546 



NATURE 



Wet. 7, 1880 



science is incompetent to confer culture ; that it touches none of 

 the higher problems of life; and, what is worse, that the 

 continual devotion to scientific studies tends to generate a narrow 

 and bigoted belief in the applicability of scientific methods to 

 the search after truth of all kinds. How frequently one has 

 reason to observe that no reply to a troublesome argument tells 

 so well as calling its author a "mere scientific specialist." And, 

 as I am afraid it is not permissible to speak of this form of 

 opposition to scientific education in the past tense ; may we not 

 expect to be told that this, not only omission, but prohibition of 

 "mere literary instruction and education" is a patent example 

 of scientific narrow-mindedness ? 



I am not acquainted with Sir Josiah Mason's reasons for the 

 action which he has taken ; but if, as I apprehend is the case, 

 he refers to the ordinary classical course of our schools and 

 universities, by the name of "mere literary instruction and 

 education," I venture to offer sundry reasons of my own in 

 xpport of that action. 



For I hold very strongly by two convictions — The first is, that 

 neither the discipline nor the subject-matter of classical education 

 is of such direct value to the student of physical science as to 

 justify the expenditure of valuable time upon either ; and the 

 second is, that for the purpose of attaining real culture, an ex- 

 clusively scientific education is at least as effectual as an exclusively 

 literary education. 



I need hardly point out to you that these opinions, especially 

 the latter, are diametrically opposed to those of the great majority 

 of educated Englishmen, influenced as they are by school and 

 university traditions. In their belief culture is obtainable only 

 by a liberal education, and a liberal education is synonymous not 

 merely with education and instruction in literature, but in one 

 particular form of literature, namely, that of Greek and Roman 

 antiquity. They hold that the man who has learned Latin and 

 Greek, however little, is educated ; while he who is versed in 

 other branches of knowledge, however deeply, is a more or less 

 respectable specialist, not admissible into the cultured caste. 

 The stamp of the educated man, the University degree, is not 

 for him. 



I am too well acquainted w-ith the generous catholicity of 

 spirit, the true sympathy with scientific thought, which pervades 

 the writings of our chief apostle of culture to identify him with 

 these opinions ; and yet one may cull from one and another of 

 those epistles to the I'hiUstines, which so much delight all who 

 do not answer to that name, sentences which lend them some 

 support. 



Mr. Arnold tells us that the meaning of culture is " to know 

 the best that has been thought and said in the world." It is the 

 criticism of life contained in literature. That criticism regards 

 " Europe as being for intellectual and spiritual purposes one 

 great confederation, bound to a joint action and working to a 

 common result; and whose members have for their common out- 

 fit a knowledge of Greek, Roman, and Eastern antiquity, and of 

 one another. Special local and temporary advantages being put 

 out of account, that modern nation will in the intellectual and 

 spiritual sphere make most progress which most thoroughly 

 carries out this programme. And what is that but saying that 

 we too, all of us as individuals, the more thoroughly we carry it 

 out shall make the more progress ! " 



We have here to deal with two distinct propositions. The first, 

 that a criticism of life is the essence of culture ; the second, that 

 literature contains the materials which sufiice for the construction 

 of such a criticism. 



I think that we must all assent to the first proposition. For 

 culture certainly means something quite different from learning 

 or technical skill. It implies the possession of an ideal, and the 

 habit of critically estimating the value of things by comparison 

 with a theoretic standard. Perfect culture should supply a com- 

 plete theory of life, based upon a clear knowledge alike of its 

 possibilities and of its limitations. 



But we may agree to all this, and yet strongly dissent from the 

 assumption that literature alone is competent to supply this 

 knowledge. After having learnt all that Greek, Roman, and 

 Eastern antiquity have thought and said, and all that modern 

 literatures have to tell us, it is not self-evident that we have laid 

 a sufficiently broad and deep foundation for that criticism of life 

 which constitutes culture. 



