August 31, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



333 



the powers of observation and reasoning. 

 (8) The preparation of materials for ex- 

 amination trains the hand to precision as 

 well as the eye and the judgment. (9) 

 " In studying botany a student gains in 

 analytic and synthetic powers," T. C 

 Abott. (10) "It is the best system of 

 practical logic, and the study exercises and 

 shapes at once both the powers of reasoning 

 and observation, more probably than any 

 other pursuit," Asa Gray, who possessed a 

 good knowledge of mathematics and Latin 

 as well as of botany. 



What shall I say of the value of training 

 acquired by studying bacteria and lichens, 

 by experimenting to demonstrate that cer- 

 tain fungi, like wheat rust and many others, 

 assume two distinct forms on each of two 

 different host plants ? Here is need of ex- 

 treme care to eliminate all sources of error. 

 Facts are at length acquired (not given) 

 and correct inevitable conclusions reached. 



Take one step into the domain of horti- 

 culture. Selecting the parents and cross- 

 ing one species or variety of plant with 

 another, with the view of securing new and 

 improved sorts, command the use of the 

 eye, hand, imagination, keen judgment, and 

 the experience of experts. 



In selecting and matching apples suitable 

 to exhibit at a fair, the eye, the sense of 

 smell and taste and feeling, as well as the 

 judgment are called into action. 



Mathematics starts with definite indis- 

 putable facts to demonstrate a proposition. 



Latin is based on usage and authority, 

 not on proof. In botany the facts are first 

 to be discovered and then a truth demon- 

 strated. This is the process of reasoning in 

 a large per cent, of all practical matters of 

 life. Linguists claim that the student should 

 devote four to five years to the study of 

 Latin, while one or two years is considered 

 ample time for botany. Let the student de- 

 vote a year or two to Latin and four or five 

 to botany and then make the comparisons. 



You might naturally expect me to quote 

 a few statements from Herbert Spencer. 

 Here they are, old, but good : 



" The education of most value for guid- 

 ance, must at the same time be education 

 of most value for discipline." "One ad- 

 vantage claimed for that devotion to lan- 

 guage learning is that the memory is 

 thereby strengthened. But the truth is, 

 that the sciences afford far wider fields for 

 the exercise of memory." " And when 

 we pass to the organic sciences, the effect 

 of memory becomes still greater." "While 

 for the training of mere memory, science 

 is as good as, if not better than language ; 

 it has an immense superiority in the kind 

 of memory it cultivates. In language the 

 facts are in a great measure incidental ; in 

 the acquirement of science, the connections 

 of ideas correspond to facts that are mostly 

 necessary. While the one exercises mem- 

 ory only, the other exercises both memory 

 and understanding. A great superiority 

 of science over languages as a means of dis- 

 cipline, is that it cultivates the judgment to 

 a greater degree." 



" The learning of language tends further 

 to increase the already undue respect for 

 authority. Quite opposite is the attitude 

 of mind generated by the cultivation of 

 science, which appeals to individual reason. 

 Every step in a scientific investigation is 

 submitted to the judgment. It exercises 

 perseverance and sincerity." "In all its 

 effects leai-ning the meaning of things, is 

 better than learning the meanings of words. ' ' 

 I may have made a mistake in making this 

 digression, but it is now all over. 



I think the most thoroughly educated 

 people are now agreed that the method of 

 pursuing a study is of more importance 

 than the selection of a subject. They be- 

 lieve that botany or zoology well taught, 

 for the same length of time, affords as much 

 discipline and culture as Latin, Greek or 

 philosophy. But you may weary of this. 



