TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION B. 947 
to them. I do not complain of their want of knowledge of science subjects, but of 
the unscientific manner in which they have been trained at school, and especially 
of the manner in which their intellectual faculties have become deadened from 
want of exercise, instead of developed and sharpened. Too many have never 
acquired the habit of working steadily and seriously; they have not learnt to 
appreciate the holiness of work,’ so that they render the office of teacher akin to 
that of slave-driver instead of to that of friend. What is perhaps worst is 
their marked inability, often amounting to downright refusal, either to take proper 
notice of what happens in an experiment or to draw any logical conclusion from 
‘an observation. Man is said to be a reasoning being, but my experience as an ex- 
aminer and teacher would lead me to believe that this fact is altogether lost sight 
of by the average schoolmaster, who appears to confine himself almost exclusively 
to the teaching of hard dry facts, and makes no attempt to cultivate those very 
faculties which are supposed to characterise the human race ; or he is so ill-prepared 
for his work that he fails to understand his duty. These are harsh words, but the 
evil is of such magnitude that it cannot be too plainly stated; those who, like my- 
self, are brought full face to it fail in their duty if, when opportunity occurs, they 
do not take occasion to call attention to its existence. 
Probably the only remedy—certainly the most effectual, and that which can be 
most easily applied—is the introduction of a rational system of practical science 
teaching into all our schools, whatever their grade; one effect would be that all 
the school subjects would of necessity soon be taught in a more scientific manner. 
I am not one of those who would eschew the teaching of classics, and I do not wish 
to see science teaching introduced into schools generally in order that the students 
who come to me may already have gained some knowledge of science: under 
existing circumstances I prefer that they shall not; but I desire its introduction 
because the faculty of observing and of reasoning from observation, and also from 
‘experiment, is most readily developed by the study of experimental science: this 
faculty, which is of such enormous practical value throughout life, being, I 
believe—as I have said elsewhere—left uncultivated after the most careful mathe- 
matical and literary training. No one has stated this more clearly than Charles 
Kingsley. We are told that, speaking to the boys at Wellington College, he 
said: ‘The first thing for a boy to learn, after obedience and morality, is a habit of 
observation—a habit of using his eyes. It matters little what you use them on, 
provided you do use them. They say knowledge is power, and so it is—but only 
the knowledge which you get by observation. Many a man is very learned in 
books, and has read for years and years, and yet he is useless. He knows about all 
sorts of things, but he can’t do them.’ This is precisely our complaint—the average 
schoolboy may know a good deal about things, but he can’t do them. The ordinary 
school system of training does not, in fact, develop the ‘ wits,’ to use a popular and 
expressive term for the observing and reasoning faculties ; but it is certain that the 
wits require training. It is because the teaching of experimental science tends to 
develop the wits that those among us who know its power are so anxious for its 
introduction. This cannot be too clearly stated, the popular view—to judge from 
newspaper discussions—heing apparently that science is to be classed with ‘extras’: 
that it 1s good for those who can afford it, but can be dispensed with by those who 
cannot. This undoubtedly is true of the ‘science’ which is taught the specialist, 
and I fear even of much of the ‘science’ which is at present taught in schools: 
let us hope that ere long other views will prevail when the object which it is sought 
to gain by teaching science is made clear. 
While blaming the schoolmaster for his neglect, it must not be forgotten that 
the teaching of sciences in schools meets with comparatively little encouragement 
at the hands of our examining bodies and the universities. Again, examinations 
are too often entrusted to those who have no educational experience, and with 
* Inmy experience, the behaviour of ordinary day male students is, in this respect, 
particularly striking in comparison with that of female and evening students: the 
“evening students, who come with a desire to learn, and the female students are in- 
_ variably most attentive, and make the fullest use of the opportunities afforded them. 
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