n: % Stutm 0f Sotrfogij. 



branch of pliysical science ? What is the use, it is said, 

 of attempting to make physical science a branch of 

 primary education ? Is it not probable that teachers, 

 in pursuing such studies, will be led astray from the 

 acquirement of more important but less attractive 

 knowledge ? And, even if they can learn something 

 of science without prejudice to their usefulness, what 

 is the good of their attempting to instil that knowledge 

 into boys whose real business is the acquisition of 

 reading, writing, and arithmetic ? 



These questions are, and will be, very commonly 

 asked, for they arise from that profound ignorance of 

 the value and true position of physical science, which 

 infests the minds of the most highly educated and 

 intelligent classes of the community. But if I did not 

 feel well assured that they are capable of being easily 

 and satisfactorily answered ; that they have been an- 

 swered over and over again; and that the time will 

 come when men of liberal education will blush to raise 

 such questions, I should be ashamed of my position 

 here to-night. Without doubt, it is your great and very 

 important function to carry out elementary education ; 

 without question, anything that should interfere with 

 the faithful fulfilment of that duty on your part would 

 be a great evil ; and if I thought that your acquirement 

 of the elements of physical science, and your communi- 

 cation of those elements to your pupils, involved any 

 sort of interference with your proper duties, I should 

 be the first person to protest against your being en- 

 couraged to do anything of the kind. 



But is it true that the acquisition of such a know- 

 ledge of science as is proposed, and the communication 

 of that knowledge, are calculated to weaken your use- 

 fulness ? Or may I not rather ask, is it possible for you 

 to discharge your functions properly without these aids ? 



12 



