belongs to historical and literary research as much as to chemistry or physics, and he generally leaves the university without the idea of advancing knowledge ever having occurred to him. Such a type

is common in England, and can be easily recognised on the Government Front Bench. It has many virtues, but it is not a type that naturally believes in knowledge or pursues it as Germans pursue it; and its prevalence explains, for instance, why the Admiralty Intelligence Department found so much information ungathered at the beginning of the war, and why the Government, as Professor Poulton complains, often acts on its own ignorance instead of realising that it ought to consult experts.

It is not easy to change this. The German thesis system, in its unmixed form, has many evils, and more is seen of them than of its virtues when it is transplanted to foreign soil.1 Yet the introduction of some real research work into our degree course would counteract its present tendencies. We have too little research at present, while the Germans have too much; and the recent reform in the Oxford Chemistry School, by which a piece

1 See an account of the working of the thesis system in America in Mr. S. Leacock's Essays and Literary Studies, p. 63 ff,

B

of original work is necessary for high honours, is more likely than any other change hitherto proposed to make for the advancement of science' in every sense of that word. The Government might do something if they encouraged Indian civilians to do some suitable research during their 'long leave,' instead of spending their time in travelling or tennis; many Nigerian civil servants do at present take diplomas in anthropology during their leave, and their example might be imitated, mutatis mutandis, in other branches of the public service.

These are big subjects on which to touch cursorily but it was necessary to allude to them, because the root problem is: what is wrong with us, and in what way is our education at fault? I have tried to shew how superficial it is to suppose that our one defect is ignorance of physical science, and that we have only to remedy this, and to abolish what some critics like to call our 'mediaeval system' of education. Our disease goes deeper, and the neglect of science by some manufacturers is only a symptom of it. Practical experience, as we have just seen, shews beyond the least possible chance of doubt, that classical education, however compulsory and widely extended in a nation, is

perfectly consistent with that nation being highly 'scientific'; and, as we have also seen, many men of science consider that the classics are a better preparation for a scientific career than is a 'modern' curriculum.

Now, passing from facts to theory, I wish to ask on what qualities are based the claim of Latin and Greek to a place in education, and what are the virtues which have made great scientists prefer their training to that of 'modern' subjects. In doing so I shall try to meet the stock objections that they are not 'modern' (p. 186 f.), that the ancients, being far more ignorant of science than we, are not worth study (p. 101 f.), that it is absurd for those boys to learn Latin, who will never learn to read it fluently (c. 5), that modern languages can take the place of Latin and Greek (c. 4 and c. 5). To guard myself against certain criticisms, I would say that nothing in this book is inconsistent with a belief that everyone ought to know some science, that we need more science in national life, that a narrow classical specialism (like all narrow specialism) is bad, that a classical education does not fully meet the needs, or suit the capacities, of every boy, and that the teaching of classics

needs continual improvement-in which point it resembles the teaching of all subjects.1

1 Nothing would be more useful than for competent and experienced teachers of science to put forward their views on a satisfactory science curriculum, stating what branches of science they thought suitable to boys at what ages, and how they should be taught. Laboratory work with big classes is for most boys a pleasant, but otherwise unprofitable, way of wasting time; and it is difficult not to feel that sciences like physics and chemistry, where it is essential to grasp abstract laws, are far less suitable for the concrete mind of a boy than geology or perhaps physiology. It would be a great improvement if some science could be included, possibly as an alternative subject to philosophy or to ancient history, in the Oxford Greats School; philosophy and science illuminate each other, and such a change would give a chance for clever boys, whose interest in science developed late, to take it up properly. Whatever changes are made, it is to be hoped that science will not be given a preferential place in the Civil Service examination. That it is not unfairly treated, is shewn by science men occupying the first and third places in the list in 1913, and the second place in 1914. But it would be disastrous for the nation, and very inconvenient for business men, if our young scientists were tempted away from commerce, research and teaching into a place for which their training was not designed, and where their peculiar gifts were only occasionally exercised. The Civil Service, with its

security, its pension and its excellent salary, already absorbs talent which might often be better used elsewhere; and if it took the ablest young men of science, the nation certainly would not gain.

CHAPTER II

PHYSICAL SCIENCE AND THE HUMANITIES

THE aim and office of instruction . . . is to enable a man to know himself and the world. MATTHEW ARNOLD.

THE study of letters is the study of the operation of human force, of human freedom and activity; the study of nature is the study of non-human forces, of human limitation and passivity.

Id.

WE are going to ask why the modern world studies the classical literatures. But some one may raise the previous question: Why study literature at all? This question is often asked in letters written to the papers by indignant fathers, who want to know why their sons, destined for business, learn fancy subjects instead of things serviceable to them in after-life. They expect their sons to pick up certain knowledge at school, and are disappointed if they confuse Alexandria with Alexandretta, do not know what ice-free ports Russia has, fail to