SCIENCE AND ART AND EDUCATION 159 



and I have no doubt that it ought to have been as disappoint- 

 ing, and far more disappointing too; for, if this kind of 

 instruction is to be of any good at all, if it is not to be less 

 than no good, if it is to take the place of that which is 

 already of some good, then there are several points which 

 must be attended to. 



And the first of these is the proper selection of topics, 

 the second is practical teaching, the third is practical 

 teachers, and the fourth is sufficiency of time. If these 

 four points are not carefully attended to by anybody who 

 undertakes the teaching of physical science in schools, 

 my advice to him is, to let it alone. I will not dwell at 

 any length upon the first point, because there is a general 

 consensus of opinion as to the nature of the topics which 

 should be chosen. The second point — practical teaching — 

 is one of great importance, because it requires more capital 

 to set it agoing, demands more time, and, last, but by no 

 means least, it requires much more personal exertion and 

 trouble on the part of those professing to teach, than is the 

 case with other kinds of instruction. 



When I accepted the invitation to be here this evening, 

 your secretary was good enough to send me the addresses 

 which have been given by distinguished persons who have 

 previously occupied this chair. I don't know whether he 

 had a malicious desire to alarm me; but, however that may 

 be, I read the addresses, and derived the greatest pleasure 

 and profit from lomeof them, and from none more than from 

 the one given by the great historian, Mr. Freeman, which 

 delighted me most of all; and, if I had not been ashamed of 

 plagiarising, and if I had not been sure of being found out, 

 I should have been glad to have copied very much of what 

 Mr. Freeman said, simply putting in the word science for 

 history. There was one notable passage, — "The difference 



