208 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 
after many years of slower progress ; just as a motor race shows up in a 
few hours unsuspected defects in the mechanism of a car. The economic 
foundations of industry and trade have not suddenly become unstable and 
weak : they always were so, but we did not observe it. The gold standard 
has not suddenly become imperfect ; its imperfections have been made 
obvious. Human nature has not changed for the worse ; but we are all 
more conscious of the deficiencies of others than we are in placid times. 
I think we should do well to emulate the robust spirit of the practical 
engineer, who after a partial failure spends little time in wondering whether 
his work is really worth while, but uses his experience to make a better 
article. 
The great practical achievements of science have naturally brought 
about a change of attitude on the part of the general public towards 
scientific education and research. Everyone believes in scientific research, 
without knowing quite what it means. Thirty years ago a member of 
Parliament advocating the need for scientific research would as likely as 
not have emptied the House: to-day I should be inclined to say of the 
House of Commons that it is not sufficiently critical of expenditure on 
research, because its faith is greater than its understanding. A scientific 
man need no longer spend tedious hours in advocating the value of a 
general scientific education, because he has many convinced and influential 
supporters who themselves never had any scientific education. ‘The chief 
problem now is to define what we mean by ‘a general scientific education,’ 
and on that there is little agreement. Should it include biology, and if so, 
of what kind, and to what extent? How miuch laboratory work should 
be done? How is it possible, in a few years, to give a boy some insight 
into the beauties and wonders of the physical and biological sciences, 
some real conception of law and order in the universe, some true apprecia- 
tion of scientific method, without running the risk of leaving him with a 
mere smattering of uninspiring knowledge? I do not propose to offer 
any advice on these important matters to schoolmasters, because I 
honestly believe it would be of little value to them. Further, I do not 
think the questions can be finally answered by discussion, but by 
experiment ; and I am content with the thought that the experiment is 
being tried in different ways in a number of schools, by enthusiastic 
science masters, who meet every year to exchange views and experiences 
and to keep their own knowledge up to date. After all we must remember 
that the teaching of science at schools has not centuries of experience 
behind it, and we must expect imperfections. Classical education has a 
much longer history. The value of the Classics lies not so much in the 
intrinsic merits of Latin and Greek, nor in the importance of the opinions 
and work of people who lived in a primitive state of society thousands of 
years ago, and who, in the words of an old friend of mine, “ had access to 
so little information,’ as in the way it is taught ; and the way it is taught 
is the result of hundreds of years of ruthless experiment on unhappy boys ! 
Science masters, who are intensely self-critical, so much so that they 
invite, and get, the criticism of others, must often envy the calm con- 
fidence of their classical colleagues, who teach admirably a subject that is, 
to all intents and purposes, a closed book, while they, on the other hand, 
