834 REPORT— 1902. 



measure to all tte sciences. Chemistry and physics are put first merely hecause 

 they are of fundamental importance, chemical and physical changes being at the 

 root of all natural phenomena. 



As to the value of * Science ' to military men, it is easy to understand that 

 they should have little conception what it may do for them : having never received 

 proper training hitherto, they cannot have had the opportunity of testing its 

 usefulness or of appreciating its merits. But making all allowances, it is difficult to 

 understand an answer such as that given by Lieutenant-Colonel Murray (Q,. 4,806) 

 to the Committee on Military Education, viz., that ' Science is a narrowing study 

 for the young mind, and we want to widen and open the mind as much as 

 possible ; let them learn their science afterwards ' (that is, after the entrance 

 examination). The contention of the advocates of ' Science ' has always been that 

 of all subjects it tends most to widen and open the mind. Why attention should 

 be specially called to this answer by the Committee in their report is a riddle ; 

 I hope it was because they desired to show they could rise superior to the occa^ 

 sion. But the idea that science ' can be learnt afterwards ' is a very common one, 

 and one of the most pernicious abroad. Learning from books and teachers is a lazy 

 and ineiiective method of learning ; the average scholar is corrupted at an early age 

 by exclusive re.sort to such methods. Much of the mental inertness of the day is 

 acquired at school by over-indulgence in book study. But apart from this, early 

 youth is the period when the mind is most alert and the desire to acquire and 

 experiment greatest; it is the time when the powers of observing and of reasoning 

 can be most easily developed into fixed habits; in fact, if they are not then 

 developed, it is only in exceptional cases that the omission can be rectified in after 

 life. It is too cruel that Mr. Shenstone, the one witness on the subject heard by 

 the Committee on Military Education, should have given expression to the iU- 

 conaidered opinion that the beginning of the study of Science necessarily comes 

 somewhat later than that of Latin. The statement shows how prone we are to 

 draw false conclusions, how little we think before we speak. The study of 

 Science begins when the infant opens its eyes ; every step it takes when it toddles 

 is an attempt to apply the methods of experimental science ; some training in 

 scientific method is given in well-conducted Kindergarten schools ; but when 

 school is entered, the curtain is suddenly drawn upon all such rational study : 

 if it be the fate of the child to enter a Preparatory school prior to entering a 

 Public school, he is at once referred back to the times of the Romans and Greeks, 

 his teachers being oblivious of the real lesson to be learnt from the study of the 

 scholastic methods of classical times: that the training given to the youth should 

 be such as to fit him to do his work as a man. How can our officers, how can 

 any of us, be otherwise than ill-prepared to do our duty in the world when we are 

 80 treated as youths ? 



Of course all such narrow views, all such narrow actions, as those 1 have 

 referred to are but consequences of the lack of imaginative power — of our failure 

 to make any scientific use of our imagination. Surely it were time we recognised 

 this ; that we sought to do our duty towards our children. An Arnold who 

 could introduce morality into school method, not merely into school manners, 

 woidd be a precious gift to the world in these days. Steeped as we are in 

 medisevalism, we need some cataclysm — some outburst of glowing sand and steam 

 such as the world has recently witnessed in the islands of Martinique and St. 

 Vincent — which would sweep away preconceived opinions and give clearness to 

 the atmosphere. American industry is distinguished by the readiness with which 

 manufacturers scrap their machinery and retit. Why cannot we agree to scrap 

 our scholastic p.nd academic ideals, if not our schools and schoolmasters, and refit 

 on scientific lines ? If we are to weld our Empire into a coherent whole and 

 maintain it intact, we must do so. Unless we recognise prophets — if progress be 

 allowed to depend on the multitude — we shall perish. And time presses; we 

 cannot with safety much longer remain a ' nation of amateurs.' An appeal must 

 ere long be made to the masses to enforce the provision of leaders ; it must be 

 urged upon the men that they see to it that their masters are educated : for 



