514 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION L. 



that the study of man developed the spiritual but not the intellectual side of 

 our nature, and physical studies the intellectual and not the spiritual. But the 

 fact is that both of the main elements in human nature with which education 

 is chiefly concerned can be developed by means of either of the two broad 

 sections into which we have divided the possible subjects of study. The study 

 of literature can be so conducted as to develop a scientific habit of mind, and 

 natural science can be so studied as to expand the imagination and, through 

 that, the sympathies. 



There is indeed one side of human nature of which I have said nothing, 

 namely, the physical ; but though a complete education must concern itself with 

 this, it is a part of the subject capable of separate treatment, and we may here 

 omit it, only remarking that education is very vitally concerned to see that 

 the physical condition is such as may be the basis for the intellectual and 

 moral life. It is now a commonplace of the subject that it is imposeible to 

 teach, and indeed cruelty to try to teach, those who are hungry or who are 

 over-tired. It is not always recognised, however, that, apart from physical 

 condition at the time when teaching is given, vigorous intellectual work, and 

 still more moral character, can hardly be expected when the physical system is 

 either stunted or disproportionately developed. I suppose it is technically 

 possible to extract perfect melody from a violin whose strings are not in tune, 

 and for aught I know it may be strictly possible for a perfect character to 

 work itself out upon the basis of an ill-developed physical system ; but it is 

 clear that the difficulty is for all practical purposes insuperable. 



I am told that an inquiry made in our Industrial Schools and Reformatories 

 has shown that those children who are most difficult from the point of view 

 of discipline, and as to whose future in the matter of moral development there 

 is least ground for hope, nearly always prove to be in some way physically 

 under-developed or mis-developed. Certainly if the body is in a condition of 

 instability we should expect the mind and soul to be correspondingly fretful 

 and irritable. The whole matter therefore of physical health and development 

 is one that is vital to education, not only as a part of education itself in the 

 largest sense, but as a condition which must be satisfied before education in 

 the narrower sense can satisfactorily do its work. 



From this we may return to the two broad divisions of human personality 

 which are the actual concern of education in the narrower sense — the spiritual 

 and the intellectual. The sjDiritual side of human nature, the capacity for 

 fellowship and for devotion, is best trained by the life of membership in a 

 society. No instruction or study can take the place of this. Tliis is the great 

 inheritance that comes down to us, in England at any rate, from the Middle 

 Ages. The side on which those great private institutions which are called 

 Public Schools, and the older Universities, are particularly strong is the social 

 life which is their most leading characteristic. As the personality begins to 

 develop it requires some society of which it may be a member, other than the 

 home on the one side and the nation on the other. The nation is clearly far 

 too big for the child to realise, or indeed to possess any effective membership 

 in it ; and the home, though not too small, is yet unsuitable in one respect, 

 namely, that it is bound to be too much under the direction of the parents. Where 

 life in a school-room is possible and where there is a large family to share that 

 life, some of the conditions which we require are present, but what is needed is 

 a society which shall indeed be under general supervision but of which the 

 members actually determine the character and life, so that each feels that he 

 is a member of this community in the fullest sense, that its welfare depends 

 upon his loyalty, while his welfare depends upon its general character. I 

 confess that I doubt the possibility of securing this fully realised membership 

 otherwise than in a boarding school, but here T speak with great ignorance; 

 at any rate I am sure that for the spiritual development of the rising generation 

 we urgently need that corporate life in schools which the so-called Public 

 Schools possess in so large a measure. Every member of one of these schools, 

 or of one of our older Universities, knows quite well that what has been most 

 valuableto him in his training has been the whole life of the place, and not 

 the specific_ teaching of the class-room or laboratory. It is probably true that 

 the educational institutions which have especially cherished this ideal have 



