38 National Life 



geologist who has roughly sketched the 

 history of many thousand years as he walked 

 across the downs with you, of the engineer 

 who rapidly reports on a new country, of 

 the doctor who forms rapid diagnoses as 

 he paces the hospital ward ; it is trained 

 observation applied to physical and human 

 nature. There is a very excellent little 

 book which many of you may have read 

 recently, Baden Powell's ' Aids to Scout- 

 ing ' ; it is a capital introduction to the 

 true scientific method. The man with a 

 scientific training scouts through Nature, 

 including under nature mankind itself. You 

 may sum up his conduct just as I think 

 Baden Powell's booklet may be summed up 

 Keep your eyes open and apply common- 

 sense. What we as a nation seem to want 

 at the present time is precisely what its 

 commander complained of our army needing 

 in Natal scouting. I take it that the success 

 of German technical instruction is just pro- 

 portional to its efficiency in producing trained 

 scouts. We have only just started our 

 technical schools, but I sadly fear they are 

 not putting sufficient stress on scouting, on 



