36 QUEEN'S QUARTERLY. 



is consequently loaded up with a lot of odds and ends of teaching 

 by those who do not understand that experimental demonstrations 

 and laboratory exercises require more time in preparation than does 

 corresponding work in other subjects. Experiments cannot be bul- 

 lied into working order, nor can the adjusting of experimental con- 

 ditions so as to exclude extraneous effects be made in the few min- 

 utes between classes. These require more time than those who have 

 not tried it are generally willing to admit, hence the cry that many 

 school boards and some principals need to be educated to a realiza- 

 tion of this fact. 



In regard to better training of teachers. Professor Chute (Ann 

 Arbor) remarks: "To bring these things about much care and 

 thoughtful study must be bestowed on the method of presentation, 

 the teacher must know his subject both theoretically and experi- 

 mentally, he must be able by simple illustrations successfully pre- 

 sented to make difficult conceptions clear, dry parts attractive, and 

 the whole subject a delight. Cutting out the mathematics will not 

 do it, for then the backbone is gone ; omitting mechanics will not do 

 it, for then explanations of phenomena become largely impossible; 

 dropping the quantitative work will not do it, for then the pupil will 

 have no proper appreciation of the way in which science grows and 

 will think of it as merely a jumble of amusing phenomena. A live 

 and well informed teacher can make mathematics interesting, quan- 

 titative experiments entertaining, and the whole subject attractive 

 as well as instructive without resorting to Leyden jar methods to 

 command interested attention." This is at once a strong plea for 

 better training and an effective answer to some of the proposals in 

 reply to the early circulars. 



The criticism offered by Professor J. M. Baldwin (Johns Hop- 

 kins University) is much along the same line. He writes : " The 

 object of the teaching of physics is the teaching of physics." This 

 he explains is not meant as a mere tautology but is to imply that a 

 knowledge of his subject is of far more importance to a teacher than 

 a familiarity with its pedagogical philosophy; that any educational 

 results which may follow from a knowledge of physics will follow 

 in proportion as the pupil knows his physics ; and that the teacher 

 generally obtains these results largely in proportion as he forgets 

 his philosophy and bends his efforts to the teaching of physics pure 

 and simple. This, in a sense, must be well taken, for the instructor 

 who forgets himself in his subject is always more or less of an en- 

 thusiast in close touch with it. The point of view of such a man is 



