472 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



HEREDITY IN RELATION TO EDUCATION.* 



BY WESLEY MILLS, M. A., M. D., 



PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY, MCGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL. 



IT is of course necessary that the education of a country shall 

 be systemized, harmonized, and consolidated. This involves 

 so much machinery, including examinations, inspections, reports, 

 etc., that those concerned are under constant temptation to take 

 the form for the substance, and to mistake the immediate issue 

 for the great end. It will not be denied that this state of things 

 exists or has existed in connection with every attempt to pro- 

 duce what has been termed a system of education. Manifestly 

 system is essential to success. Without system, concerted plans, 

 and co-operation you would not be here to-night. One of the 

 great problems of the day is the extent to which system should 

 prevail. The answer to this question, which is filled with practi- 

 cal issues, may be inferred, in part at least, from my treatment of 

 education this evening. 



The teacher has to do, in reality, primarily with methods, ex- 

 aminations, results, etc., only in so far as these are means to an 

 end, that end being the development of human nature. 



The teacher is, or should be, first, last, and always, a devel- 

 oper. If he sees no further than methods as set before him by 

 others ; if he assumes that the one method will suit all his pupils 

 equally well ; if he believes that there is any one invariably best 

 method, he will become after all but a sort of machine. The 

 educator is concerned with human nature, and must endeavor to 

 study it in as broad a way as possible. To him the knowledge 

 of the development of man from more primitive conditions is the 

 study of all studies. His great aim should be to carry on in 

 some measure this progress, this evolution or unfolding, for we 

 know as yet but indifferently the possibilities for mankind. 



Whether man was derived from some form of life lower in 

 the scale or not, it is perfectly clear that he has passed through 

 states not very distantly removed from the condition of the 

 brutes, or, at all events, immeasurably remote from that of the 

 civilized man of to-day. And the history of the race is in some 

 measure the history of the individual. The teacher who does not 

 realize this can scarcely understand the peculiar behavior of boys 

 in particular. At times, especially when left to themselves, they 

 seem to act like savages ; for the moment they appear to revert 

 to a savage state. But knowing the tendency of human nature to 



* An address delivered before the Ontario Educational Association in Toronto, April, 

 1893. 



