PREFA TOR Y NO TE. 



to offer to the authoritative propagation of the pre- 

 posterous fables by which the minds of children are 

 dazed and their sense of truth and falsehood perverted. 

 Professor Virchow solemnly warns us against the 

 danger of attempting to displace the Church by the re- 

 ligion of evolution. What this last confession of faith 

 may be I do not know, but it must be bad indeed if it 

 inculcates more falsities than are at present foisted 

 upon the young in the name of the Church. 



I make these remarks simply in the interests of 

 fair play. Far be it from me to suggest that it is 

 desirable that the inculcation of the doctrine of evolution 

 should be made a prominent feature of general education. 

 I agree with Professor Virchow so far, but for very diffe- 

 rent reasons. It is not that I think the evidence of that 

 doctrine insufficient, but that I doubt whether it is the 

 business of a teacher to plunge the young mind into 

 difficult problems concerning the origin of the existing 

 condition of things. I am disposed to think that the 

 brief period of school-life would be better spent in 

 obtaining an acquaintance with nature, as it is ; in 

 fact, in laying a firm foundation for the further know- 

 ledge which is needed for the critical examination of 

 the dogmas, whether scientific or anti-scientific, which 

 are presented to the adult mind. At present, educa- 

 tion proceeds in the reverse way ; the teacher makes 

 the most confident assertions on precisely those sub- 



