464 



NA TURE 



[March 14, 1895 



has urged in Convocation at Oxford that the elements 

 of natural science should take their place in Respnn- 

 sions — side by side with the elements of mathematics, 

 and equally obligatory. The late Master of B.illiol, 1 

 believe, also recognised the importance of such a change ; 

 but the reformer who will carry it into effect is not yet 

 in evidence, and perhaps his services will not be 

 required, as the schools must soon do that which the 

 universities ought long ere this to have had the fore- 

 sight to enforce. We are, in fact, only beginning to escape 

 from the bonds of tradition, and it cannot be denied that 

 our release is being gradually effected— not through any 

 action taken by our ancient universities, but rather in 

 spite of them — mainly through the persistent efforts of a 

 small but untiring and resolute body of outsiders whose 

 position has yet to be made clear to the public, most of 

 whom undoubteily regard the teaching of experimental 

 science much in the way that the introduction of 

 pianos into Board Schools was regarded a few years ago 

 by a majority of Londoners — as something very nice for 

 those who can afford it, but as in no sense a necessary 

 element in the education of the masses. We, on the 

 contrary, contend that the human mind cannot, as a rule, 

 be completely educated by exclusive attention to literary 

 and m ithematical studies, and that lessons in experi- 

 mental science must form an integral portion of the 

 entire school course, because such lessons alone afford 

 the means of fully developing a side of the intelligence 

 which perhaps more than any other is of importance in 

 life — the faculty of observing and of reasoning correctly 

 from observation: with Kingsley, we desire that the 

 method of sound scientific thought should be taught 

 universally in schools, to the exclusion of dogmatism and 

 eyelcssness ; and we desire to inculcate habits of self- 

 helpfulness and handiness. The motto from Montaigne 

 adopted by Prof. Wiedersheim fully expresses the modern 

 view of education : " Es ist nicht ein Geist und nicht 

 ein Korper den wir erziehen sollen, sondern ein Mensch, 

 und wir durfen ihn nicht theilen." Hitherto more often 

 than not, we have cut him up into pieces, and thrown 

 the inost important aside. It is only in Germany that a 

 public address on such a theme can be delivered in 

 celebration of the birthday of a Royal Highness— here 

 we must fall back on the British Association ; but this 

 body has strangely wasted the unrivalled opportunities 

 which its organisation affords of appealing to the public 

 on such matters. 



Fortunately, help seems to be at hand from a quarter 

 from which it was least expected, as the schoolmasters 

 are at last awakening to the necessity of reform, and 

 have themselves taken action which, if persevered in, 

 must be attended with most important consequences. 

 At the recent meeting of the " Incorporated Association 

 of Head Masters," which now numbers nearly 300 

 members, on the motion of Mr. C. Stuart, of St. Dunstan's 

 College, Catford, London, S.E., it was resolved 



(a) "That the Association is of opinion that Examin- 

 ing Bodies should encourage a more rational method of 

 teaching science, by framing the syllabuses in such a 

 manner that the practical work required may be strictly 

 illustrative of the theoretical instruction given." 



(*; "That it be referred to the General Committee to 

 appoint a small Sub-Committee, so that a rep >rt may 

 be presented to the next summer general meeting con- 

 taining detailed suggestions, which it is proposed to 

 make to Examining Bodies concerning examinations in 

 science." 



As I ventured to point out, when speaking on these 

 resolutions, the consequences of their adoption will 

 probably be far greater than those who have accepted 

 them arc likely to have contemplated. Thoughtful 

 examiners have long been waiting for a sign : no one has 

 been more dissatisfied with their examinations than they 

 themselves have been, but it has been impossible for them 

 NO. 1324, VOL 51] 



to examine much in advance of the teaching, as it would 

 obviously have been most unfair to candidates to make 

 them victims of a system for which they are in no way 

 answerable; and at most it has been possible to gradually I 

 give a practical turn to questions in subjects which can I 

 only be taught properly by means of practical lessons. , 

 The gage thrown down by the headmasters will, there- 

 fore, certainly be uplifted forthwith by all examining 1 

 bodies whose work is not done in a purely perfunctory 

 spirit, and the schools will tind that of their own accord 

 and most properly they have brought about a complete 

 revolution in their own methods of teaching ; for if 

 they ask for proper examinations, they necessarily must 

 be anxious to see corresponding proper methods of 

 teaching adopted in their schools, and will provide for 

 their introduction. Nothing could be more gratifying 

 to those among us, who, during years past, have been 

 pointing out the necessity of introducing radical changes 

 and improvements. 



A serious responsibility will now be cast on teachers, || 

 and it is clear that if workers are forthcoming with minds ' 

 imbued with the proper spirit of inquiry, there will be 

 ample opportunity of gaining distinction in the field of 

 educational research. There is clearly much leeway to be 

 made up, for although we are all agreed that every 

 branch of natural science must be taught practically, we 

 are, unfortunately, far from always practising what we 

 preach — the system of mere lesson learning not only ■ 

 prevails far too widely and extensively, but is far too fre- 

 quently regarded with approval as all-sutlicient. The 

 practical and theoretical work are seldom, if ever, made ; 

 sufficiently interdependent — in fact, this is the blot on 

 which the headmasters have laid their finger. Even in 1 

 my own subject, chemistry, which is generally supposed 

 to be in a stronger position than most others, as it has 

 been taught practically from a considerably earlier date, 

 much misconception prevails, and we are cretlited with 

 having advanced far more than we deserve. Liebig, 

 the founder of the laboratory method of teaching, 

 appears to have taught chemistry — we are told 

 that when Hofmann became a student under him, 

 although a beginner, he was set to work at research ; and 

 we know that Liebig gave all his students problems to 

 solve. But the marcli of progress and, especially, the press 

 of numbers have long since led to the introduction of 

 the anti-research method which some of us irreverently 

 term test-tubing. Such and such is the case— do so 

 and so, and if you do so and so, this and that ivill 

 happen, are instructions so often dinned into beginners' 

 ears, that they become part of their very being, and i 

 they in consequence are ever afterwards unable to give j 

 a straightforward account of what tlicy have done, and . 

 insist, instead, on telling you, the teacher, what to do 

 and what will, not what does, happen. Nothing is more 

 rare in a chemistry examination paper than a straight- 1 

 forward answer, not in terms of if and will, showing that 

 the writer is describing from personal knowledge some- 

 thing that has been done. The true object of experiment- 

 ing is thus lost sight of as the habit grows of requiring 

 to know in advance what will be the outcome of any 

 particular experiment : the spirit of curiosity is rarely 

 awakened. At the same time the worst possible literaryi 

 style is encouraged, a real opportunity of developing ai 

 good one being most perversely sacrificed. Analytical! 

 tables were originally introduced with the laudablci 

 object of presenting knowledge to the student in a 

 systematic form, but g:radually we have allowed thentj 

 to pass from the position of good servants to thalj 

 of bad master — mainly because they offer so very con-'| 

 venient a method of keeping students occupied will' 

 a minimum of attention and hibour on the part of tli- 

 teacher and at a ininimum cost, as a few test-tubes aii' 

 weak solutions form almost the only stock in trade 

 (Quantitative work is also done in an almost equally per 



