SCIENCE IN EDUCATION 29 



In his Preface (dated September 4, 1 893) to the volume 

 of Collected Essays, in which this particular one is included, 

 the author says : — 



" The oldest piece, that ' On the Educational Value of the 

 Natural History Sciences,' contains some crudities, which I re- 

 pudiated when the lecture was first reprinted, more than twenty 

 years ago ; but it will be seen that much of what I have had to 

 say, later on in life, is merely a development of the propositions 

 enunciated in this early and sadly-imperfect piece of work." 



Imperfect or not, the essay, which includes a luminous 

 exposition of the scientific method, contains some fine 

 passages, of which perhaps the most famous is one which 

 shows the influence of Hume : — 



" So far as I can arrive at any clear comprehension of the 

 matter, science is not, as many would seem to suppose, a modi- 

 fication of the black art, suited to the tastes of the nineteenth 

 century, and flourishing mainly in consequence of the decay of 

 the Inquisition. Science is, I believe, nothing but trained and 

 organised common sense, differing from the latter only as a veteran 

 may differ from a raw recruit. . . ." 



And the summing-up paragraph is well deserving the 

 most serious attention on the part of modern educa- 

 tionists : — 



" Biology needs no apologist when she demands a place — and 

 a prominent place — in any scheme of education worthy of the 

 name. Leave out the physiological sciences from your curri- 

 culum, and you launch the student into the world, undisciplined 

 in that science whose subject-matter would best develop his 

 powers of observation ; ignorant of facts of the deepest impor- 

 tance for his own and others' welfare ; blind to the richest sources 

 of beauty in God's creation ; and unprovided with that belief 

 in a living law, and an order manifesting itself in and through 

 endless change and variety, which might serve to check and 

 moderate that phase of despair through which, if he take an 

 earnest interest in social problems, he will assuredly sooner or later 

 pass." 



