SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION 91 



ing recognition of the claims of science, and dwells on its 

 importance to various sections of the community, both 

 from the practical standpoint, and as a means of training 

 the mind. The widespread ignorance of physical science 

 on the part of the Protestant clergy is deplored, and they 

 are spoken of as — 



" . . . at present divisible into three sections : an immense 

 body who are ignorant and speak out ; a small proportion who 

 know and are silent ; and a minute minority who know and 

 speak according to tiieir knowledge." 



A tribute is paid to the thorough training given by the 

 Roman Catholic Church to its priests : — 



" Our great antagonist — I speak as a man of science — the 

 Roman Catholic Church, the one great spiritual organization 

 which is able to resist, and must, as a matter of life and death, 

 resist, the progress of science and modern civilization, manages 

 her affairs much better." 



Then follows a sketch of Huxley's views as to the 

 nature of an ideal school course in physical science, 

 beginning with observation of facts and ending with 

 practical training in scientific method. 



These views were no new thing, and he had for 

 many years given them expression in preliminary lectures 

 to the Jermyn Street course (see p. 37), but now, for the 

 first time, the elements of physiography were brought 

 before an audience primarily of school-boys at the London 

 Institution during April, May, and June. The lectures 

 were repeated in November, at South Kensington 

 Museum, as part of a course for women. They after- 

 wards appeared, in book form, under the title Physio- 

 graphy (1877), and exerted a widespread influence upon 

 elementary science teaching. 



That increasing importance was being attached to 



