194 



NA TURE 



[January i, 190^ 



Economics or the term Commerce shall be interpreted too 

 narrowly : the two will be welded to some extent into one, 

 and gradually it is to be hoped that the treatment of these sub- 

 jects of national moment can be established on a sound and 

 broad educational basis. 



EDUCATION or P.edagogy. — The science of Kducation is 

 coming to the front of practical politics in a most impressive 

 manner just now. All that we attempt in this direction at 

 present is the Training of a limited number of Primary Teachers, 

 both men and women : a department which constitutes a success- 

 ful and promising beginning of a most important work. But 

 some part of the barrier between primary and secondary educa- 

 tion is shortly to be broken down, and the Government is 

 wisely going to insist on a training for Secondary Teachers also. 

 It is important to remember that, for this work, teaching 

 must be provided in all departments of ordinary know- 

 ledge, and by no means in the Arts subjects alone ; though 

 those no doubt constitute the backbone of the course. Also 

 that methods of teaching the substance of Science (including 

 Mathematics) and Modern Languages, in schools, are less 

 developed and systematised than are the disciplinary msthods 

 for drilling in Ancient Languages, Euclid and Algebra. A 

 Professorship is necessary if we are to enter into effective rela- 

 tions with and duly to influence secondary schools. 

 - Engineering. — This science is, even more than chemistry, 

 overweighted with its own applications ; so that there is a 

 tendency to regard it solely as an applied science. But it has 

 a large and most important pure-science aspect, too ; and on 

 this side may be considered to consist of Applied Mechanics 

 and Physics ; meaning by that, such subjects as Thermo- 

 dynamics, Elasticity, Strength of Materials, Theory of 

 Mechanism, and much else ; not to mention the enormous sub- 

 ject of Electrotechnics — the foundation of Electrical and Tele- 

 graphic Engineering : in fact, the ground to be covered is so 

 large that but few Physicists are competent to treat the whole 

 science adequately from an engineering point of view, and so a 

 good deal falls to the province of the Professor of Engineering. 

 At the same time a thorough knowledge of the groundwork of 

 the pure Science of Physics and Mechanics is essential to 

 the training of every engineer who aspires to rise to the higher 

 ranks of his profession. 



We have only to run over the aspects of Civil Engineering 

 in its limited customary sense- -Bridges and Tunnels, Reservoirs, 

 Canals and Railways ; and then to remember Marine Engineer- 

 ing and Military Engineering— to recognise that the whole sub- 

 ject is obviously gigantic. It alone could cover the whole site 

 and employ a dozen professors. 



GEOLOGY. — The great science of the earth's crust claims to 

 deal with the constitution and history of the earth as a whole. 

 It is in touch on the one hand with Astronomy — a science which 

 at present we do not here attempt — with Geography, a science 

 which has many aspects, both on the side of nature and on the 

 side of the distribution of man, which are dealt with to a con- 

 siderable extent by our present Professor of Geology — with 

 MINERALOGY, which he also treats — with P.m. i ontology, the 

 Botany and Zoology of the ancient world, in parts of which he 

 is a world-known authority— with Physics and with Chemistry, 

 more especially perhaps with Physics, for many of the problems 

 are the physics of the earth's crust. All this on the pure science 

 side. 



On the side of Applied Science it is in obviously close con- 

 nection with Mining, with Civil Engineering, with Water Supply 

 and with Agriculture. 



History : — the science of humanity in the past, is closely 

 allied with Sociology and Economics ; it is often treated in a 

 more literary manner than most sciences, and hence is some- 

 times taken for a time by a Professor of Literature ; but never 

 satisfactorily so. The whole range of ancient and modern 

 history, of events and institutions and of constitutions, is large 

 enough to demand the attention of several specialists, if the 

 ground is to be adequately covered. 



On its practical side it has close relation with Law and with 

 Commerce. 



Mathematics : — the science of number and form, in its 

 elementary stage, is an essential ingredient in all education, and 

 hence is partly associated with the Faculty of Arts. In its 

 higher stages it is essential to the Engineer, and is becoming 

 necessary to the Chemist ; and for these purposes a more 

 immediately practical course, proceeding more quickly over the 

 rudimentary portions, is desired. In still higher stages it is 



NO. 



