SCIENCE, INDUSTRY, AND EDUCATION 



The undoubted present state of apathy of the national 

 mind in relation to the importance of natural knowledge, 

 and its consequent inability to recognise how entirely 

 and without exception, in every undertaking, success 

 must depend upon our so acting in conformity with the 

 laws of Nature that we have her on our side, as our ally, 

 and not working against us, may arise conceivably from 

 either of two causes : from a natural want of enterprise 

 and resourcefulness inherent in the national character, 

 or from a system of education which, relatively to the 

 educational training of other countries, fails to develop 

 and strengthen the qualities of mind which are needed for 

 an adequate appreciation of science. 



The former of these two possible causes may surely 

 be dismissed at once. We need only look back in history 

 to see how this small northern island, by its own innate 

 energy, has come to be supreme over vast regions on all 

 parts of the earth's surface, and is now the head of an 

 empire which engirths the world. 



We are therefore left, without power of escape, to 

 the second alternative, namely, that it is our system of 

 higher education which is in fault, clearly through being 

 too mediaeval in spirit. In accordance with the traditions 

 of the past, our higher national education deals with words 

 rather than with things ; it is based too exclusively on 

 the memory of what is known, and too little, if at all, on 

 individual observation and reasoning. 



The evidence seems clear, that the present inappreci- 

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