Indeed, to any one acquainted with the scope of physical 

 science, it is not at all evident. Considering progress only in the 



mtellectual and spiritual sphere," I find myself wholly unable 

 to admit that either nations or individuals will really advance if 



their common outfit draws nothing from the stores of physical 

 science. I should say that an army without weapons of precision 

 and \\ith no particular base of operations might more hopefully 

 enter upon a campaign on the Rhine than a man, devoid of a 

 knowledge of what physical science has done in the last century, 

 upon a criticism of life. 



When a biologist meets with an anomaly, he instinctively 

 turns to the study of development to clear it up. The rationale 

 of contradictory opinions may with equal confidence be sought 

 in history. 



It is, happily, no new thing that Englishmen should employ 

 their wealth in building and endowing institutions for educa- 

 tional purposes. But, five or six hundred years ago, deeds of 

 foundation expressed or implied conditions as nearly as possible 

 contrary to those which have been thought expedient by Sir 

 Josiah Mason. That is to say, physical science was practically 

 ignored, while a certain literary training was enjoined .as a 

 means to the acquirement of knowledge which was essentially 

 theological. 



The reason of this singular contradiction between the actions 

 of men alike animated by a strong and disinterested desire to 

 promote the welfare of their fellows, is easily discovered. 



At that time, in fact, if any one desired knowledge beyond 

 such as could be obtained by his own observation, or by common 

 conversation, his first necessity was to learn the Latin language, 

 inasmuch as all the higher knowledge of the western world was 

 contained in works written in that language. Hence Latin 

 grammar, with logic and rhetoric, studied through Latin, were 

 the fundamentals of education. With respect to the substance 

 of the knowledge imparted through this channel, the Jewish and 

 Christian Scriptures, as interpreted and supplemented by the 

 Romish church, were held to contain a complete and infallibly 

 true body of information. 



Theological dicta were, to the thinkers of those days, that 

 which the axioms and definitions of Euclid are to the geometers 

 of these. The business of the philosophers of the middle ages 

 was to deduce from the data furnished by the theologians, con- 

 clusions in accordance with ecclesiastical decrees. They were 

 allowed the high privilege of showing, by logical process, how 

 and why that which the Church said Mas true, must be true. 

 And if their demonstrations fell short of or exceeded this limit, 

 the Church was maternally ready to check their aberrations, if 

 need be, by the help of the secular arm. 



Between the two, our ancestors were furnished with a compact 

 and complete criticism of life. 



They w ere told how the world began and how it would end ; 

 they learned that all material existence was but a base and in'ig- 

 nificant blot upon the fair face of the spiritual world, and that 

 nature was, to all intents and purposes, the playground of the 

 devil ; they learned that the earth is the centre of the visible 

 universe, and that man is the cynosure of tilings terrestrial ; and 

 more especially was it inculcated that the course of nature had 

 no fixed order, but that it could be, and constantly was, altered 

 by the agency of innumerable spiritual beings, good and bad, 

 according as they were moved by the deeds and prayers of men. 

 The sum and substance of the whole doctrine was to produce 

 the conviction that the only thing really worth knowing in this 

 world was how to secure that place in a better which, under 

 certain conditions the Church promised. 



Our ancestors had a living behef in this theory of life, and 

 acted upon it in their dealings w ith education, as in all other 

 matters. Culture meant saintliness — after the fashion of the 

 saints of those days ; the education that led to it w.ns, of neces- 

 sity, theological ; and the ^^■ay to theology lay through Latin. 



That the study of nature — further than was requisite for the 

 satisfaction of every-day wants — should have any bearing ore 

 human life was far from the thoughts of men thus trained. 

 Indeed, as nature had been cursed for man's sake, it was an 

 obvious conclusion that those who meddled with nature were 

 likely to come into pretty close contact with Satan. And if any 

 born scientific investigator followed his instincts he might safely 

 reckon upon earning the reputation, and probably upon suffering 

 the fate, of a sorcerer. 



Had the western world been left to itself in Chinese isolation, 

 there is no saying how long this state of things might have 

 endured. But, happily, it was not left to itself. Even earlier 

 than the thirteenth century, the development of Moorish civilisa- 

 tion in Spain and the great movement of the Crusades bad intro- 

 dnced the leaven which, from that day to this, has never ceased 



