VII 



THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY 227 



But of all this your old stereot}^ed system of 

 education takes no note. Physical science, its 

 methods, its problems, and its difficulties, will 

 meet the poorest boy at every turn, and yet we 

 educate him in such a manner that he shall enter 

 the world as ignorant of the existence of the 

 methods and facts of science as the day he was 

 born. The modern world is full of artillery ; and 

 we turn out our children to do battle in it, 

 equipped with the shield and sword of an ancient 

 gladiator. 



Posterity will cry shame on us if we do not 

 remedy this deplorable state of things. Nay, if 

 we live twenty years longer, our own consciences 

 will cry shame on us. 



It is my firm conviction that the only way to 

 remedy it is to make the elements of physical 

 science an integral part of primary education. I 

 have endeavoured to show you how that may be 

 done for that branch of science which it is my 

 business to pursue; and I can but add, that I 

 should look upon the day when every schoolmaster 

 throughout this land was a centre of genuine, 

 however rudimentary, scientific knowledge, as an 

 epoch in the history of the country. 



But let me entreat you to remember my last 

 words. Addressing myself to you, as teachers, I 

 would say, mere book learning in physical science 

 is a sham and a delusion — what you teach, unless 

 you wish to be impostors, that you must first 



