2l8 



NATURE 



[October 22, 19 14 



ments and observations and to ask and answer a 

 definite question experimentally is on a different 

 mental and moral plane from that occupied by those 

 who have had no such training. 



Such teaching is possible even in elementary schools 

 — given competent teachers ; but a new race of teachers 

 will be required to carry the work into effect, should 

 it be decided to make the attempt at all generally. 



The great mistake that has been made hitherto is 

 that of attempting to teach the elements of this or 

 that special branch of science : what we should seek 

 to do is to impart the elements of scientific method 

 and inculcate wisdom, so choosing the material studied 

 as to develop an intelligent appreciation of what is 

 going on in the world. It must be made clear, in 

 every possible way, that science is not a mere body 

 of doctrine but a method : that its one aim is the 

 pursuit of truth. 



If we are to progress in these matters, a system 

 must soon be developed which is broader and better 

 than that under which we now muddle along — at pre- 

 sent the real problems of education are all but 

 neglected ; even if the official mind were capable and 

 desirous of promoting progress, the work of adminis- 

 tering rules and regulations — of keeping the machine 

 going — is so great that no time is left for thought. 



We have seen the error of our ways sufficiently to 

 give up payment by results and are all but ashamed 

 that we were ever misled by Robert Lowe to adopt 

 such a soul-killing policy. But none the less our 

 entire educational system is still in the grips of com- 

 mercialism, and, in this respect, as a nation, we stand 

 alone, I believe. Scholarships, prizes of one kind or 

 another, examinations are the perpetual feast of 

 British education. Examinations, in fact, are a regu- 

 larised and very lucrative branch of industry — mostly 

 in the hands of certain firms who diplomatically shelter 

 themselves under the aegis of this or that educational 

 body ; but the universities are the greatest sinners. 

 Valuable as examinations may be within certain 

 narrow limits and for certain definite purposes, there 

 is little doubt that our general ignorance is in no small 

 degree determined by our worship of the e.xamination 

 fetish. So long as the system prevails, the education 

 of our youth will not be in accordance either with 

 their capacity or their requirements but on lines corre- 

 sponding to those by which prize cattle are raised for 

 show^ — they will be trained to develop some specially 

 catching point. 



The examinations are an inheritance from the 

 literary rule. It is possible to test on paper whether 

 a man be "well read," but faculty as distinct from 

 capacity cannot be so determined. What is worse, 

 by forcing students to commit a large body of doctrine 

 to memory, the attention becomes fixed merely upon 

 what others have done and little time or inclination 

 is left them to acquire a knowledge of method — the 

 faculty of thinking for themselves and applying their 

 knowledge. No class suffers more seriously than 

 medical students under the system — their preliminary 

 training is all but entirely didactic, and the time spent 

 upon it all but wasted; we need not wonder that 

 medicine has made so little advance, the practitioners 

 being in no way trained in the use of scientific 

 method. 



To improve our system we need to get rid of our 

 blind British belief in "men of affairs," especially in 

 the "man of business," so-called, really the man of 

 commerce, as persons capable of ordering everybody's 

 affairs and everybody's business. The commercial 

 man, the financier or the lawyer, would never think 

 of calling us in to manage his proper business — why 

 should he be thought competent to manage ours? 

 Results show that he is not, as my argument in this 

 address would lead us to expect would be the case. 

 NO. 2347, VOL. 94] 



No one will seek, for one moment, to minimise the 

 progress made or fail to recognise that infinite credit 

 is due to those who have controlled the work of educa- 

 tion thus far; hitherto, however, progress has been 

 made in providing accommodation and getting 

 scholars to school and college : the art of teaching 

 has made no corresponding advance — nor will it, I 

 believe, until the onus is cast more directly upon the 

 teachers and they are forced to exercise greater fore- 

 thought in the direction of collective action — until they ■ 

 are placed in a position to be sole managers of their I 

 own affairs and called upon to row together as en- 

 tirely self-chosen crews. At home, excepting at our 

 ancient universities, "governing bodies" are para- 

 mount everywhere — not the teachers ; and too often 

 the sense of responsibility and power of initiative of 

 the teacher are further diminished by the interposition 

 of a principal, who may be a man of all affairs except 

 that in hand — the work of teaching. 



If the conclusion at which I have arrived be correct 

 — that science is not for the multitude and can never 

 be generally appreciated or even fashionable — in view 

 of the part which it is clearly destined to play in 

 education and in daily life, on account of its infinite 

 and far-reaching influence upon our well-being — the 

 responsibility cast upon the few representatives of 

 science is very great ; in support of our civilisation 

 and in order that wisdom may prevail more generally, 

 they must organise its forces effectively. 



Whilst individuality is the mainspring of scientific 

 progress, collective action is required to provide full 

 and proper opportunity for the workers and to pro- 

 mote the success of their inquiries. At present, scien- 

 tific workers are organised merely for the purpose of 

 providing means of publishing the results of their 

 studies, in no way either for defence or offence ; our 

 societies are not effective even for the purposes of 

 debate and criticism. Thus, our chief English scien- 

 tific society, consisting of some 500 members repre- 

 sentative of all the various branches of physical and 

 biological science, is little more than a rabble — its 

 fellows are such individualists that scarce half a dozen 

 of us can ever agree to work seriously together for a 

 common purpose, and the irresistible influence we 

 might exercise if we could be unanimous as to our 

 objective is lost to the community. Most unfor- 

 tunately, the society has no influence whatever either 

 on political or on public opinion ; it makes no attempt 

 either to guide the public or to give dignity and im- 

 portance to the cause of science in the eyes of the 

 community. Its meetings are dull, and its belated 

 publications by no means represent the scientific 

 activity of its fellows. The presidents of the society 

 have too often been appointed at an age when the 

 propagandist spirit is no longer paramount, when 

 they have no particular scientific message left in them 

 to deliver. And they occupy the chair too long ; this 

 arises chiefly from the fact that however clear each 

 one of us may be that individually he is fully com- 

 petent to hold the office, we all agree in finding some 

 objection to every name that is suggested ; to over- 

 come this difficulty a short tenure is desirable, so that 

 the compliment can be paid and encouragement given 

 to the various sciences in turn ; no one should be 

 appointed to such an office who is more than sixty 

 to sixty-five years old, as most of us have used up our 

 ideas and have lost our virility by that age. The 

 other officers also hold their positions too long, but 

 members of the council have far too short a life — 

 consequently all the power is centred in the official 

 body; attempts that have been made to organise the 

 whole society in sections representative of the various ; 

 sciences have always been defeated by the official j 

 party. 



LTnless our scientific societies can be made more 



