efulness, and self-reliance, and many other qualities which our
education had not tended to develop. It was seen that we were
unpractical in our Instruction, that minds passed under the discipline
of school and came out again, still slovenly, unobservant, unscientific
in temper, impatient, flippant, inaccurate, tending to guess and to jump
at conclusions, to generalize hastily, etc. It was observed that many
unskilful hands came out of the schools, clumsy ringers, wanting in
neatness, untidy in work, inept in measuring and weighing, incapable of
handling things intelligently. There had come an awakening from the
dreams of 1870, when we felt so certain that all England was to be made
good and happy through books. A remedy was sought in natural science,
and the next educational wave which was to roll over us began to rise.
It was thought that the temper of the really scientific man, so patient
in research, so accurate and conscientious, so slow to dogmatize, so
deferential to others, might be fostered by experimental science in the
schools, acquiring "knowledge at first hand," making experiments,
looking with great respect at balances, weighing and measuring, and
giving an account of results. So laboratories were fitted up at great
expense, and teachers with university degrees in science were sought
after. The height of the tide seemed to be reached in 1904 and 1905--to
judge by the tone of Regulations for the Curricula of Secondary Schools
issued by the Board of Education--for in these years it is most insistent
and exacting for girls as well as boys, as to time and scope of the
syllabus in this branch. Then disillusion seems to have set in and the
tide began to ebb. It appeared that the results were small and poor in
proportion to expectation and to the outlay on laboratories. The
desirable qualities did not seem to develop as had been hoped, the
temper of mind fostered was not entirely what had been desired. The
conscientious accuracy that was to come of measuring a millimetre and
weighing a milligramme was disappointing, and also the fluent readiness
to give an account of observations made, the desired accuracy of
expression, the caution in drawing inferences. The links between this
teaching and after life did not seem to be satisfactorily established.
The Board of Education showed the first signs of a change of outlook by
the readjustment in the curriculum giving an alternative syllabus for
girls, and the latitude in t