HOW SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION IS EVADED.
Of the two great phases of educational reform, the improvement of its quality, and the increase of its quantity, in our judgment, as we have frequently said, the former is much the most important. We have abundant evidence on all sides as to how easy it is to extend education, or that which passes under its name. And the evidence is equally abundant and clear of the great difficulties of improving the quality of that which is established under the name of education. And the more it is extended and organized, and officialized, the more formidable are the obstacles to any change of method that shall make it increasingly rational. A fresh illustration of the tenacity of traditional ideas, and the ingenuity with which reforms of great and conceded importance are evaded and turned to naught, was lately furnished by Sir John Lubbock in pointing out the tactics of the leading English universities by which the study of science and the modern languages is escaped. To show how the subject stands as a matter of reason he first called attention to the views put forth by the several English commissions appointed to inquire into the management of the higher institutions. The commission of 1861, which took up the great public schools, reported that more time should be devoted to the study of modern languages, while, as regards science, that it was practically excluded from the education of the higher classes in England. "Education," they say, "is, in this respect, narrower than it was three centuries ago, while Science has prodigiously extended her empire, has explored immense tracts, divided them into provinces, introduced into them order and method, and made them accessible to all. This exclusion is, in our view, a plain defect, and a great practical evil. It narrows unduly and injuriously the mental training of the young, and the knowledge, interests, and pursuits, of men in maturer life. Of the large number of men who have little aptitude or taste for literature, there are many who have an aptitude for science, especially for science which deals, not with abstractions, but with external and sensible objects; how many such there are can never be known, as long as the only education given at schools is purely literary, but that such cases are not rare or exceptional can hardly be doubted by any one who has observed either boys or men."
In 1868 another commission was appointed to examine the management of the English endowed schools. In their report they say: "We think it established that the study of natural science develops, better than any other studies, the observing faculties, disciplines the intellect by teaching induction as well as deduction; supplies a useful balance to the studies of language and mathematics, and provides much instruction of great value for the occupations of after-life."
Finally, a third commission was appointed, under the presidency of the Duke of Devonshire, to inquire into the state of scientific instruction in Great Britain, and they report that "though some progress has no doubt been achieved, and though there are some exceptional cases of great improvement, still no adequate effort has been made to supply the deficiency of scientific instruction pointed out by the commissioners of 1861 and 1864. We are compelled, therefore, to record our opinion that the present state of scientific instruction in our schools is extremely unsatisfactory."
These are well-matured views put forth with the weight of a large number of the most eminent names in England. The claims of scientific men for time to be devoted to scientific studies have been moderate. Assuming the number of study-hours in a week
