The financial test shows a deplorable inferiority to the United States and Germany, and must indicate roughly the relative importance attached to higher education in these countries and our own. Thus the total incomes of state-aided modern universities and university colleges in England and Wales is about £700,000, of which 34 per cent. is derived from parliamentary grants. The corresponding figures for Germany are nearly £2,000,000 and 80 per cent., and the University of Berlin alone receives from the state an annual grant nearly equal to that given to all the university institutions of England and Wales. The annual income of the American universities and colleges is £20,000,000, of which £7,000,000 is at the disposal of the colleges of agriculture and mechanical arts. Private benefactions towards higher education in the United States amounts to more than £5,000,000 a year. With us they do not reach one twentieth part of this sum.

The only possible inference from these figures is that, as compared with the United States and Germany, our higher education is lamentably inferior in quantity. We are not producing trained leadership sufficient for our needs, and the diffusion of knowledge is pitifully inadequate to the requirements of a modern state. If an analysis of the kind of training received by our governing classes were possible, it would be found that scientific knowledge was exceedingly rare and even non-existent in some quarters, where it is essential. Sir Robert Hadfield states that in one important government institution devoted to educational work, about 90 per cent. of the principal officials have received a classical training, and only 5 per cent. have been educated in science. Mistakes and inertia in the direction of public policy and in administration are thus explained. There is not enough knowledge of the right kind in governments, departments of state, or parliaments, while, in the world of industry, a sufficient supply of trained research workers can not at present be obtained. Until this requirement is fulfilled, the development of new industries on a large scale must be impracticable.

The excellent report of Sir Joseph Thomson's committee on the position of natural science in education throws a flood of light on our national deficiencies, and points the way to educational reconstruction. The committee justly claim for sound science teaching that:

It quickens and cultivates directly the faculty of observation. It teaches the learner to reason from facts which come to his notice. By it the power of rapid and accurate generalization is strengthened. Without it there is real danger of the mental habit of method and arrangement being never acquired.

All thoughtful students of our public affairs must admit that, alike in peace and in war, our leaders in all classes have shown a certain lack of the qualities which science training can impart, and that national interests have suffered grieviously for this reason. The power of reasoning from facts and of "rapid and accurate generalization," combined with the habit of "method and arrangement," is the best possible qualification for cabinet ministers as well as for all leadership on lower planes; and the British Science Guild has persistently urged that science should take a prominent place in the education of our public servants.

The committee recall the fact that the neglect of science was noted by a Royal Commis-. sion on the public schools more than half a century ago. The position of scientific instruction in the United Kingdom was also surveyed in detail in 1872-75 by a royal commission, of which the Duke of Devonshire was president and Sir Norman Lockyer, the founder of this guild, secretary. But although there has been advance in recent years, it has required the shock of a world war to make us broad to our shortcomings. The champions of classical learning are now moderate in their claims. The Council for Humanistic Studies declares that the future citizen should possess knowledge, not only of the physical structure of the world, but of "the deeper interests and problems of politics, thought and human life," and that he needs "scientific method and a belief in knowledge even more than physical science." This marks a change of attitude, and the advocates of the dominance of science in

The great merit of Sir Joseph Thomson's Report is that it discloses the present causes of the weakness of science in our education. The universities as a whole now show a bias in favor of science teaching, but there is a deplorable lack of students due partly to weakness in the schools and partly to the influence of scholarship examinations in which classics predominate. Thus the old universities, by their scholarship systems, tend to discourage science teaching in the public schools, and the public schools react upon the preparatory schools. It follows that many of the most intelligent boys are deterred from entering upon a scientific career. It is also possible that some class prejudice, based upon long tradition, dating back to the Rennaisance, may still operate against science training. The recommendations of the committee are wise and far reaching; but I can only give the barest indication of their objects and scope. Nature study in primary schools up to the age of twelve is to be the foundation, and instruction in science up to the age of sixteen is enjoined upon all secondary schools, physics and chemistry to be taught, because all other sciences, to which they should be treated as passports, require some knowledge of them. Mathematics should be connected with science at an early period. The general aims of a science course at school age are defined with a view to secure two educational objects of primary importance: (1) To train the mind to reason about things the boy observes himself, and to develop powers of weighing and interpreting evidence. (2) To develop acquaintance with broad scientific principles and their application in the lives of men and women.

No better foundation for the training alike of the statesman, the leader of commerce and industry, and the manual worker, can be laid down. The committee were strongly im

pressed with the importance of manual work at school age, and speaking from personal experience I am certain that I owe much to the handling of the file and the lathe before I entered the army, although mechanical pursuits at one time caused me to neglect other studies. I believe that if all classes underwent some manual training there would be a better understanding of the dignity of labor. Rightly distrusting examination tests of conventional type, the committee recommend the inspection of all schools.

Higher standards of teaching power, coordi nated training from the primary school to the university and to the post-graduate stage, with a lowering of fees and a liberal allocation of scholarships to be awarded for "intellectual merit and promise," and not in accordance with the results of set examinations-such are the educational ideals which are set before the country. By these means we may hope in time to develop intelligence now wasted, as the committee point out, to supply our present deficiency of experts in all branches of science, and to secure more orderly methods of administration and a higher standard of leadership.

