118 GERMAN SCIENCE 
and better standpoint from which a man may begin his studies 
afresh. But machine-taught science, such as our universities, 
especially that of London, have condoned, and such as the 
happily defunct agency of the Government Science and Art 
Department spread like a plague through our schools—that, , | 
a man does not recover from easily if at all. For science is 
not taught by experience of life; only the want of it is made 
evident ; and it cannot be gained by taking thought and sit- 
ting down in leisure hours to read a book. Science can only 
be learned in laboratories, and if that opportunity has been 
lost or vainly used in early life it does not ordinarily recur. 
How often does not one come across a man who says— Oh 
yes, I was taught some science at school—sulphuric acid H, 
SO,—or was it H,O?—but, of course, I have forgotten all 
about it.’ It has gone, forgotten, unhonoured and unsung— 
not deeply regretted. It never was a reality—it was attached 
to nothing interesting, nothing human. It could not grow; 
it could only wither and die. 
I do not wonder, therefore, that science has made such 
little appeal to the sympathies of men of letters; it has so 
often seemed to be nothing and to come to nothing, towards 
endowing a man with knowledge, taste or talent of any value. 
But I think that science has been suspected even when it 
has been good—that is to say, when it has been so well 
studied and practised, that it has been an unmistakable addi- 
tion to the resources of the mind, whén it has become productive 
in new knowledge, when it has opened new vistas and made 
almost incredible intellectual conquests in the realm of Nature. 
There is a widespread belief, more often hinted than openly 
declared, that the pursuit of science is accompanied by the 
development of habits of mind and tendencies of practice 
which would derogate from the most precious elements in 
human nature and in the amenities of human society. 
This is an old theme on which much has been said. and 
» a 
oe or rt A a ET : 
> ‘ - , 
- 7 
Re yet oS ee ai ao 
a’ 
“ 9 
