1O THE CLIMATE OF AUSTRALASIA 



the advocates of technical education claim 

 that, in the selection of branches of science that 

 are to be taught, if two subjects are of equal 

 educational value, preference should be given 

 to that which is also of economic value. More- 

 over, many teachers believe that the principles 

 of a science can, in most cases, be best 

 taught by the study of those branches of it 

 which are of most practical service to man. 

 To justify that belief, the teaching of the 

 technical subjects must be improved, and, must 

 give at all costs, a rigorous training in scientific 

 method. Most branches of applied science 

 afford excellent educational material, for their 

 results are tested daily by experiment on 

 a scale vastly larger than science could afford. 

 Applied science can be so taught as to give 

 an especially powerful stimulus to the imagina- 

 tion, owing to its victories over space and 

 time, its conversion of waste matter into useful 

 products, and those triumphs over disease which 

 have dispelled the delusion that there is any- 

 thing in climate to prevent the successful 

 occupation of any part of the world by white 

 races. 



The claims of technical education may be 

 resisted by the advocates of pure science, on 

 the ground that, in education, it is better to 

 concentrate the attention of the student solely 

 on the methods of work, and not to distract 

 him and excite his impatience by even glimpses 

 of the goal. But teachers can be trusted to 



