October S, 190S] 



N^ TURE 



587 



retoidiii!,' results ; of putting questions and bending the 

 mind to their solution, should receive particular attention. 

 The multifarious learning of the text-books should be put 

 aside in order that undivided attention may be given to 

 investigation and proof. I would leave it to the teachers 

 concerned to supply the appropriate training, and to certify 

 that it had been got. The latter part of the same year 

 might be concentrated upon the close study of a very few 

 of those agents which set up fermentation and putrefac- 

 tion and contagion. A simple practical examination would 

 test the reality of the knowledge of ferments actually 

 gained ; I can only hope that the examiners would not 

 expect encyclopaedic knowledge. This is not the place for 

 thi' discussion of details. 



Technical Education. 



Of technical learning I must say but little, and that 

 little must be said with reserve. For my only acquaintance 

 with the subject is indirect, and arises from long connec- 

 tion with a city and university where technical education 

 is prominent. 1 hope not to express presumptuous opinions 

 on a kind oS useful knowledge which I know so super- 

 ficially. 



I'chnical education may be pursued in at least three 

 u lys : (i) We may seek to qualify the pupil for his call- 

 ing by a thorough training in some science or art, and 

 then, by the application, under the guidance of an expert, 

 of that science or art to a particular industry. The 

 experience of at least two generations seems to show that 

 this method is really effective ; it does what it professes 

 to do. (2) The second method aims at no more than 

 supplying information directly applicable to the industry 

 in question. Surely this is the least profitable of the three. 

 The information is not accurately lodged, either in the 

 memory or in the note-books of the students ; it soon 

 becomes obsolete in consequence of the advance of know- 

 ledge ; and it does little to cultivate intelligence or the 

 power of doing. Where intelligence and the power of 

 doing already exist, mere information may be valuable, but 

 the best storehouse of information is the printed book. 

 (3) Lastly, we may aim at nothing more than facility by 

 repetition. Such practical arts as reading, writing, draw- 

 ing, needlework, and cookery are largely acquired by 

 imitation and constant practice. Skill in these arts is a 

 tool, the profitable application of which depends much 

 upon the intelligence and enterprise of the possessor. In- 

 dependent attempts to meet difficulties, friendly criticism 

 of these attempts, questioning about the causes of failure, 

 are the expedients which a wise and experienced teacher, 

 ever at hand, would employ. Such a teacher is of course 

 rarely to be had, but is now and then found in a sensible 

 mother. Perhaps the best substitute for the sensible 

 mother would be plain, practical lessons on elementary 

 science, such as the Edgeworths, Dawes, and Henslow used 

 to give. 



Literaiure. 



Literature differs from most kinds of useful knowledge 

 in having an immediate value. Like beautiful scenery, 

 health, liberty, friendship, and other felicities of life, it 

 is good in itself, apart from the advantages which it 

 brings. Nevertheless, literature is not satisfied with 

 delighting. Like architecture, it aims at utility as well as 

 beauty, and employs its power of delighting to instruct 

 and guide. 



The benefits which we receive from literature are com- 

 parable with those which we receive from good society. 

 We are expected to enjoy and appreciate ; we are not to 

 be for ever asking : " What have I got that I can carry 

 away?" Literature may be more than good society; it 

 may compare with the intimate talk on grave subjects of 

 a wise and high-minded friend. Unfortunately those whose 

 office it is to introduce us to literature often treat it as 

 if it were only a particular sort of useful knowledge. 

 They occupy our attention so completely with grammar, 

 metre, etymology, and historical allusions that we have 

 no leisure to enjoy and appreciate. Dr. Bain ' tells us 

 that we need to be indoctrinated in points of style before 

 we begin to read on our own account, and discourages 

 the reading of entire plays of Shakespeare because we 



1 "On Teaching Enalish," p. iS. 



\0. 2032, VOL. 78] 



come across long passages which yield no marked 

 examples of either grammar or rhetoric. 



I have little fear that the scientific age which is now 

 upon us will be permanently hurtful to literature. No new 

 Lucretius, it may be, will write on the Universe, no new 

 .Milton on the Creation and .the F'all. But contemplative 

 and lyrical poetry will survive all changes in our philo- 

 sophy. The higher criticism, which is the study of life 

 as well as of letters, will survive too. One literary art, 

 the art of rhetoric, may be w-eakened and lost when the 

 scientific spirit becomes predominant — that sort of rhetoric, 

 I mean, which may be fitly described as insincere eloquence. 

 Rhetoric seeks above all to persuade, and in a completely 

 scientific age men will only allow themselves to be per- 

 suaded by force of reason. Even in our imperfectly scien- 

 tific age those men gain most by speech who have some- 

 thing important to say, who say no more than they know, 

 and who use all possible plainness. 



It w'ill be enough for my present purpose if we can 

 agree that literature has an aim and purpose of its own, 

 and must not be treated simply as a branch of useful 

 knowledge. Literature and science, for instance, are in- 

 commensurable. 



The Necessity oj Choosing. 



It is an intellectual luxury to run over the kinds of 

 useful knowledge that we should like to possess. Among 

 them come languages, ancient and modern, some giving 

 access to high literature, some yielding historical or scien- 

 tific information, some acquainting us with communities 

 or modes of thought very unlike our own. Then come 

 a multitude of sciences, which perhaps show the engineer 

 how to build railway bridges, or tell the navigator how to 

 cross the Atlantic, or help us to improve our health and 

 lengthen our lives. I barely mention history, geography, 

 and innumerable practical arts. We seem to be led into 

 a well-filled treasury, and invited to say what we will 

 have. But one unpleasant condition is laid down ; we 

 may choose what we please, but we must pay for it. A 

 new study generally means outlay of money, and always 

 means outlay of time. We soon find ourselves forced to 

 behave like the man whose wife has tempted him into a 

 fine London shop; like him, we begin to ask: "How 

 much can I afford to spend here? " 



Every headmaster and headmistress is occupied with 

 the eternal question how to make room for all the things 

 that are demanded of the school. Theorisers, who have 

 no responsibility for the time-table, insist from time to 

 time upon new additions, and are happy if they can only 

 express their own opinions with an emphasis which 

 satisfies their sense of justice. It is my opinion that far 

 too much has already been conceded to demands which, 

 reasonable when taken separately, are unreasonable when 

 taken together. I have known the time-table of a girls' 

 school overloaded to such a point that in one form chem- 

 istrv and English literature got no more than an hour a 

 week between them. The headmistress no doubt hated 

 the arrangement, but had to conform. 



I have said that the grounds for introducing each 

 separate subject are often perfectly reasonable. Thus by 

 ancient usage Latin is made a necessary subject in certain 

 schools. Then a claim is put in for Greek as more interest- 

 ing and equally important. French and German demand 

 admission, and' put forward claims which can hardly be 

 overstated. The result is that some boys in secondary 

 schools attempt four languages, and many attempt three. 

 Then we usually find that no foreign language, ancient or 

 modern, is mastered to the point at which it can be used 

 in reading, writing, or conversation. Our wish to be fair 

 and consistent has landed us in an absurdity. The root 

 of the whole difficulty lies in the fact that while there are 

 perhaps fifteen or twenty branches of knowledge eminently 

 fit to be taught in school, no pupil can profitably under- 

 take more than five or six at a time. The man of business 

 who is inveigled into a shop is better able to resist 

 importunitv than the schoolmaster. He will say : " If you 

 insist upon the drawing-room table, you must go without 

 the chest of drawers ;' if you insist upon the chest of 

 drawers, vou must go without the drawing-room table." 

 I wish that the headmaster or headmistress might find 

 courage and strength to require that every subject admitted 



