L.—EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE 209 
have constantly to be adapting their instruction to the advance of know- 
ledge. They can take heart from the thought that theirs is a living sub- 
ject, which will assuredly become the basis of all good education as time 
goes on. I cannot imagine the Classics being widely taught in 500 years’ 
time, and I cannot imagine a time when science will not be taught. A 
young child is naturally scientifically minded : he makes experiments ; 
he wants to know ‘ why’; it is only as he grows older that he gradually 
loses his eager curiosity, because his parents, in their ignorance, are 
unable to satisfy him. But the inability of parents to provide reasonable 
answers to the simplest questions of children is gradually disappearing 
as the result of better education and the provision of better and more 
accessible scientific and technical literature; every year the chance 
becomes greater that the inquiring minds of children will be stimulated 
and not stifled. No scientific man desires to see scientific education 
pushed to the neglect of literary studies ; all of us recognise that a properly 
balanced diet for the mind is as important as for the body: what we do 
think is that science, well taught, can supply all that is best in the classical 
tradition ; can ‘ teach accuracy and exactness ; can give a discipline in 
clear thinking ; can teach boys to recognise differences in things which 
seem alike ; can brace with its difficulties minds that are not afraid of 
difficulties ; can inspire with its beauty minds not insensitive to beauty ’"— 
to quote the recent words of the Headmaster of Rugby in praise of 
Greek. 
The general growth in the teaching of science at secondary schools has 
naturally been accompanied by a great increase in the number of students 
of science at universities. There are now about 50,000 students in the 
universities of Great Britain, half of whom are studying some form of 
natural science. This growth has been only made possible by the pro- 
vision of public money ; all universities in this country are now dependent 
on the taxpayer and ratepayer. The State alone provides annually for 
university education a sum nearly ten times as great as was provided 
before the war ; and local government bodies, in addition to their direct 
contributions, find large sums for maintenance allowances to students. 
The student of science has to be provided with laboratories, where he 
consumes power, heat, light, and expensive material. He is in conse- 
quence the most costly of university students : I estimate that the public 
expend, in one way or another, nearly £200 a year on each student of science, 
with the possible exception of students at Oxford and Cambridge, who 
are more richly endowed from private sources. 
This public expenditure has laid additional responsibilities on the 
teaching and administrative staffs of universities. Most of us are now in 
the position of Public Trustees; we have to examine our expenditure 
more scrupulously than we should if we were not (indirectly) responsible 
to the public, and we have continually to ask ourselves whether additional 
expenditure can be justified. There was a time when it was feared that 
the autonomy of universities would disappear if the State provided a large 
measure of financial support ; that this fear no longer exists is due to 
the work of the University Grants Committee. I shall have reason to 
base some of my subsequent remarks on extracts from the reports of the 
