REPOai' OF THE SCIENTIFIC EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE. xli 



Tieed be the slightest apprehension that any one of the valuable results 

 of a classical education will be diminished by the introduction of Science. 

 It is a very general opinion, in which schoolmasters heartily concur, 

 that much more knowledge and intellectual vigour might be obtained 

 by most boys, during the many years they spend at school, than what 

 they do as a matter of fact obtain. It should, we think, be frankly 

 acknowledged, and indeed few are found who deny it, that an exclusively 

 classical education, however well it may operate in the case of the very 

 few who distinguish themselves in its curriculum, fails deplorably for 

 the majority of minds. As a general rule the small proportion of boys 

 who leave our schools for the Universities consists undeniably of those who 

 have advanced furthest in classical studies, and judging the existing system 

 of education by these boys alone, we have to confess that it frequently 

 ends in astonishing ignorance. This ignorance, often previously acknow- 

 ledged and deplored, has been dwelt on with much emphasis, and brought 

 into great prominence by the recent Royal Commission for Inquiry into 

 our Public Schools. We need not fear that we shall do great damage 

 by endeavouring to improve a system which has not been found to yield 

 satisfactory results. And we believe, further, that the philological abilities 

 of the very few who succeed in attaining to a satisfactory knowledge of 

 classics will be rather stimulated than impeded by a more expansive training. 



Lastly, it may be objected that an undue strain wiU be piit upon the 

 minds of boys by the introduction of the proposed subjects. We would rer.ly 

 that the same objections were made, and in some schools are still made, to 

 the introduction of Mathematics and Modern Languages, and are found by 

 general experience to have been untenable. A change of studies, invol- 

 ving the play of a new set of faculties, often produces a sense of positive 

 relief; and at a time when it is thought necessary to devote to games so 

 large a proportion of a boy's available time, the danger of a general over- 

 pressure to the intellectual powers is very small, while any such danger in 

 individual cases can always be obviated by special remissions. We do not 

 wish to advocate any addition to the hours of work in schools where it is be- 

 lieved that they are already as numerous as is desirable ; but in such schools 

 some hours a week could still be given up to science, by a curtailment of 

 the vastly preponderant time at present devoted to classical studies, and 

 especially to Greek and Latin Composition. 



5. To the selection of the subjects that ought to be included in a pro- 

 gramme of scientific instruction in public schools we have given our best 

 attention, and we would make the following remarks on the principles by 

 which we have been guided in the selection that we shall propose. 



There is an important distinction between scientific information and scien- 

 tific training ; in other words, between general literary acquaintance with 

 scientific facts, and the knowledge of methods that may be gained by 

 studying the facts at first hand under the guidance of a competent teacher. 

 Both of these are valuable ; it is very desirable, for example, that boys shoiild 

 have some general information about the ordinary phenomena of nature, such 

 as the simple facts of Astronomy, of Geology, of Physical Geography, and of 

 elementary Physiology. On the other hand, the scientific habit of mind, 

 which is the principal benefit resulting from scientific training, and which is 

 of incalculable value whatever be the pursuits of after life, can better be at- 

 tained by a thorough knowledge of the facts and principles of one science, than 

 by a general acquaintance with what has been said or written about many. 

 Both of these should co-exist, we think, at any school which professes to 



