THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 101 



and that he has not made that discovery is not the 

 fault of the teachers, but of the detestable system of 

 training them which is widely prevalent. 21 



As I have said, I do not regard the proposal to add 

 these to the present subjects of universal instruction as 

 made merely in the interests of industry. Elementary 

 science and drawing are just as needful at Eton 2 - (where 

 I am happy to say both are now parts of the regular 

 course) as in the lowest primary school. But their im- 

 portance in the education of the artisan is enhanced, 

 not merely by the fact that the knowledge and skill thus 

 gained little as they may amount to will still be 

 of practical utility to him; but, further, because they 

 constitute an introduction to that special training which 

 is commonly called "technical education." 



I conceive that our wants in this last direction may 

 be grouped under three heads: (i) Instruction in the 

 principles of those branches of science and of art which 

 are peculiarly applicable to industrial pursuits, which 

 may be called preliminary scientific education. ( 2 ) In- 

 struction in the special branches of such applied science 

 and art, as technical education proper. (3) Instruction 

 of teachers in both these branches. (4) Capacity- 

 catching machinery. 



A great deal has already been done in each of these 

 directions, but much remains to be done. If elementary 

 education is amended in the way that has been sug- 



21 Training in the use of simple tools is no doubt very de- 

 sirable, on all grounds. From the point of view of "culture," 

 the man whose "fingers are all thumbs" is but a stunted crea- 

 ture. But the practical difficulties in the way of introducing 

 handiwork of this kind into elementary schools appear to me to 

 be considerable. [T. H. H.] 



22 Eton College is perhaps the best of the great English "pub- 

 lic schools." Huxley was a governor of the college from 1879 

 to 1888. 



