SCIENCE TEACHING. 307 



ble that the future will not be satisfied with that which satisfies us. Educa- 

 tional requirements change and sj^stenis grow. It has not been long (1771) 

 since the University of Salamanca refused the admission of phj'^sical science 

 on the ground that IlTewton taught nothing that would make a good logician 

 or metaphysician, and, " as for Gassende and DesCartes, they do not so well 

 agree with revealed truth as Aristotle does." The jDresent age demands 

 that both science teaching and scientific teaching shall permeate the whole 

 educational system, not for its discipline alone, but for its other results. He 

 who believes that they should become something more than mere "op- 

 tional" studies upon the ground of mere utility, assumes a not impregnable 

 situation, but, if it can be shown that, while it serves the purpose of use, it 

 embraces a thorough discipline of the faculties and contributes to intelli- 

 gence, it has my sujDport. 



The new fields of inquiry, of striking and exhaustless interest opened up 

 by scientific researches, astonish by their number, gratify by their fresh- 

 ness, and captivate- by their singular attractions. Thanks to the balance of 

 Coulomb, the achromatic of Dollond, the micrometer of Gascoyne, the 

 dividing engine of Eameden and the chronometer of Harrison, the world 

 has extended its field of research into the realms of matter and meditation 

 300,000 to 400,000 times as far as was known to Middle Age life and the old 

 Chaldeans. The millionth of an inch in space and the millionth of a second 

 in time are noted with accuracy. Davy said that nothing so much tends to 

 the advancement of knowledge as the application of a new instrument, 

 while the historian of science (Whewell), refers everj^^ great intellectual ad- 

 vance in education to the effect of some scientific discovery. Is it not very 

 probable that the acquisition of these new fields are preceded by close ap- 

 plication? And is it not probable that occupation in these fields of inquiry 

 should not result most favorably to the mental capital of the state and 

 country? 1 will not mention the departments of science — it embraces life. 

 One of the principal advantages resulting from the scientific pursuit of 

 science, is the ability to suspend ju(^gment or to reserve it, untilan examina- 

 tion of the case has been made. Hourly is the student of science compelled 

 to practice the advice of Jacotot to his pupils at Louvain. " In all your 

 learning do homage to the authority of facts." How easy in life it is to see 

 those facts which favor our views of any subject, and how conscientiously 

 do we fail to see the application or parallelarity of those which oppose 

 them. Multitudes — not all of them outside of our profession — are ever ready 

 to pass judgment and draw conclusions at first sight, in a very dogmatic 

 manner, neither thinking of the necessity of an investigation, nor know- 

 ing even the laws of an examine. tion. They neither realize the unreliability 

 of testimony, the urgency of timely precaution nor the nature of evidence. 

 Who does not see the profound abyss between the knowledge that an 

 examination should be made and the ability to make that examination ; be- 

 tween the knowledge that precautions and allowances must not be over- 

 looked, and the untrained ability to act with prudence and allow with safety; 



