82 REPORT— 1888. 



They certainly do exert an influence on the character of the teaching, 

 bui it is a restraining and beneficial influence.' 



XLVIII. ' The influence exerted by external examiners on the teach- 

 ing is decidedly beneficial lolien the examiners are experienced men.' 



XLTX. ' The influence exerted by external examiners on the 

 character of the teaching is practically 'tiil. They send their questions 

 and substances, examine the results, and write their reports, and, with 

 rare exceptions, never make a suggestion as to how the teaching may be 

 improved or better results obtained.' 



(v) The absence of good text-books suitable for use in schools is 

 frequently stated to be a source of diflioulty. 



L. ' One of the chief difiiculties in class teaching is the want of a 

 suitable text-book, more especially when preparation is an important 

 factor. A text-book should without any great amplification on the part 

 of the teacher make itself intelligible to the boy on reading it for the 

 first time, and it should not be overladen with facts.' 



LI. ' We want a good school text-book. Existing books entirely lack 

 connection in their various parts, and are generally made up of a series 

 of more or less isolated facts grouped loosely under various heads. They 

 are also too difi"use and wordy, and, therefore, very unsuited to a boy 

 with but a limited time to prepare his lessons.' 



LII. ' An additional difiiculty is found in the absence of a satis- 

 factory text-book, notwithstanding the multitude already extant, and 

 this difficulty is not diminished by the consideration that, as a rule, the 

 science master is required to devote a great portion of his time to teach- 

 ing other subjects. According to my idea, the kind of book required is 

 one that recognises the close connection between the lecture work and 

 the jjractical work of the pupil ; in fact, a book something after the plan 

 of Huxley and Martin's "Biology." ' 



LIII. ' The greatest difliculty we meet in teaching chemistry is the 

 want of a suitable text-book on which all our lecturers can base their 

 teaching. Boys sometimes get diS'ereut definitions of the same term, 

 and a master does not know exactly how much boys have learnt in 

 another class.' 



LIV. ' Text-books ai'e another difliculty. I have never found one 

 yet that I liked to put into the hands of boys, for I have generally found 

 that they are too elaborate and complete, using, sometimes, language which 

 the- ordinary schoolboy does not understand, and describing here and 

 there experiments which he certainly cannot grasp. 1 have not found a 

 book which I could put between the " Chemistry Primer" (which with 

 the " Physics Primer " is always my preliminary course) and such a 

 volume as Thorpe's or Roscoe's ; these contain a great deal of matter too 

 difiicnlt and minutely exact for class work.' 



LV. ' Further, there is the eternal text-book difficulty. A book at 

 once clear, brief, and accurate is a desideratum.' 



(vi) Some head-masters complain that they are unable to obtain 

 properly qualified teachers of chemistry. 



LVI. ' Difficulties arise from the circumstance that there stands before 

 the class a chemist who is not a teacher, or a teacher who is not a chemist.' 



LVII. ' The scholastic disrepute in which the subject is held is apt to 

 affect the teacher. It is much easier to obtain a well-qualified teacher of 

 classics than an equally well-qualified one of natural science.' 



LVIII. ' Our two great difiiculties here are : — (1) To get men, for 



