Ixxxiv REPORT — 1873. 



Ill addition to colleges, •whicli are and always have been the chief institu- 

 tions for the advancement of learning, establishments for the observation of 

 special phenomena are frequently needed, and will doubtless be found de- 

 sirable in aid of a general system for the advancement of science. 



Now, if a system fulfilling the conditions which I have thus briefly sketched 

 out were once properly established on a sufficient scale, it ought to develop 

 and improve itself by the very process of its working ; and it behoves us, in 

 judging of the sj'stem, to consider how such development and improvement 

 would come about. 



The thing most needed at the present time for the advancement of science 

 is a supply of teachers devoted to that object— men so earnestly striving for 

 more knowledge and better knowledge as to be model students, stimulating 

 and encouraging those around them by their example as much as by their 

 teaching. Young men do not prepare themselves in any numbers for such a 

 career : — 



I. Because the chief influences which surround them at school and at 

 college are not calculated to awaken in them a desire to obtain excellence of 

 such kind. 



II. Because they could not expect by means of such qualities to reach a 

 l)osition which would afford a competent subsistence. 



Let these conditions be reversed, to the extent that existing teachers have 

 powerful inducements to make their students love the study of science for 

 its own sake, with just confidence that they will be able to earn a livelihood 

 if they succeed in qualifying themselves to advance science, and the whole 

 thing is changed. The first batch of young investigators will be dispersed 

 among schools and colleges according to their powers and acquirements, and 

 will at once improve their influence upon the pupils, and enable them to 

 send up a second batch better trained than the first. This improvement will 

 go on increasing, if the natural forces which promote it are allowed free play ; 

 and the youth of each successive generation will have better and more fre- 

 quent oj)portunities of awakening to a love of learning, better help and 

 guidance in their efforts to acquire and use the glorious inheritance of know- 

 ledge which had been left them, better and more numerous living examples 

 of men devoting their whole lives to the extension of the domain of truth, 

 and seeking their highest reward in the consciousuess that their exertions 

 have benefited their fellow men, and are appreciated by them. 



A young man who is duly qualified for the work of teaching the investi- 

 gation of some particular branch of science, and who wishes to devote him- 

 self to it, will become a member of an association of men selected for their 

 known devotion to learning, and for their ability to teach the methods of 

 investigation in their respective subjects. Around this central group is 

 arranged a frequently changing body of youths, who trust to them for en- 

 couragement and guidance in their respective studies. 



Our young investigator finds it necessary to study again more carefully 

 many parts of his subject, and to examine accurately the evidence of various 

 conclusions which he had formerly adopted, in order that he may be able to 

 lead the minds of his pupils by easy and natural yet secure steps to the dis- 

 covery of the general truths which are within their reach. He goes over his 

 branch of science again and again from the foundation upwards, striving 

 each time to present its essential particulars more clearly and more forcibly, 

 arranging them in the order best calculated to stimulate an inquiring mind 

 to reflect upon their meaning, and to direct its efforts effectively lo the dis- 

 covery of the general ideas which are to be derived from them. He is en- 



