EDUCATION AND THE FUTURE OF THE RACE 301 



If we admit the importance of a systematic habit 

 of observation in education, it is plain that the 

 admission brings important conclusions and exten- 

 sions with it. The child may grow skilled in noting 

 the main features of common and complex objects 

 the contents of the shop window, the styles of 

 architecture, the needs and habits of dogs, and the 

 forms and colors of flowers. Yet none of these things 

 is sufficiently simple and elementary to be satisfy- 

 ing and educationally adequate. The growing mind 

 must become acquainted with more elementary 

 materials and objects, with water, ice, air, coal, iron, 

 etc. ; must learn their properties and must learn to 

 measure and weigh. In other words, the basis 

 of observation should be, in part at least, of such a 

 nature as will involve manipulation, and this use of 

 the hands to subserve accurate observation, when 

 combined with memory and reasoning, may be so 

 extended as to make the introduction to the art of 

 experimentation in elementary physical science. 



It is neither a harsh nor an unjust criticism to say 

 that the place which should be occupied in education 

 by accurate observation is now occupied by arbitrary 

 acts of memory. For memory, so active and cul- 

 tivable in the young, is still the main reliance of the 

 pedagogue, sometimes the exclusive reliance. The 

 young scholar is plied with books. Spread before 

 him is a vast array of facts, to be learned definitely, 

 arbitrarily the rules of grammar, the conjugation 

 of verbs, the position of dots (said to indicate towns 