The American Declaration of Independence unfortunately proclaimed without qualification that all men are born "equal," and this theory has proved very harmful. In physical, as in intellectual capacity, men show the extremes of inequality. From the technically entitled "feeble-minded" to the intellectual giant there is an infinitely graduated range of ability in all classes. Heredity may confer some advantage; but genius generally mocks at heredity, and the frequent rise by sheer ability of men from the ranks of manual workers seems to prove that brain power in the case of a fairly homogenous race exists in due proportion in all classes. The object of national education must be to provide, so far as possible, equal chances for natural talent wherever it is to be found. Otherwise, there must be loss of national efficiency. At the same time, it must be remembered that marked intellectual power will always be the possession of a minority, that real leadership will always be rare, and that training in all classes may be wasted if

carried beyond the inherent capacity of the individual boy or girl.

Mass education will at best only approximate roughly to the ideals we set before us; but it can do much by stimulating the available intelligence, and by not only disseminating, but instilling the desire for knowledge, which is the essential foundation of sound judgment and the vehicle of truth. Thus the great education bill which awaits the sanction of parliament will have far-reaching effects upon the national life in the future. Continuity till the age of fourteen at least will provide an increase of school time which can be turned to good account, and will put all boys and girls on one equality; compulsory further part-time training to sixteen and later to eighteen will ensure a minimum of teaching to the whole of our youth, and it will have the great advantage that the state will be able to watch over a critical period during which careers can be made or marred. It is a sad fact that at present many more than two and one half millions of our boys and girls between twelve and eighteen have no opportunity of education and may be neglected in body and soul. Mr. Fisher has made wise provision for physical training, which will help to raise the standard of national health, and if the churches and denominations could arrive at some agreement, it should be possible to inculcate duty and discipline, honor and true patriotism, based on the eternal principles of righteousness.

Whether the bill will secure higher training for the children who show special ability must depend upon numerous scholarships awarded only to those who show fitness, and upon the reduction of university fees in special cases. Of about 600,000 children who now leave the elementary schools annually, only about 1 per 1,000 reaches a university. This is far too low a proportion, and it indicates the denial of that equality of opportunity which must be our ideal. I believe that education attained at some self-sacrifice is enhanced in value to the recipient; but, where there is absolute necessity, it is for the state to ensure that the gifted boy or girl shall not lose the chance of distinction. If the recommendations of Sir Joseph

Thomson's Committee are grafted upon the machinery of the education bill, there should be a great increase in the number of science students. The manual workers will not only have no bias against science as a career, but are likely to be attracted towards it. We may hope in future to draw from them a valuable reinforcement to the trained research workers, who will be more and more needed in every department of of industry, while they will strengthen the ranks of the leaders of thought in all branches of public and private activity. Education will always depend upon the character, personality and enthusiasm of the teacher, and one great merit of Mr. Fisher's Bill is that it will raise the importance and dignity of the great profession of teaching.

The war has changed the whole outlook of the nation, swept away many prejudices and revealed alike our strength and our weakness. Our fighting men on sea and land and in the air have given to us inspiring examples of patriotism, gallantry and cheerful endurance. In spite of some unpleasant symptoms, the heart of the British people has proved sound and true when tried in the furnace. "The former things have passed away," and our country can never again be as it was four years ago. The reconstruction which lies before us involves political, social and economic changes for which the lessons of the war, if we turn them to full account, can smooth the way. The strenuous work of all classes with hand and brain is the essential condition of industrial regeneration. For well-known reasons, among which want of trust between employers and employed is prominent, our production has been far below that of America. This grave defect must now be removed by shared counsels and frank mutual understanding. Capital and labor are indissolubly bound together by common interests, which are also the interests of the nation as a whole. Nothing except harmonious cooperation, based on good-will and directed by trained intelligence, can ensure the increased and well-ordered production upon which good wages and the social reforms which we all desire absolutely depend. A more equable distribution of wealth will be

a national advantage; but unless wealth is continuously created we can not make good the huge wastage of resources which the war has entailed, and we shall be faced with bankruptcy. Much more is, however, required of us. In the cleansing fires of war, the gold and the dross have been thrown into sharp contrast. If we are to rebuild our national life on purer and healthier lines, so that it may be worthy of the heroes who have fought and died to save Britain from the greatest peril she has ever encountered, the gold must be cherished and the dross must be discarded. The whole future of the empire will be determined by leadership in all classes alike-leadership inspired by self-less motives and based upon patriotism and knowledge.

In the "Wisdom of Solomon " there are words which democracy must take to heart if it is not to prove a disastrous failure. "Neither will I go with consuming envy; for such a man shall have no fellowship with wisdom. But the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the world."

SYDENHAM

AGRICULTURAL TEXT-BOOKS FOR

OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

ONE of the results of the activities of the agricultural colleges and the experiment stations is the production of an immense quantity of both general and special literature on agriculture. In this literature we find an increasing number of text-books intended for the use in our public schools. This, in itself, may have been influential in stimulating the modern public demand for agricultural instruction in the public schools of both the country and the towns-a demand which is

very sane.

