n8 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 4 or was it H 2 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, when 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 



