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quirement of independent observation, is distasteful to the great 

 majority of persons, who, whether by natural inclination or 

 acquired habits, prefer to absorb their knowledge in physical ease, 

 by methods which can be lightened by the wits, and from printed 

 books upon which they can lean for authority. Again, labora- 

 tories are expensive, much more expensive than the equipment of 

 the other subjects. This acts as a check to the sciences all along 

 the line, while in poorer communities it is often determinative 

 against their introduction at all. 



Now it may seem, at this point, that I have needlessly in- 

 fringed on your patience and my own allotment of time in thus 

 enumerating such obvious matters, but in truth I have had a good 

 object, which is this : I wish to emphasize that all of these dis- 

 abilities under which science-teaching now labors, these elements 

 of our problem which are not our own fault and for the most part 

 are beyond our control, and the list of which I have made as 

 long as I could, — all of these taken together go only a very 

 small way towards explaining the deficiency of the sciences in 

 education. This deficiency, I believe, is for the most part our 

 own fault and removable, and it all centers in this, that we are not 

 teaching our subjects properly. And now I have reached the 

 real theme of my present address. 



Whenever we are faced by any large problem, we tend to seek 

 its solution in some single great factor. Yet, as the phenomena 

 of our own science so often illustrate, the solution is as likely to be 

 found in the cumulative action of several small causes, and such 

 I believe to be true of the problem before us. These causes are 

 some four in number, of which the 'first appears to be this — we 

 are not faithful to the genius of our subject. 



The genius of science consists in exact observation of real 

 things, critical comparison of actual results, and logical testing 

 of the derived conclusions. The educational value of science 

 consists in a training in these things, and our teaching should 

 reflect them. Yet in fact in too great part it does not. For one 

 thing we have joined in the rush to render our subjects popular, 

 a spirit which is one of the pernicious by-products of the elective 

 system under which most of us work. Our subjects being elect- 



