October 24, 1902.J 



SCIENCE. 



663 



But the committee have from the first real- 

 ized this danger, and in order to avoid it 

 have adopted a procedure somewhat differ- 

 ent from that of other sections ; broad sub- 

 jects of discussion have been laid down by 

 the committee, and those papers arranged 

 for that form valuable contributions to 

 such disciissions. It is thus possible to 

 obtain the succinct opinions of a consider- 

 able number of educationists without 

 occupying the time of the meetings with 

 the elaboration of formal papers. On few 

 other platforms can educational problems 

 be discussed from so thoroughly independ- 

 ent and scientific a point of view by men 

 representative of all types of culture and 

 imbued with the spirit of progress. The 

 section should in the future play an im- 

 portant part in directing public opinion 

 towards a solution of the numerous prob- 

 lems of British education. The selection of 

 Professor H. E. Armstrong as president of 

 the section was but a fit and proper recogni- 

 tion, not only of his efforts in establishing 

 the section, but of his persistent and 

 unwearying advocacy of reform in the 

 methods and ideals of English education. 

 In his discourse on 'The Scientific use of 

 the Imagination' he showed in eloquent 

 and forcible language that the long domi- 

 nation of the schools by the classic and the 

 cleric has led to a serious disuse of the 

 imagination in education. Time-honored 

 curricula in the public schools have re- 

 tained their autocratic influence, in spite 

 of the fact that in the meantime science has 

 revolutionized every sphere of industrial 

 and social activity; he laid down a doc- 

 trine of education and an ideal of the func- 

 tion of the school which are far removed 

 from those at present accepted by the great 

 body of schoolmasters. 



If there is one paper more than another 

 that will make the Belfast meeting of the 

 Association remembered, it is that of Dr. 

 Starkie, the Resident Commissioner of 



national education. Occupying the prin- 

 cipal official educational appointment in 

 Ireland, he ruthlessly laid bare the in- 

 sidious causes that have stvinted the de- 

 velopment of education in that country. 

 The vast majority of Irish schools are con- 

 trolled by one manager— the minister of 

 religion of the denomination to which the 

 school is attached— who has absolute power 

 over the appointment and dismissal of the 

 teacher, but who provides no part of the 

 teacher's salary; the department of na- 

 tional education pays the full salary of 

 every teacher, and has no voice whatever 

 in appointing or dismi.s.sing him. As there 

 is no local taxation for primary education 

 in Ireland, except for those few schools 

 vested in, and therefore maintained by, the 

 commissioners, there is no satisfactory 

 means of keeping the school buildings in a 

 habitable condition, or of supplying the 

 necessary equipment. The funds the man- 

 ager can raise seldom stray from the path 

 to the church, and the upkeep of the school 

 is too often chargeable to the underpaid 

 teacher. The courageous attitude of the 

 Resident Commissioner has already pro- 

 foundly stirred educational thought in Ire- 

 land, and, it is to be hoped, has aroused 

 a public opinion on the subject which it is 

 indispensable should be created before an 

 attempt can be made to find a remedy. 

 The partial reforms that have recently been 

 made in intermediate education in Ireland 

 were condemned by Mr. Jones and Father 

 Murphy on account of their incomplete and 

 unsatisfactory character; and the discus- 

 sion which arose on this subject must have 

 an important influence on future policy. 

 The new Department of Agriculture and 

 Technical Instruction, for which Mr. 

 Plunkett has labored so long and so earn- 

 estly, met with almost unqualified approval 

 as to its educational policy. 



It will be remembered that Professor 

 Perry 's vigorous onslaught upon the mathe- 



