1891 SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE 193 



myself to tlie medicos. Their burden is already so heavy 

 that I do not want to see it increased by a needless 

 weight even of elementary biology. 



Very many thanks for the " Zoological articles " just 

 arrived. — Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. Huxley. 



Don't write to the Times about anything ; look at the 

 trouble that comes upon a harmless man for two months, 

 in consequence. 



The following letter, which I quote from the 

 Yorkshire Herald of April 11, 1891, was written in 

 answer to some inquiries from Mr. J. Harrison, who 

 read a paper on Technical Education as applied to 

 Agriculture, before the Easingwold Agricultural 

 Club :— 



I am afraid that my opinion upon the subject of your 

 inquiry is worth very little — my ignorance of practical 

 agriculture being profound. However, there are some 

 general principles which apply to all technical training ; 

 the first of these, I think, is that practice is to be learned 

 only by practice. The farmer must be made by and 

 through farm work. I believe I might be able to give 

 you a fair account of a bean plant and of the manner and 

 condition of its growth, but if I were to try to raise a 

 crop of beans, your club would probably laugh consumedly 

 at the result. Nevertheless, I believe that you practical 

 people would be all the better for the scientific knowledge 

 which does not enable me to grow beans. It would keep 

 you from attempting hopeless experiments, and would 

 enable you to take advantage of the innumerable hints 

 which Dame Nature gives to people who live in direct 

 contact with things. And this leads me to the second 

 general principle which I think applies to all technical 

 teaching for school-boys and school-girls, and that is, that 



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