314 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 
Encouraged by grants made on results of examinations by the Science 
and Art Department, and influenced by the establishment of scholarships 
in Natural Sciences at Oxford and Cambridge, and by the inclusion of 
science subjects in the requirements of London Matriculation examinations, 
most schools had by 1890 included science teaching of some kind in their 
curriculum. The teaching of botany, however, did not long survive in 
boys’ schools, by the end of the century it was mainly confined to girls’ 
schools. In 1903 a British Association Committee on ‘The Teaching of 
Botany in Schools’ issued a report on methods of teaching the subject. 
The report drew attention to the need for substituting an experimental study 
of living plants for the excessive study of classification and morphology 
which then obtained in the majority of botanical classes ; emphasis was laid 
on the need for the pupils to work for themselves, to be the inquirers, and 
the recorders of actual experiences instead of being the recipients of didactic 
lessons by teachers. It was further asserted that ‘ In Botanical and Zoo- 
logical teaching, more than in any other scientific courses, it is easy to adopt 
improved methods.’ 
Instead of developing on broad lines advocated in the early years, science 
teaching in boys’ schools became almost wholly concerned with physics 
and chemistry, and for the most part with only very restricted parts of 
those subjects. The influence exerted by the highly specialised university 
requirements for a science degree contributed in no small way to consolidate 
this tendency, for the majority of science degrees were awarded to persons 
without the most elementary knowledge of biology. 
The withdrawal of botany and zoology as compulsory subjects for the 
Intermediate Science Examination of London University in 1898 has been, 
in the opinion of many teachers, a contributory cause for the decline in 
interest in biology in schools, and a cause of the deficiency of candidates 
for that subject at the University. All London graduates in science had, 
up to that time, at least some knowledge of biological principles and 
facts. 
The report of the British Association Committee on ‘ Science Teaching 
in Secondary Schools,’ published in 1917, gives a survey of the position 
of science teaching at that date, and includes important memoranda on 
methods of teaching science, on the value of experimental work, on inspec- 
tion and examination, and on school organisation so far as it affects the 
adequate treatment of the subject. 
About the same time the Civil Service Commission attempted to bring the 
teaching of science in schools more into relation with the facts of daily life 
by demanding for certain examinations a much broader type of science study 
than was usual in schools. Similarly the Science Masters’ Association 
made a vigorous effort to obtain recognition for General Science in the 
School Certificate Examinations. In response to this the Oxford and 
Cambridge Joint Board and the Delegates of the Oxford Local Examination 
provided a General Science paper alternative to those of the special subjects 
of physics and chemistry. 
In 1917 the extension of sixth-form work in grant-aided secondary 
schools was encouraged by the institution of advanced courses by the Board 
of Education. The grant of £400 made in connection with each such 
course made it possible to free a teacher for the instruction of a compara- 
tively small number of pupils in the sixth form, and to give help in the 
equipment of laboratories and libraries. In the first year, 1917-18, 
127 courses were recognised, 82 of which were courses in Mathematics 
and Science. In 1924-25 there were 469 courses, 235 being courses in 
Mathematics and Science. There can be little doubt that the science work 
