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this country pay too great a price for it. If Germany lays too much stress on system in the acquisition of learning, we seem here to lay too little stress on it. Probably the truth lies where the present Emperor of Germany, in a remark attributed to him at p. 144 of this very interesting essay, places it: 'The right kind of education lies midway between the German and the English.' It may be true, as one of the authors quoted by Dr. Gurlitt says, that 'while the Englishman always and everywhere grasps what is actual, and from this point, and as far as this basis extends, builds further, the more reflective German gets away into the distance, and so loses his hold upon what is present.' But in method, and in the knowledge of science and of its application to industry, we Englishmen have to-day good cause to regret that we have not cultivated something of the German passion for thoroughness in the art of imparting knowledge in our schools. No wise man wants to Germanize English educational institutions; but there is much that can be done for them, far short of Germanizing them, by the introduction of certain features which are best studied in the German schools and colleges. The close of the nineteenth century has brought us in England some cause for reflection. Our Empire has continued to grow, and our trade has continued to expand; but everywhere, abroad and at home, we are faced by a competition of which our forefathers knew nothing. Differing from a good many people whose opinions I hold in respect, I see in this fact a balance of good over evil. Nothing so stimulates to energy and the adoption of better methods as competition. Competition there must be, and it is better, not only for the world, but, as it seems to me, for individual nations, that they should constantly have the stimulus of keen competition. For the struggle they have constantly to be training themselves. If they are to hold their own they must be ever laying aside antiquated methods and devising new ones. Now, the foundation of success in this endeavour is education—education in the widest