It is a matter of common observation of those who have had the opportunity to observe, that nowhere in the old world do we find that interest in the soil and its products among the non-farming classes, or as great a respect among them for the tilling and the tiller of the soil as in America. In many places of Europe, there yet lingers the prejudice of the city dweller against the peasant,

who once was tied to the soil and owned by the owner of the soil, for whose support it had pleased God to allow him to exist.

In this country, it is a frequent occurrence to find business and professional men of the city, not only to pride themselves on their skill and experience as cultivators of the soil, but to carry that skill and experience into actual operation in their management of rural affairs. Hence, the teaching of agriculture in all of our public schools of both city and country is an increasing demand. The exact scope of this teaching and to what classes, or what maturity of pupils it is to be applied, seems yet to be an unsettled question, judging from the nature of a large part of the many text-books published for this purpose.

Some of these text-books seem by their style of language to cater to the tended minds of the primary grades, but in their scope and the nature of the topics to be intended as guides for the professional farmer in his practical operations. Agriculture, as a subject in our public schools will fail to educate and intertain the minds of the pupils, if heavily burdened with dry recipes for increasing the number of dollars, or lectures upon mere physical operations of running a farm. The highly interesting biological, chemical and physical principles underlying these operations would, however, not fail to stimulate and elevate the young mind, as adding interest to the operations in themselves. The language, too, in which these subjects are taught, should be in a simple, yet good virile English, and not in the blabber of the baby; for no ambitious boy or girl is willing to stoop to a lower level of intelligence, but anxious to reach out for a higher.

In several of these text-books on agriculture, we find some very strange incongrueties; for example, matters requiring a well developed intellect and considerable maturity of judgment for their comprehension are discussed in a language suitable to the kindergarden tot. One author, in describing the nitrogen-generating bacteria on the roots of the legumes, regrets that he has to use the big word, tubercle; but admonishes his pupils to learn

its meaning and how to pronounce it. Yet, in spite of this supposed immaturity of the minds and the vocal organs of his pupils, this same author manages in his book to treat of all living things of importance on the farm, from the bacterium to the horse, and all the operations, from preparing the soil for the crops to the marketing of their products; nor does he stop at that, but devotes much space to rural sociology.

Another author who feels "that there is a need and a demand for a book that will standardize seventh and eighth grade agriculture" has produced one in which the "arrangements of chapters follow as closely as possible the farmer's seasonal occupations." In his preface, this author says:

Such topics as the origin, history and importance of farm crops and animals are about agriculture, but such topics as how to produce larger yields, use more prolific varieties, the use of high grade and pure bred stock, how to feed well and economically, how to improve the soil, how to combat enemies and how to choose, plan and manage a farm, are topics that deal with making our agriculture productive. This is not primarily a book about agriculture; but on productive agriculture.

If a book dealing with the various natural laws and principles underlying agriculture is a book about agriculture, the author is correct in stating that his book is not about agriculture, nor is it a text-book on agriculture, but a manual giving forth in a dry and matter of fact way directions for the performance of the numerous operations required in the management of a farm. The cost in labor and money, and the profits direct and indirect are, of course, the principle lessons to be inculcated by such teaching.

More attention to the principles of plant and animal life would have added interest and animation to the subject, and more care in the statements concerning facts in plant life would have avoided some obvious blunders. For example, in the table giving the minimum, optimum and maximum degrees, Fahrenheit of the germinating temperature of the seeds of various farm crops, that for the red clover is given as 88°-99° min., 99°-111°

optim., 111°-122° maxim.,-Any girl or boy old enough to have begun the study of primary geography, will know that such a peculiarity would banish the red clover from the temperate zone. This book is not the only text-book on agriculture written for the public schools that is encyclopedic in its scope and character, since a great number have been constructed on the same plan.

One author makes the following confession in the preface to his book:

or

Agriculture is too complex for all the details to be mastered by one person. The expert in crops or soils does not possess more than a general knowledge of live stock, fruit growing and dairying. In the subject of crops, there are those who have specialized in grains, forage crops grasses. In animal husbandry, there are the specialists in beef cattle or dairy cattle, specialists in draft horses or light horses, and specialists in sheep and swine. If a man attempts to speak out of his own knowledge on all the phases of agriculture, covered by a school text, the treatment of many of the subjects would be inaccurate and misleading, or else so general as to be of little value. To insure for each branch of the subject an expert, who is responsible for a large part of the material in the field of his specialty, the author has organized this material into a logical, teachable work on agricultural science and practise.

The author of this book has by the help of his experts, whose list of names and specialties covers a solid page of his preface, composed a work that is as impossible to teach from, for one teacher, as it was impossible for the author unaided to write it all from his own knowledge. There is no necessity for commenting on the difficulty that would confront the pupils in attempting to master such a text.

Briefly, it may be said that, in the greater number of these. "text-books on agriculture for the public schools," the pupils are expected to cover more agricultural subjects, frequently crowded together in an incoherent way and stripped of all philosophical connective tissue, than any student in the state agricultural colleges, where he has a four year's course with specialists for teachers, supplied with all the equipments for demonstration. As a men