November 3, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



247 



time been published. There are not a few who seem to 

 imagine that the elements that should constitute a sound 

 and manly education are antagonistic ; that the cultiva- 

 tion of taste through purely literary studies and of rea- 

 soning through logic and mathematics, one or both, is op- 

 posed to the training in the equally imjportant matter of 

 observation through these sciences that are descriptive 

 and experimental. There is considerable inconsistency 

 in any such idea, and educational leaders are now uni- 

 versally recognizing the need there is for not giving too 

 much attention to one class of mental training to the ex- 

 clusion of the rest. Equal development and strengthen- 

 ing of all are necessary for the constitution of a well-or- 

 dered mind. 



A consensus of opinion is now apparent that this 

 method is erroneous, and the Universities are taking the 

 lead by emphasizing to a less degree the merits of a 

 purely classical education. The conductors of jn-ivate 

 schools, again, are beginning to see the great need 

 which exists for a practical acquaintence with the lead- 

 ing Continental languages, and the Board school curri- 

 culum is rapidly becoming to mean a year or two 

 devoted to technical instruction and manual training. 

 It is almost impossible satisfactorily and effectually 

 to conduct the latter without the aitl of Museums, and 

 these institutions are destined to occupy a most im- 

 portant place in this respect. Specimens of raw 

 materials with labels clearly defining their properties 

 and uses, and the relation that one kind of raw material 

 bears to another kind, are now, in many instances, 

 looked upon as indispensable scholastic aids. 



The Manchester Exhibition was j)articularly useful in 

 this respect, for there were many sections in which the 

 various stages of the raw material up to the perfected ar- 

 ticle were shown, and it may safely be stated that no ex- 

 hibition of modern times possessed in this way a wider 

 and more real educational value than the very successful 

 one held in Manchester in 1887. The silk, chemical, pot- 

 tery, and other sections were espiecially complete in this 

 respect. The number of models of an almost infinite va- 

 riety in these departments had a value attaching to them 

 as a means of instruction, which could not fail to be use- 

 ful to the many thousands of the youth of both sexes who 

 visited the buildings at Old Trafford. 



Vast collections of objects, whether in Museums or Ex- 

 hibitions for educational purposes, do not always accom- 

 plish the object in view. Doubtless the vastness of the 

 collections in some of own Exhibitions in London, and 

 those which have been held in other cities, has been verj' 

 impressive, but it may be gravely questioned whether any 

 mind has carried away many useful impressions from the 

 infinite multitude upon which he has had an oisportunity of 

 looking. The general mental state very frequently pro- 

 duced by such a numerous display is that of distraction. 

 There is such a state of mind as picture drunkenness or 

 Museum drunkenness, and this should be carefully guard- 

 ed against. There should be in Museums and Art Gralleries 

 a more extensive use of folding screens, so that anj'one so 

 disposed could shut themselves off from the crowd while 

 they study a ca.se or a picture minutely. A few striking- 

 objects well and carefully studied are infinitely better and 

 of greater educational worth than a number of things at 

 which there is only a casual glance. 



Modelling, whether in cardboard, wood, or clay, is an 

 invaluable means of cultivating and developing the mani- 

 pulative skill of youths. All know how readily a boy will 

 take to the construction of a boat, or a girl to dress a doll, 

 and in this lies the indiction that most young people will 

 take as readily to modelling as the boys do to cricket and 

 the girls to their skipping ropes. 



Charles Kingsley, addressing working men, with refer 



ence to their requirements, says : "We must acquire 

 something of that industrious habit of mind which the 

 study of Natural hicience gives. The art of seeing, the 

 art of knowing what you see, the art of comparing, of 

 perceiving true likenesses and true diiferences, and so of 

 classifying and arranging what you see, the art of con- 

 necting facts together in your own mind in chains of 

 cause and effect, and that accurately, patiently, calmly, 

 without prejudice, vanity, or temper." 



The late Kalph Waldo Emerson, writing on the same 

 subject, says : "Manual labor is the study of the exter- 

 nal world." This kind of manual labor should be taught 

 in schools. Children's habit of collecting and arranging 

 objects of interest should be encouraged. The study of a 

 single branch of natural science, such as constructive bot- 

 any, may be made the means of cultivating habits of neat- 

 ness, order and skill. The analysis of ^^lant forms would 

 illustrate the application of geometry to ornamental pur- 

 poses, and open up wide fields for the development of 

 decorative taste and manipulative skill. But cramised by 

 the restrictive rules of our result system, these sources of 

 useful culture are neglected; and, therefore, our children 

 are turned out of the educational mill imperfectly pre- 

 pared for the further processes necessary to qualify them 

 for taking their part in the struggle for existence. 



All this proves the necessity for Museums having the 

 closest possible connection with elementary as well as ad- 

 vanced education. The uses of constructive botany, as 

 referred to in the short quotation from Emerson, are es- 

 pecially helpful as a suggestive study to the mind. Eor 

 this branch of education Museums are the best text-books 

 which can be provided, but in order that sjDecimens in 

 these branches of natural science be properly and usefully 

 studied they require to be explained by comjoetent teach- 

 ers. It is in this respect that practical and efficient cura- 

 tors can be of the greatest service in giving short and in- 

 formal explanations of some of the specimens in their 

 Museums. 



As far back as 1853, there was delivered at the Muse- 

 um of Economical Geology, in London, a lecture by the 

 late Professor Edward Forbes, on the Educational Uses of 

 Museums. In one part of this lecture he spoke as follows: 

 "In their educational aspect, considered apart from their 

 educational applications, the value of Museums must 

 in a great measure depend on the perfection of their 

 arrangement, and the leading ideas regulating the clas- 

 sification of their contents. The educated youth ought, 

 in a well-arranged Museum, to be able to instruct himself 

 in the studies of which its contents are illustrations, with 

 facility and advantage. On the ofiicers in charge of the 

 institution there consequently falls a heavy responsibility. 

 It is not sufficient that they should be well versed in the 

 department of science, antiquities, or art committed to 

 their charge. They may be prodigies of learning, and yet 

 utterly unfitted for their joosts. They must be men mind- 

 ful of the main end and jjurpose in view, and of the best 

 way of communicating knowledge according to its kind, 

 not merely to those who are already men of science, his- 

 torians, or connoisseurs, but equally to those who, as yet 

 ignorant, desire to learn, or in whom it is desirable that a 

 thirst for learning should be incited." Among the most 

 useful Museums are those which are made accessory to 

 I)rofessioual instruction, and there are many such in the 

 country, but almost all confined to purposes of profession- 

 al education, and not adapted or open to the general 

 public. The Museums of our Universities and Colleges 

 are, for the most part, utilised in this waj', but the advant- 

 ages derived from them are confined to a limited class of 

 persons. 



This educating the children in the schools in the ele- 

 ments of natural science is most essential, especially in 



