502 EDUCATION 



and Latin without a profound knowledge of the derivations of the 

 words, so, in the case of English, it is still possible. While con- 

 structing Greek and Latin sentences or translating them into 

 English, the student is forced to think strenuously. Doubtless, he 

 derives benefit from this mental gymnastic ; but the skill achieved 

 is of a very special kind. It does not link up very obviously with 

 anything in the subsequent career of most students. That is to 

 say, the teaching is extremely indirect. In any case classical 

 teaching is as the poles apart from that which was practised when 

 Greece and Rome furnished examples of mental training for all 

 time. Modern classical scholars are often remarkably indif- 

 ferent to science ; but it is certain that the Pagans, active- 

 minded and filled with intense curiosity, would have hailed our 

 science with rapture, would have taught it to their young men, 

 and, above all, would have taught them how to think about it 

 in such a way as to turn it to the best intellectual and practical 

 account. 



8 1 8. The expression 'scientific teaching' is used with two very 

 different meanings. On the one hand it implies tuition so given 

 that the pupil is stored with knowledge and skill that develop his 

 intellectual powers to the utmost. This kind of teaching, which 

 is scientific in the sense that means are consciously and effectively 

 adapted to achieve clearly recognized ends, need not deal with the 

 data of any of the sciences. But, since science is nothing other 

 than verified and classified truth, since it deals with reality, since 

 many of its problems are sufficiently abstruse to afford exercise in 

 strenuous thinking, and since the pupil who learns to think well 

 will be able to link up much of his scientific knowledge with the 

 experiences of his subsequent career, it probably affords the best 

 materials for the general culture of young adults. On the other 

 hand, the expression is often used to imply nothing more than 

 instruction in the data of one or more of the sciences of such a 

 kind that little is required from the pupil save recollection and 

 observation. This kind of tuition is sometimes termed 'science 

 teaching,' a description which is valuable as marking a distinction 

 of real importance. 



819. We saw that some sciences, for example systematic zoo- 

 logy and botany, are based on facts that are patent to observation, 

 whereas nearly all the facts on which others, for example chemistry, 

 are founded are so obscured by the conditions in which they occur 

 that special devices must be adopted before they can be observed. 

 No one will maintain formally that this difference in the way in 



