592 
most part chemical. If the proper study of man be man—as 
the highest dignitary of our Church some time ago asserted it 
was—the ordinary person would be prone to assume that those 
in charge of education would so direct studies as to give man 
some interest in his own wonderful mechanism ; instead they 
almost uniformly direct that true *‘ culture” consists in knowing 
what he has thought and written of himself in classic tongues, 
in ages gone by before the slightest vestige of understanding of 
the phenomena of life had been obtained. And we moderns 
calmly suffer this, and at the same time wonder at the way in 
which primitive peoples allow their medicine men and wizards 
to dominate them. Taking into account what is known, ours 
perhaps is relatively a deeper savagery than is that of most un- 
tutored races ; our educational priesthood are for the most part 
never trained to a knowledge of the mysteries and deny admis- 
sion through ignorance rather than wilfully. 
From food to the preparation of food is an easy step—in 
point of fact, the knowledge how to prepare food properly is of 
far more importance than any knowledge of what food is and 
does, as on it depends much of the happiness and health of 
mankind, Cooking is a branch of applied chemistry. We live 
ina scientific age—an age of knowingness. We might therefore 
expect that our girls at least would be so trained at school that 
with little effort they could become knowing cooks. I am not 
aware that the authorities who lay down the regulations for 
University Locals or similar examinations have allowed any 
such vulgar considerations to guide them in drafting their 
examination schemes: niceties of grammatical construction, 
recondite problems in Geography and [istory, the views of an 
ancient philosopher who gave himself up to angle worship, are 
alone thought of on such occasions ; and yet there are times, it 
is said, when these august persons deign to take some notice of 
culinary efforts, and they cannot be unaware that cookery is a 
subject of some importance, which might well at least be led 
up toat school. To justify my reference to the subject, let me 
read a passage from “‘An Address on Education,” delivered, 
not by a narrow-minded Goth who is so lost to reason as to 
doubt the sufficiency of an exclusively literary training as a pre- 
paration for life, but by a classic, the Headmaster of a great 
public school, Thring of Uppingham, in speaking of the Higher 
Education of Women at St. Albans in 1886. 
““We English are proud of our homes. Wesing songs about 
them, we write on them ; in fact, we are very justly prod of 
our homes. Was it ever entered your minds that home to the 
great majority in a very large degree, and toall in some degree, 
is but a loftier name for cookery? Ina cottage good cookery 
means economy, luxury, health, comfort, love. . . . Cookery 
to the vast majority of mankind means home, and when the 
weary worker comes back from work wanting to refit, cookery 
alone can turn him out fit for work again. From this point of 
view home is cookery.” 
Cookery is certainly a subject of which those in charge of 
education have not yet in any way discerned the importance. Our 
cooks are inferior and wasteful simply because they fail to exer- 
cise sufficient imaginative power. If we wish to make good 
cooks of our girls, we must teach them to think for themselves 
and to be imaginative—to make a scientific use of their imagina- 
tion; they will then come to see that the subject is a vastly in- 
teresting one, full of opportunity for research. The kitchen, of 
all places, is the one, in fact, in which the heuristic method should 
most flourish, 
Could we find tongues in trees we should doubtless find them 
eloquent on the subject of food supply, and far more delicate in 
their tastes than any mortals. But how many of us, looking at 
a green leaf, can in any way call to mind the wonderful mechanism 
which enables the plant to secure the main bulk of its solid 
substance from the fleeting stores in the circumambient atmo- 
sphere ; or the manner in which it isdependent on light ; or its 
mineral needs; or its great need of water and its wonderful 
transpiratory activity? And yet the chief industry of the world 
is agriculture—the feeding and tending of plants. At least those 
who leada rural life should have their imagination excited on 
such subjects at school ; it is even possible that much of the 
asserted dulness of a country life might pass away if an interest 
in plant activity were properly cultivated. And schoolmasters 
might even find comfort in the reflection that, as Messrs. Brown 
and Escombe have recently shown, the translocation of the 
material first formed in the leaves, metabolism and growth are 
become so intimately correlated that the perfect working of the 
entire plant is only possible in an atmosphere containing the 
NO. 1719, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
[Ocroner 9. 1yo2 
normal amount of three parts of carbon dioxide per ten thousand ; 
they might recognise in the plant an organism after their own 
heart, with ripened conservative instincts, and unwilling to 
accept any other than the limited diet long favoured by the 
craft. 
