75 



*]th March, 1893. 



Professor Fitzgerald, B.A., M.I.C.E., President, in 

 the Chair. 



"EDUCATION : A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE 



THEORY AND PRACTICE OF DR. ARNOLD, 



OF RUGBY." 



By Dr. Sheldon. 



Dk. Sheldon introduced his subject by a sketch of Dr. Arnold's 

 Hfe and work, in which he traced the influence of Dr. Arnold's 

 thought and character upon his teaching and his pupils, and 

 indeed on education in this country. The lecture was divided 

 under three main heads — Arnold's teaching maxims, his discip- 

 line, and his moral force. In connection with the first of these 

 heads he showed that there was no belief more firmly rooted in 

 Arnold's mind than that all education should have Christianity 

 as its base. He maintained that a moral cannot be separated 

 from a religious education, unless people have the old super- 

 stitious notion of religion, either that it relates to rites and 

 ceremonies or to certain abstract and unpractical truths. He 

 did not approve of sending boys to large private schools of 

 more than thirty boys, neither did he approve of sending 

 children under twelve to boarding schools. The chief end of 

 education he regarded as the development of the mind rather 

 than the acquisition of facts ; not knowledge, but rather the 

 means of acquiring knowledge. Arnold's notions with regard 

 to useful education were next discussed ; and the lecturer 

 sketched at length his views on discipline, including caning, 

 removal of boys, and so forth. He concluded by dealing with 



