156 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 553. 



jects to enable him at any rate to appreciate their 

 value, and to take an interest in their progress 

 and application to human life. 



He points out that it is only in the last hun- 

 dred years that the dogma of compulsory 

 Greek and the value of what is now called a 

 classical education has been promulgated. 

 Previously, Latin was learnt because all the 

 results of the studies of natural philosophers 

 were in that language. 



It is evident that Professor Lankester in- 

 cludes in his study of nature the study of in- 

 tellectual and emotional man through history, 

 biography, novels and poetry, but we think 

 that he made a tactical mistake when he neg- 

 lected to state this clearly. It seems to us 

 that besides the study of nature, the most 

 important thing in a child's education is to 

 make him fond of reading in his own lan- 

 guage, for this leads to a future power to 

 make use of books and self-education for the 

 rest of his life. When Professor Lankester 

 doubts the value of the study of history he is 

 evidently doubting the value of that study as 

 carried on at Oxford, and surely no person 

 who has read the scathing criticism of Pro- 

 fessor Firth will disagree with him. When 

 he speaks of a reform being possible, it may 

 be that he is taking into account a movement 

 of which but little is known outside Oxford 

 itself, the growing indignation of the average 

 undergraduate at being made to pay extrava- 

 gant sums of money for tuition which is mis- 

 chievous. 



The readers of Nature are well acquainted 

 with the views put forward in this address. 

 Huxley and many others, dwelling, perhaps, 

 more upon material loss to our empire, have 

 published them over and over again, but we 

 do not think that anybody has ever presented 

 them with so much grace of style or so much 

 of an endeavor to secure the good-will of his 

 audience as Professor Lankester. But, alas! 

 we fear that this fine address will share the 

 fate of many others ! 



When, thirty-three years ago, Japan began 

 her new career, there were a few people like 

 Ito clever enough to see and say that the study 

 of ancient classics alone, to the neglect of the 



study of nature, meant ruin to the country; 

 but such ideas would never have been adopted 

 had not Japan been in deadly peril. All the 

 nations of Europe bullied and insulted her, 

 and it was only their mutual jealousies which 

 saved her from complete subjugation. In 

 the presence of that peril the pedants held 

 their peace, and everybody saw the necessity 

 for an immediate, radical reform. In time 

 nature was studied by every child in Japan, 

 and in consequence scientific methods of 

 thinking and acting have permeated the whole 

 nation. All ancient and modern European 

 literature is open to the Japanese who knows 

 English, and English is the one language 

 other than Japanese which every cultured 

 man must know. In the matter of self -pro- 

 tection, any one can see the result. Because 

 the Japanese have studied nature their scien- 

 tific officers and men have marched or sailed 

 to victory in every engagement; their states- 

 men will do exactly what is best for Japan in 

 the negotiations for peace; their country will 

 quietly take its place as one of the first-class 

 powers of the world, and every person who 

 knows anything about Japan is quite sure that 

 ambitious, wrong-headed schemes of conquest 

 are altogether impossible to the scientific 

 minds of the Japanese. 



If Japan had not been in great danger we 

 know that she would not have taken to nature- 

 study, and some of us think that it may need 

 a state of danger in England to produce the 

 necessary desire for reform. The South Af- 

 rican muddle was worried through, and almost 

 everybody seems to think that all such muddles 

 may also be worried through, but some of us 

 think that we may not always be so lucky. 

 Danger is close enough even now, and we can 

 only hope that if it becomes great it may grow 

 slowly enough to let us learn something from 

 the object-lesson which is being given us day 

 by day in the news from Russia and the far 

 east. 



Fain would we hope that Oxford will pay 

 attention to what has been said by one whom 

 some of us regard as her cleverest son; but, 

 alas! we have no such hope. Oh, Shade of 

 Clough, how can we help saying that ' the 



