SCIENCE AND CULTURE 1 



FROM the time that the first suggestion to introduce 

 physical science into ordinary education was timidly 

 whispered, until now, the advocates of scientific educa- 

 tion have met with opposition of two kinds. On the one 

 hand, they have been pooh-poohed by the men of busi- 

 ness who pride themselves on being the representatives 

 of practicality ; while, on the other hand, they have been 

 excommunicated by the classical scholars, in their ca- 

 pacity of Levites in charge of the ark of culture and 

 monopolists of liberal education. 



The practical men believed that the idol whom they 

 worship rule of thumb has been the source of the 

 past prosperity, and will suffice for the future welfare 

 of the arts and manufactures. They are of opinion that 

 science is speculative rubbish; that theory and practice 

 have nothing to do with one another; and that the sci- 

 entific habit of mind is an impediment, rather than an 

 aid, in the conduct of ordinary affairs. 



I have used the past tense in speaking of the practical 

 men for although they were very formidable thirty 

 years ago, I am not sure that the pure species has not 

 been extirpated. In fact, so far as mere argument goes, 

 they have been subjected to such a feu d'enfer 2 that it is 



1 This address was delivered at the opening of Sir Josiah 

 Mason's Science College at Birmingham, October i, 1880. It 

 was published in Science and Culture, 1881, and in Science and 

 Education, Collected Essays, 111:134-159. I have omitted a few 

 paragraphs from the beginning of the address. 



2 "Fire from hell." 



