THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY \J 



men or the needs of boys, and inevitably the course of study in 

 our colleges had to be remodelled accordingly. 



Each decade of the last fifty years has witnessed a gradual 

 crowding out of classics from our older schools and colleges by 

 subjects of new and more present interest, and a growth of new 

 schools and colleges of a different kind, where science in varying 

 forms is made the chief subject of attention and other matters 

 relegated more or less to the background. 



Now this increasing interest in science is a matter about which 

 we may all, members of the Academy, and guests of the Acad- 

 emy, scientific men and literary men, rejoice heartily. But how 

 far the things that are called science deserve the name of science, 

 or how far the teaching of such subjects by present methods 

 always deserves the name of education, is quite another question. 

 Every school superintendent likes to stimulate the attention of 

 his pupils by giving them the opportunity to see amusing phe- 

 nomena with their own eyes, and if possible set them in motion 

 with their own hands. Under some circumstances this may be 

 the best kind of scientific training; under other circumstances 

 it may be no training at all. 



Nature study — to quote a phrase which is popular among 

 educators of the present time — is good if it is made the basis for 

 teaching scientific methods, and bad if it is simply made a means 

 of momentary amusement. Unfortunately, a large part of our 

 school committees and school teachers think that the subject 

 makes the science. They may not go as far as the author of a 

 reputable work, " Murray's Handbook to Spain," who says that 

 the mountains of that country, to quote his own words, " abound 

 in botany and zoology." They are apt to assume that the pick- 

 ing to pieces of flowers is in itself botany, and that hearing a 

 carbon disulphide mixture make a loud explosion, marks prog- 

 ress in chemistry, and to act accordingly. 



Fifty years ago the members of the National Academy of 

 Sciences who held seats in college faculties were occupied in 

 protecting science against its enemies. I am not sure but what 

 today their chief duty lies in protecting it against its friends. 

 (Laughter.) 



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