230 EEPOET— 1889. 



instraction preliminary to the natural science course proper, which 

 in their opinion affords the most suitable and efficient preparation for 

 later natural science studies. 



After the most careful consideration of the question daring at least 

 ten years past, and after long holding the opinion that chemistry as 

 usually understood is not the most suitable science subject for school 

 purposes, I am now of opinion that a course which is mainly chemical is 

 not only the best but also the only one possible if we are to secure all 

 the objects aimed at in introducing science teaching into schools. Those 

 objects are essentially : to train boys and girls to use their brains ; to 

 train their intelligence ; to make them observing and reasoning beings, 

 accurate observers, and accurate thinkers ; to teach them to experi- 

 ment, and that, too, always with an object — more frequently than not 

 with what may be termed a logical object — not for mere descriptive pur- 

 poses ; to gradually inculcate the power of ' doing,' on which Charles 

 Kingsley lias laid so much stress, and which undoubtedly is the main 

 factor of success in life. It can scarcely be gainsaid that through 

 chemistry more than through any other branch of natural science it is 

 possible to give precisely that kind of ' practical ' training so requisite at 

 the present day, because the student is able to ascertain by experiment 

 what are the exact facts and thus to arrive independently at an explana- 

 tion, whereas in the case of other sciences more often than not the 

 explanation of necessity has to be given by the teacher. 



Chemistry as usually taught loses greatly in educational value because 

 pupils are told, more often than not, that ' so and so is the case,' instead 

 of being taught liow it has been found out that such is the case ; indeed, 

 that which has to be proved is usually taken for granted. Practical 

 chemistry has hitherto, as a rule, been interpreted to mean the prepara- 

 tion of a few gases, &c., and the analysis of simple salts. Much useful 

 information may be and is occasionally imparted during the performance 

 of exercises of this kind, but the tendency undoubtedly is for analysis to 

 degenerate into a mechanical drill, and, looking at the question from the 

 practical point of view, and considering what is the general outcome of 

 such teaching, probably we are bound to agree that the results thus far 

 obtained are usually unsatiofactory. The difficulty, however, is to devise 

 a course sufficiently simple both in conception and when carried into 

 practice the cost of which is not too great ; but with respect to this item 

 of cost the Committee have to make clear to parents and teachers the 

 claim of natural science to a fair and proportionate share of the total 

 expenditure, which certainly has never yet been granted to it. By the 

 introduction of such studies into the school course a set of faculties are 

 trained which it is all-important to develop, but which hitherto have 

 been allowed to remain dormant, if not to atrophy, through neglect, and 

 which, it is admitted by all competent authorities, cannot possibly be 

 developed by any amount of attention to literary and mathematical 

 studies. It is often not sufficiently clearly stated or understood that the 

 advocates of natural science studies have no desire to displace any of the 

 traditional subjects from the school course, and that all that they ask 

 for is a fair share of the child's time, attention and brains — a share 

 proportionate to the effect which such studies can demonstrably produce 

 in developing the mental faculties of the individual : that, in fact, 

 natural science claims to co-operate and in no sense puts in an appearance 

 as a rival. 



