x ON THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE 253 



But the student cannot appreciate or even under- 

 stand the matters which are thus brought before him 

 in the college or university unless these courses have 

 been preceded by a sound secondary school education. 

 This is at present our difficulty. A secondary 

 education system is non-existent with us. Much 

 progress in an unsystematic way has, indeed, been 

 lately made, but much more remains to be done. 

 Our great public schools lag behind in adopting the 

 new ideas called forth by the changing conditions of 

 society, and consequently the best blood of the rising 

 generation fails, as a rule, to secure that training in 

 scientific method which is an essential element in 

 national progress. 



To illustrate my meaning I may refer to my ex- 

 periences with Eton, a noble institution, which I 

 admire and love almost as if she had been my Alma 

 Mater, but whose strength and power do not, I hope, 

 altogether blind me to her faults. 



In 1889 I was nominated by the Council of the 

 Royal Society, at the instance of my friend Sir James 

 Paget, as its representative on the governing body of 

 Eton College in succession to Huxley, who had retired 

 from active work. And here I remember that Huxley 

 said to me that if he had carte blanche to make such 

 changes at Eton as he pleased he did not know what 

 he should do. The function of the Royal Society's re- 

 presentative on the governing body of Eton is to do 

 what in him lies to further the cause of scientific educa- 

 tion in the school, and I have endeavoured to the best 

 of my ability to carry out this duty. Nobody who is 

 unacquainted with the very peculiar and complicated 

 system of Eton life and work can fully appreciate the 

 difficulties which a representative anxious to introduce 

 modern educational methods has to contend with. 