In these days, not only the obvious, but also the microscopic 
forms of life claim attention, and it is imperative that all should be 
at least aware of their existence and mindful of the deadly power 
that some of them exercise. All should be able to read with 
intelligence the wonderful story of the beneficent labours of the 
great Pasteur—a true saviour of mankind— and appreciate their 
value. The lessons of sanitary science will never be properly 
brought home to us and heeded in daily life until a more direct 
intimacy with micro-organisms is encouraged at school. 
And whether or no there be ‘‘ good in everything,” children 
must at Jeast be encouraged to seek it ; to use their eyes always, 
and to reflect on what they see. A proper use will be made of 
leisure and of holidays when they are so trained, and even 
“Days in the Country” will be days of enjoyment and peace 
for all, never of mere vacuous wanderings, let alone of wanton 
destruction, and will leave no memories of broken glass and 
waste paper behind them. And in the end the national drink 
bill may be considerably diminished if Shakespeare's words 
come to have some slight meaning for all. 
Let us consider what we can do to further this most desirable 
end. Section L is in advance of the times, being concerned 
with a non-existent science—the Science of Education. The 
science will come into existence only when a rational theory of 
education is developed and applied ; but it is clearly on the very 
eve of coming into existence, otherwise the section could not 
have been established ; and we may contribute much to its 
development. 
Surely, the primary article of ourcreed will be that—as Thring 
has said—‘‘ the whole human being is the teacher’s care,” for 
all must admit that the faculties generally should be cultivated 
and educated. At present we make the fundamental mistake 
of disregarding this truth, but there is evidence that sounder 
views are beginning to prevail. It is very noteworthy, for 
example, that in the recent report of the Committee on Military 
Education it is laid down that five subjects are to be regarded 
as necessary elements of a sound general education, viz. English, 
Mathematics, a Modern language, Latin and Experimental 
Science. Moreover, it is recognised that each of these subjects 
has a peculiar educational value of its own. Such a conclusion 
takes the breath away ; indeed, it is almost beyond belief that 
Headmasters of Public Schools could commit their brethren by 
attaching their names to a report containing such a paragraph 
as the following :— 
‘The fifth subject, which may be considered as an essential 
part of a sound general education, is Experimental Science, 
that is to say, the Science of Physics and Chemistry treated 
experimentally. As a means of mental training, and also 
viewed as useful knowledge, this may be considered a necessary 
part of the intellectual equipment of every educated man, and 
especially so of the officer, whose profession in all its branches 
is daily becoming more and more dependent on Science.” 
Just consider what this recommendation means; that it is 
now publicly admitted by high authority that a/Z boys should 
have the opportunity given to them at school of gaining know- 
ledge dy expertence—by actually doing things themselves, not 
merely by reading about them or being told about them, because 
this, and nothing short of this, is what is aimed at by all who 
advocate the introduction of Experimental Science as a necessary 
part of school training. The reign of the cleric as absolute 
monarch of the school kingdom will be at an endif such doctrine 
be accepted and acted upon, and there will be some chance of 
our regaining the reputation of being a practical people.” 
Members of the British Association will be carried back in a 
dream some thirty odd years, to 1867, when a report from a 
Committee, consisting of the General Officers of the Association, 
the Trustees, the Rev. F. W. Farrar, the Rev. T. N. Hutchin- 
son, Prof. Huxley, Mr. Joseph Payne, Prof. Tyndall and Mr. 
J. M. Wilson, specially appointed to consider the best method 
of extending Scientific Education in schools, was presented by 
the Council to the General Committee, and it was resolved : 
‘That the President of the Association be requested to com- 
municate the Report to the President of the Privy Council,” &c. 
One among the reasons then given why general education in 
schools ought to include some training in science was, ‘‘as pro- 
viding the best discipline in observation and collection of facts, 
