TEACHERS AND THEIR PUPILS he 
by preparatory courses he had acquired an adequate knowledge of 
mathematics, physics and chemistry. I offered to make the trial with 
him, and began with a problem that happened to interest me and that 
required a new method of simple experimental research. I soon found 
that a well-trained mind, able to grasp the meaning of the problem 
and eager to investigate it, could begin without delay upon the experi- 
ments, and in the desire to interpret them could find a pleasure and a 
purpose in seeking the necessary chemical and physical knowledge; 
whereas to have begun by acquiring this in a preparatory course, with 
no definite object in view, would have been to set back a mature mind 
to school methods of training and very possibly to have stifled instead 
of kindling any real scientific interest. 
This is, again, an illustration of my contention that the most special 
study, if carried on in the true university spirit, is very far removed 
from ordinary specialization, and involves very wide extension of in- 
terest and learning; whereas, if carried on in a preparatory spirit, it is 
necessarily limited. 
In a very short time this student had published three original papers 
which seem to me of considerable importance, though perhaps on a 
somewhat obscure subject, and I see that they are now quoted as mark- 
ing a substantial advance in knowledge. 
Of course this is the exceptional case of the exceptionally able stu- 
dent; but I think it illustrates two things—first, the prevalence of the 
conventional attitude that preparation on school lines is necessary even 
for the post-graduate student; second, the fact that what is really 
necessary to the university student is the purpose, and that with this 
before his eyes he may safely be introduced to new fields of work. 
One result of the conventional attitude is that those who have dis- 
tinguished themselves at school in some subject are often assumed to 
have a special aptitude in it, and to be destined by nature to pursue the 
same subject at the university, whereas their school success may only 
prove that they are abler than their fellows, and that this ability will 
show itself in whatever subject they may take up. Such students would 
sometimes on coming to the university be all the better for a complete 
change of subject, without which the continuance of the school studies 
too often means a perpetuation of the school methods. 
Another result is that when teachers are always playing a somewhat 
mechanical part in a systematized course, receiving duly prepared pupils 
and preparing them again for the next stage, such an atmosphere of 
preparation is produced that many persons continue to spend the greater 
part of their lives in preparation without any reasonable prospect of 
performance. 
I am well aware that, on the other hand, there always have been and 
are now many earnest and accomplished university teachers who are 
pursuing the methods that I advocate, whose teaching is always inspired 
