his
water, and where does it run?" "What is the wind?" "What makes the waves
in the sea?" "Where does this animal live, and what is the use of that
plant?" And if not snubbed and stunted by being told not to ask foolish
questions, there is no limit to the intellectual craving of a young
child; nor any bounds to the slow, but solid, accretion of knowledge and
development of the thinking faculty in this way. To all such questions,
answers which are necessarily incomplete, though true as far as they go,
may be given by any teacher whose ideas represent real knowledge and not
mere book learning; and a panoramic view of Nature, accompanied by a
strong infusion of the scientific habit of mind, may thus be placed
within the reach of every child of nine or ten.

After this preliminary opening of the eyes to the great spectacle of the
daily progress of Nature, as the reasoning faculties of the child grow,
and he becomes familiar with the use of the tools of knowledge--reading,
writing, and elementary mathematics--he should pass on to what is, in
the more strict sense, physical science. Now there are two kinds of
physical science: the one regards form and the relation of forms to one
another; the other deals with causes and effects. In many of what we
term our sciences, these two kinds are mixed up together; but systematic
botany is a pure example of the former kind, and physics of the latter
kind, of science. Every educational advantage which training in
physical science can give is obtainable from the proper study of these
two; and I should be contented, for the present, if they, added to our
"Erdkunde," furnished the whole of the scientific curriculum of schools.
Indeed I conceive it would be one of the greatest boons which could be
conferred upon England, if henceforward every child in the country were
instructed in the general knowledge of the things about it, in the
elements of physics, and of botany. But I should be still better pleased
if there could be added somewhat of chemistry, and an elementary
acquaintance with human physiology.

So far as school education is concerned, I want to go no further just
now; and I believe that such instruction would make an excellent
introduction to that preparatory scientific training which, as I have
indicated, is so essential for the successful pursuit of our most
important professions. But this modicum of instruction must be so given
as to ensure real knowledge and practical discipl