, 1873-12-27

PlCOCtCS pGCull1I advantages II GUu"
c%atlOnal purposes in the combination
of breadth and accuracy in the training
which it affords and he was inclined
to think that, iii this respect, it is at
present ~unequalIed, and there is reason
to believe that it will play an important
part In general education, and render
valuable services to it in conjunction
with other scientific and with literary
studies. How falIacious, he continued,
is that materialistic idea of physical sci
ence which represents it as leading away
from the studies of mans noblest facul-
ties, and from q sympathy with the most
elevated aspirations, towards mere mani
mate matter. A science is but a body
OF ideas respecting the order of nature.
Each idea which forms part Of physi-
cal science has been derived from obser-
walton of nature, and has been tested
again and again in the most varied ways
by reference to nature; but this very
soundne8s Of our materials enables US
to raise upon the rock of truth a loftier
structure of IDEAS than could be erected
on any other foundation by the aid of
uncertain materials. The first thing
wanted for the work of advancing SCI
ence is a supply of we'll qualified work
ers. The second thing is to place and
keep them under the conditions most
favourable to their efficient activity. The
most suitable men must be found while
still young to be trained to the work,
tor which we want a system which shall
give them favourable opportunities of
acquiring a clear and thorough knOwl-
edge of some few truths Of nature, and
shall supply to each student who has the
power and the will to conduct researches,
all material conditions which are requi-
site for the purpose. Let the most in
teIIigent and studious children from every
primary school be sent, free of expense,
to the most accessible secondary school
for one year; lie. the best of these be
selected and allowed to continue for q
second year and so on until the lite of
them have learnt all that is to be there
learnt to advantage. Let the best pupils
from the secondary schools be sent to o
college%o their own selection, aud the er
subjected to a similar process of annual
wedding; and, finally, let those who get
satisfactorily to the end of a college cur
riculm be supplied with an allowance
sufficient for their maintenance for a
year, on condition of their d~evoting their
undivided energies to research, under
the Inspection of competent college au-
thorities, while allowed such aids and
facilities as the college can supply, with
the addition of money grants for spe-
cial purposes, Let all who do dwell
during this first year be allowed similar
advantages for a second and and even a
third year. Let there be in every COL
lege as many professorships and assist
antships in each branch of science as
are needed for the efficient conduct Of
the work there going on. In addition
to colleges, which are and always have
been the chief institutions for the ad-
yancement of learning, establishments
for the observation of special phenomena
are frequently needed, and will doubt
less be found desirable in aid of a gener-
al system for the advancement of sci
ence' Now, if a system fulfilling the
conditions thus briefly sketched out were
once properly established on a sufficient
scale, it ought to develop and improve
itself by the very process Of its working.
There is an urgent need of accurate sci
entiic knowledge for the direction Of
manufacturing processes, and there could
not be a greater mistake than to suppose
that such knowledge need not 90 be-