relative educational value 

 of the subject to be taught, and the age or capacity of 

 the pupil. We may roughly classify sciences into those 

 which cultivate the observing, and those which benefit the 

 reasoning powers, though of course all sciences do both 

 to some extent. Of the former, the only one which 

 should be adopted systematically, in my opinion, is- 

 botany. Zoology cannot be as practically taught, though 

 the habits of all kinds of animals afford infinite opportunity 



