66 l^arr Ssrntcms, (Essags, mttr DLetoctes. L IV - 



training is almost purely deductive. The mathematician 

 starts with a few simple propositions, the proof of which 

 is so obvious that they are called self-evident, and the 

 rest of his work consists of subtle deductions from them. 

 The teaching of languages, at any rate as ordinarily 

 practised, is of the same general nature, authority and 

 tradition furnish the data, and the mental operations of 

 the scholar are deductive. 



Again : if history be the subject of study, the facts 

 are still taken upon the evidence of tradition and au- 

 thority. You cannot make a boy see the battle of 

 Thermopylae for himself, or know, of his own know- 

 ledge, that Cromwe]! once ruled England. There is no 

 getting into direct contact with natural fact by this 

 road ; there is no dispensing with authority, but rather a 

 resting upon it. 



In all these respects, science differs from other edu- 

 cational discipline, and prepares the scholar for common 

 life. What have we to do in every-day life ? Most of 

 the business which demands our attention is matter of 

 fact, which needs, in the first place, to be accurately 

 observed or apprehended ; in the second, to be inter- 

 preted by inductive and deductive reasonings, which are 

 altogether similar in their nature to those employed in 

 science. In the one case, as in the other, whatever is 

 taken for granted is so taken at one's own peril ; fact 

 aud reason are the ultimate arbiters, and patience and 

 honesty are the great helpers out of difficulty. 



But if scientific training is to yield its most eminent 

 results, it must, I repeat, be made practical. That is to 

 say, in explaining to a child the general phsenomena of 

 Nature, you must, as far as possible, give reality to your 

 teaching by object-lessons ; in teaching him botany, he 

 must handle the plants and dissect the flowers for him- 

 sen ; in teaching him physics and chemistry, you must 



