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1920 REVIEWS OF BOOKS 293 bearing on institutional history. It has not yet been undertaken, in a really concentrated manner, by any scholar. Mr. Adamson's twofold outlook evidently concerns itself largely with the idea of school and institutional history. If we regard this outer shell of educational organization, un- doubtedly the ' progress ' is from te general to the specialized, as Mr. Adamson so interestingly leads nis reader to see. But if we look to the intrinsic validity of the educational aim and content, and trace its history, Mr. Adamson would be among the first to assert that the outlook is just as much the result of general thought as of English thought. There is an English system of schools, but the education given in these schools is not merely national. Now the difficulty is this : Mr. Adamson is not merely writing the history of institutional education in England, but he is also largely concerning himself with the expansion of educa- tional thought in a wider field. Hence the perspective of foreign and native influences on education in England varies vastly with the particular aspect of the historical subject being discussed. We have, accordingly, the paradox that in our national system of education in the nineteenth century, there is a remarkable development of institutional education (elementary and secondary) essentially English, but the real de- velopments of educational thought (the inner aims and content of the idea) for the most part aie entirely external to the system. Thus F. D. Maurice, John Ruskin, Joseph Payne, T. H. Green, C. H. Lake stand outside ; whilst a thinker within the system, Matthew Arnold, is discredited or at least is a little-esteemed official. It is the determined attitude of such men — to keep themselves open to all influences, foreign as well as native — ^that has modified our ' specifically national ' attitude. Mr. Adamson attempts the extremely difficult task of giving in a short history an account of all the various aspects. It is evident that there will be great differences of view as to his perspectives. But, apart from the difficulties inherent in the task undertaken, Mr. Adamson has produced a book which, as well as containing a remark- able body of educational history, cannot but stimulate educational thought. In eighteen chapters, each about twenty pages long, he gives a summary, and sometimes more than a summary, of the main results of research into the history of education in England. But the marshalling of the topics, and the tracing of the evolution of English education, are Mr. Adamson's own help to the student. He has himself been a prominent leader in research in particular periods, and this is of no slight importance in his power of wise choice in his inclusion and exclusion of topics. Finally, let me say how warmly all students of educational history will associate themselves with Mr. Adamson's recognition of the great debt which is owed to Mr. Arthur Francis Leach, who toiled unceasingly to bring to the light original educational material, manuscripts and documents, who safely saw them into print, and who left them ready for the use of others, largely content to leave the conspicuous stores of his gathering for the foundation and enrichment of other students and historical writers. Foster Watson.