XII 



THE TEACHING "of SCIENCE^ 



It is not difficult to sympathise with what Dr. 

 Birkbeck aimed at in founding the College which 

 bears his name. His idea seems to have been, that 

 whatever a man's calling may be, he is the better 

 for accurate knowledge of the things with which 

 he deals. This is a sufficiently obvious statement. 

 But if for the word 'accurate' we substitute 'scientific,' 

 it is no longer a platitude — at least it is not so in the 

 ears of the semi-educated. For we can still find 

 people who believe in the "practical man" as 

 opposed to one whom they probably call a scientist. 

 One would like to know more of the conception of 

 science formed by the unscientific. They are 

 probably unaware that science is eminently practical 

 in asserting that only to be true which rests on wide 

 and accurate generalisation. It is also practical 

 wisdom to hold, as science does, that truth is 

 temporary and relative, and is in fact merely the 

 best conclusion that can be drawn in the present 

 state of knowledge. To many people science is 

 wearisome and somewhat ridiculous, and these quali- 

 ties appear in the naturalist of fiction. Thus when 

 even George Ehot draws a coleopterist, he is made 

 a feeble old man shuffling to and fro among his 



'An Address given at Birkbeck College, London, on September 

 29th, 1913. 



