3/< 



NATURE 



[January g, 1919 



11 relative importance of these is in the ordei named. 



I In point is worth noting, because it has become the 

 fashion laterj to deer} knowledge especially. "Be 

 says one, "and let who will be wise"; and 

 I'ennyson exclaims ol knowledge, "Lei her know her 

 place; she is the second, not the first." 



sin Ii sayings are based upon a false psychology; 

 foi the mind is not a thing ol only one or two dune n- 

 sions, but of three, and there is no first and no second 

 where all three air equal. One might as well say, 

 "It is nobler to breathe and to sleep than to eat; 

 therefore let us do without fond. \nd, indeed, ibis 

 is I hi' actual faith of the Indian fakir, leading to a 

 futile philosophy which was becoming vi i \ prevalent 

 even in this country before the war, and which J 

 'called "fakirism." When this evil spiia enters into 

 the mind of a nation, that nation is doomed. Like 

 the Indian fakir, it will be content to sit by the road- 

 side of life and to achieve nothing thereafter except 

 the pursuit of idle dreams, as many nations have done 

 and arc doing. It is your mission, 1 take it, to con- 

 tend against this spirit, to rouse the fakir, ami to put 

 some of the abhorred beef and bread of natural science 

 into him, so that he shall begin to do honest work 

 again. 



All this is really very pertinent to our theme. For if 

 knowledge is of no account, why trouble to teach anv at 

 all? But if it is of some account, then why not teach 

 knowledge that is useful as well as sound? But here 

 we strike at once across two dogmas which I have 

 ■often seen repeated in educational literature. The first 

 is that the object of education is not to impart know- 

 ledge, but to exercise the mind in the art of acquiring 

 knowledge for itself in after-years. There is some 

 truth in that, but also a fallacy. For how can we 

 exercise a mind in the art of acquiring knowledge 

 except by the practice of that art? We might as well 

 try to teach a boy to swim without putting him in the 

 water. Then there is the second dogma, which is just 

 the opposite — that what is taught at all must be 

 taught thoroughly. Now I am no teacher of young 

 boys myself, but I doubt the policy. 1 think that it is 

 advocated in disregard of the natural law that living 

 beings tend to bate a food which is offered to them too 

 constantly. Moreover, we can never know in which 

 direction a boy's aptitude really lies; and, lastly, it is 

 impossible to teach anything thoroughly to anyone, for 

 all knowledge is infinite. 1 conclude, therefore (though 

 I may be wrong), that it is not good to bury a youth 

 at the bottom of a mine in order that he shall search 

 there for some gold which perhaps he will never find; 

 but that it is better to take him speedily to a height 

 whence he can survey the whole world and choose for 

 himself the field for his own future work. 



Neither you nor I will pretend that natural science 

 is to be the only subject to be taught; but I cannot 

 conceive how anyone who does not possess some broad 

 knowledge of the immense accumulation of facts about 

 Nature collected by humanity during the last two 

 thousand years can dare to call himself an educated 

 person. Some years ago a headmaster whose name 

 I have forgotten maintained that a study of the stars 

 is unimportant for men. He meant, not men, but 

 earthworms. A man is, or ought to be, something 

 more than an animal, and the very definition of him 

 is that he shall study the stars. 



Of course, in ibis very brief survey I have been 

 obliged to omit reference to some points even of the 

 first importance, such as manners and morale, for 

 instance; and to exclude university education, which 

 is the privilege only of a few persons. I will con- 

 clude now with the following summary of my own 

 opinions — for what they are worth. I think thai our 

 in .it open-air education, in whii h the public schools 



NO. 2567, VOL. I02] 



set the example, is a most invaluable and essential part 

 of education. Closely connected with il is the prin- 

 ciple of persona] honour, good temper, and duty — that 

 is, a spirit of noblesse oblige, which that open-air 

 education, more than anything else, fosters and in- 

 1 uli ales. On the other hand, 1 think that our system 

 ol education i> defective as regards the imparling of 

 fundamental knowledge. Most of the great know- 

 ledges of humanity are not implanted in the minds of 

 ma youth not only the great discoveries of science, 

 Inn also the great discoveries of literature, including 

 classical literature, and of the high poetry, painl 

 music, and philosophy, which constitute the principal 



nil agi 11I the human race. Indeed, knowledgi 

 often actually derided by the numerous apostli 



'fakirism" in this country, or replaced by a usi 

 lumber of unimportant matter; and foreign langi 

 and many of the petty but useful arts of I i f < 

 neglected. Hence the whole intellectual side of life 

 is too frequently ignored, or even despised, b) be 

 111 as-es of the people, with the result that their judg- 

 ment is starved for lack of facts, and that 

 become too often the slaves of fads and quackerii s and 

 unproven dogmas of every description — party politics, 

 meretricious propagandas, ignoble creeds, and even 

 sometimes superstitions that savages would laugh at. 

 But behind these and other defects the nation pos- 

 sesses by nature a kindliness, a sense of humour and 

 fair play, and an unopposable force of good intention 

 which have made it during the last four years the 

 pattern and exemplar of the world. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 Dr. M. C. Rayner has resigned her appointment as 

 lecturer in botany (lecturer-in-charge) at University 

 College, Reading. 



Dr. R. M. Cavan, of the chemistry department of 

 University College, Nottingham, is leaving shortly to 

 take up his duties as principal of the Techni Col- 

 lege, Darlington. 



The sum of 3000L has been given by Mr. G. T. 

 Hawkins, of Northampton, towards the building and 

 equipment of a pathological laboratory at the 

 Northampton General Hospital. 



Mr. W. 11. Watson, of the chemistry department 

 of the Northern Polytechnic Institute, has been ap- 

 pointed vice-principal and head of the chemistry and 

 natural science department of the Municipal College, 

 Portsmouth. 



I 111. organised laundry trade is establishing . n - 

 search department, the object being to 

 efficiency through science and invention, and towards 

 this a Croydon launderer has offered 100/. and 50Z. 

 yearly for five years. 



Two Theresa Seessel research fellowships, each of 

 the value of 200/., are being offered by Yale I'ni- 

 versity. The fellowships are intended to promote 

 original research in biological studies, and are open 

 to men or women. Applications, accompanied by re- 

 prints of scientific publications, letters of recommenda- 

 tion, and a statement of the particular problem which 

 the candidate is prepared to investigate, must be made 

 before April 1 next to the Dean of the Graduate 

 School, New Haven, Conn., U.S.A. 



Good progress has been made in the- formation of 

 the Society of British Science Students, m th< in- 

 auguration of which attention has been directed 

 already in these columns. A temporary executive 

 hi - bi 1 n elected, of which Mr. P. E. O' ■ . ■ ' 



