1918.] The Fifth Indian Science Congress. Ixxix 
methods of examining. A genius like Stokes or Kelvin works 
out a theory which after a time finds its way into text-books 
and becomes a suitable subject for examination questions. It 
is placed in the syllabus and then its degeneration begins. The 
questions become crystallized in type, and the theory may 
more recent discoveries. In Cambridge, as in India, vested 
interests are powerful, and it was only the zeal of its teachers 
and the healthy opinion of a resident Senate, which included 
some sixty Fellows of the Royal Society, that made it possible 
to effect from time to time the drastic reforms that were 
necessary. 
_ Such degeneration as this is unfortunately not confined to 
science. The founders of schools of painting or of music pro- 
duce ideas which in their followers sink into mere mannerisms ; 
and in the history of religion or morals the collapse is even 
more conspicuous. To quote examples of this in the big world- 
religions is as unnecessary as it would be depressing ; so I will 
draw merely from those survivals of primitive religion or 
superstition which form a perpetual reminder to the educated 
classes of all countries of their brotherhood with the savage. 
nea that they were getting rid of the devil of small-pox by 
. The only method of putting the science teaching of our 
es on to a satisfactory footing is to appoint sufficient 
mbers of first-rate teachers, men who are keen researchers 