1 73 1, vol. 67] 



essential to the Physicist, the Astronomer, and the Natural 

 Philosopher generally. And in its highest stages it constitutes 

 a pure science of unexampled beauty and perfection. 



The so-called Applied Slathematics, or Theoretical Mechanics, 

 is closely allied with, and, indeed, trenches upon the mathe- 

 matical side of Physics : and there is ample room for two or 

 more professors of the different branches of Mathematics. Some 

 day this statement will become practical politics. 



Medicine : — is the only science which at present is adequately 

 treated in England. A five years' course is devoted to its 

 acquisition ; and it is subdivided into a proper number of 

 constituent parts, each dealt with by a special Lecturer. 



Besides the three great sciences Anatomy, Physiology, Path- 

 ology, with which last at present the developing new science 

 of Bacteriology is associated, there are the great practical Arts 

 of Medicine and Surgery, together with the several branches 

 called respectively Hygiene, Therapeutics, Materia Medica, 

 Midwifery, Gynaecology, Forensic Medicine, Toxicology, Men- 

 tal Diseases (the Pathological side of Psychology), Ophthal- 

 mology, each with a special Professor. Besides these we might 

 have a Lecturer on Diseases of Children, another on the Kar 

 and Throat ; and we have seven Lecturers in Dentistry, a branch 

 in which we give special degrees. There is also Pharmacy, 

 including the training of Pharmaceutical Druggists, a branch of 

 work we have not yet undertaken, but for which there is some 

 demand. 



Medicine therefore is a model according to which all the 

 great sciences should be subdivided and conquered ; and to some 

 extent it is coming to be so in Germany. This country is 

 ignorant of Science : and the administrative and commercial 

 classes are not yet awake to its value. 



Pathology. — This vitally important science used to consist 

 wholly, and still consists largely, of post mortem operations and 

 the study of fresh morbid specimens, with the object of throwing 

 light upon the processes of disease ; so that an essential ap- 

 pendage to the subject is its museum of morbid preparations ; 

 which indeed subserves also many practical branches of Medicine 

 and Surgery. 



A good Pathological Museum is one of the most valuable 

 assets of a Medical School, and has been found to be a powerful 

 factor in attracting students, as well as in maintaining the 

 interest of medical practitioners, to whom it may be a consider- 

 able aid in difficult cases. 



Nowadays the science has been illuminated and almost 

 revolutionised by the discoveries of Bacteriology ; and it 

 bids fair to achieve for humanity the greatest service which on 

 the terrestrial plane can be accomplished, viz., the earlier and 

 surer recognition, the intelligent treatment, and ultimate removal, 

 of many forms of disease. 



The science is allied to Physiology, to Chemistry, to Zoology, 

 and to Botany, and it is the root principle of Medicine and 

 Surgery. 



Its researches seem likely to open up the tropics to white 

 habitation, thereby greatly enlarging the effective extent of the 

 earth's surface; and, if it progresses as it has recently been 

 doing, it is to be expected that the average duration of human 

 life everywhere may be largely and efficiently prolonged. 



Physiology. — This splendid science deals largely with the 

 functions of the human body in health — indeed with organic or 

 vital functions generally, save that those of the lower animals 

 and of plants are generally relegated to the special sciences of 

 Zoology and Botany. It is the Physics and Engineering and 

 Chemistry of live machines. It is closely connected with 

 Anatomy, which concerns itself with the discovery and enumer- 

 ation of the structures themselves ; and on the practical side it 

 manifestly is closely related to Medicine. For a due under- 

 standing of the functions of the heart, the liver, the muscles, 

 the lungs, the viscera, the nerves, the brain, the kidney, the 

 stomach, the glands, the eye, the ear, and the other organs ot 

 the body, is essential to their proper treatment, whether by 

 hygienic precautions or by remedial drugs ; just as an exact 

 anatomical knowledge of their position is the foundation of 

 surgery. 



The microscopic branch of Anatomy, called Histology, the 

 science of the minute structure of the tissues, is generally at 

 present dealt with by the Physiologist, doubtless because these 

 parts are intimately concerned with the business of secretion 

 and with vital functions generally. 



It has recently been customary to equip the Physiologist with 

 a quantity of elaborate Physical instruments, chiefly for a special 



