SCIENCE AND ETHICS 483 
One strong educational argument can be advanced—real knowledge of science 
cannot be obtained merely by absorption of print. The learner must exercise 
his powers of observation, and it is extraordinary how lacking in this respect, 
except in the playground, are the products of our public schools. It is 
fortunate that the enthusiasm of our lads for cricket and football has quickened 
their powers of perception, if only in this limited area. The lad who an 
rightly time and catch a ball in the long field has solved by his own direct 
method problems connected with the paths of projectiles, resistance of the air, 
etc., which long baffled us, and if we could induce him to carry the same 
qualities of close observation, rapid reasoning, and decisive action into other 
spheres of life many of our educational difficulties would vanish. Unfortunately, 
he has learned to place in separate compartments the knowledge he gains 
himself by his own activities and that which he derives from the medium 
of the printed page. 
In this connection I confess there is urgent need of reform in our methods 
of teaching natural science. 
We have some excuse for any lack of efficiency, for we have not, like our 
colleagues on the humanistic side, the experience of generations of teachers 
to guide us. Until recent years natural science has been taught as if it were 
a dead language. Nothing (as Sir Napier Shaw has pointed out) has been 
regarded of interest unless it could be utilised for the purposes of arithmetical 
computation. Our examination system has endeavoured (but, thank heaven ! 
unsuccessfully) to kill the soul of science in the rising generation. There is, 
however, a stirring among the dry bones, and we are awakening to the fact 
that science must be taught as if we believed in it for its own sake, that 
we must preach it as a disciple preaches his religion, and that we must refuse 
to be bound by the fetters in which tradition has entangled us. If 
we are to succeed, we must make science a-living reality to our pupils, 
and cease to regard it merely as convenient machinery for the manufacture of 
conundrums. 
It is true that much of what I have said only applies to those who have 
shown real aptitude for the study of pure science and who have devoted their 
energies to its pursuit. How about the average citizen? the professional man? 
the merchant? the shopkeeper and the workman? I reply that every one of 
these should at all events be given an opportunity of learning something of 
the achievements of science, and also of acquiring knowledge which may give 
him something to think about besides earning his bread and butter. There 
are few who cannot profit by advancing a little distance along some one of 
the almost infinite variety of paths within the scientific boundary. The mind 
which finds congenial exercise in the straight path of mathematics, the one 
path which never bends backward or goes downhill, may be very differently 
constituted from that which delights to follow the winding ways of the botanist 
or zoologist. If there are some to whom all such paths are distasteful, I, for 
one, would deprecate any effort to force them thereon, but at all events let 
us bring them to the gates and find if they wish to enter, and so offer them 
not only freedom to choose, but also opportunities for appreciation. 
he distinction between ‘humanistic’ and ‘natural science’ studies is, 
after all, an artificial one, for science is pre-eminently humanistic. It may 
take faith and intelligence to live by science, but to live without it is folly. 
If we, as a community or as individuals, disregard its laws we inevitably pay 
the penalty. ‘Man cannot live by bread alone,’ but he most certainly cannot 
live without it. 
Strangely enough, when we advocate the training of a lad in the methods 
of science, an outcry is at once raised against ‘too early specialisation,’ whereas, 
for some mysterious reason, the early study of defunct languages is never 
regarded as such, although if that is not ‘ specialisation’ I do not know the 
meaning of the word. 
Think how every boy begins, almost as soon as he can toddle, to form a 
laboratory for himself. He collects bricks, cards, anything to build with. 
He delights in a toy that goes round, and generally wants to know why it 
does so. He is incessantly curious to ascertain the why and wherefore of 
everything, often to his elders’ disquiet. The girl finds her laboratory in the 
doll and its house. 
