14 
Trans ACT ioi^^s Texas Academy of Science. 
TEACHERS OF SCIENCE. 
In our educational institutions wliere one would expect to find an 
earnest, nay, an ardent support of science, we frequently find the reverse. 
In the smaller and meagerly endowed schools, normal .schools and colleges, 
and even in institutions bearing the name of ^^University,^^ it often hap- 
pens that the studies of several departments are assigned to a single 
professor. That a “professor of the natural .sciences,^^ for example, can 
teach effectively or efficiently the studies comprehended in his title is out 
of the question — it is a physical impossibility. He is over-worked; he 
can not even keep abreast o'f the times ; fresh lectures are not to be thought 
of; and, no matter how ambitious he may be, he is compelled to enter 
upon the text-book phase of teaching. In the meantime, what of labo- 
ratory instruction so essential in modern scientific training ? When will 
our administrative officers, trustees, presidents, principals, recognize the 
fact that long hours kill inspiration, destroy originality, and that over- 
work reduces a teacher to a mere machine ? And further, when will they 
recognize the fact that science can not be properly taught without ade- 
quate equipment, a suitable library, apparatus, collections and laboratory 
facilities ? Memorizing a text-book can scarcely be called studying 
science, and the officers of an institution who belittle la!boratory methods, 
or ignore them as unessential, perpetrate a great wrong upon their stu- 
dents. In short, the moral right of an institution to undertake instruc- 
tion in science without providing proper appliances may be questioned, 
and its administrative officers are guilty of fraud, for they profess to do 
that which they can not do. But the mischief does not end here. Plas- 
tic minds may be moulded, conceptions, or rather misconceptions, of 
truth impressed upon them which the experience of a lifetime may not 
eradicate. It should be made plain that an adequate provision for in- 
struction in one branch of science is worth infinitely more to students 
than a superficial attempt at instruction in several without proper equip- 
ment. 
On the other hand, the larger the institution, the greater its endow- 
ment and consequently its income, the broader its officers of government, 
the stronger the assumption that the instruction O'ffered will be of high 
grade. As such an institution can afford specialists in its different 
departments, the instruction will be deeper and richer, more thorough, 
and, may I say, more truthful. When the opportunity is given the 
teacher or professor to devote his time and energy to a limited field there 
will be felt an inspiration in the work, an enthusiasm, which, consciously 
or unconsciously shared by the students, becomes an incentive of the higli- 
est order in awakening interest in scientific investigation and research. 
