Académie des sciences

“ To most students the natural history subjects offer the most attractive field; but all, I think will admit, that the experimental sciences should form a considerable portion, at least, of the course of all scientific students, whatever specialty may subsequently be chosen. ”

“ If botany is to be studied, it must be partly in the field and partly with the microscope; if zoology, then the scalpel must be used; if chemistry or physics, the student must learn to perform his own experiments. Without practice of this sort the instruction will be largely thrown away. It is to science what the exercise of translation is to the study of language, or what the solution of problems is to mathematics. The student must be trained to observe for himself; then to generalize upon his observations. In no other manner can the natural and physical sciences be taught. ”

“ As this natural order of dependence and development of the sciences is a great fact of nature, over which we have little or no control, and as a scheme for the simultaneous establishment of professorships of research in all the sciences, simple, complex, and concrete, would probably be too great an undertaking, the most proper course would be to commence with the simpler ones, such as those of mathematics, mechanics, physics, and chemistry, and perhaps biology. ”

“ Far indeed am I from denying the extreme attractiveness, as well as the practical benefit to the world at large, of the sciences of Chemistry, Electricity, and Geology; but the question is not what department of study contains the more wonderful facts, or promises the more brilliant discoveries, and which is in the higher and which in an inferior rank; but simply which out of all provides the most robust and invigorating discipline for the unformed mind. ”

“ The surest way to acquire this qualification is to study the sciences. The dazzling array of facts which science has accumulated, owe half their value to the systematization they have received at the hands of her greatest savants.
It is impossible to take a step in scientific study without coming face to face with her grand classifications. At the very beginning science divides the universe into two parts, the inorganic and the organic. The inorganic is studied under the head of “physics”; the organic, under “biology.” ”

“ Knowledge of the elementary laws in sciences, some mechanics, some chemistry, to be afterward supplemented by the adequate systematic study of mathematics and the philosophical analysis of theories.
Such, in short, are the prerequisites for a modern scientific apprenticeship, and such a preparatory training, both in knowledge and manipulation or practical work, is expected to result from the innovation recommended—the industrial training or the experimental laboratory connected with every technical fitting-school. ”

“ Thus, each group of sciences becomes the appropriate school for its own characteristic doctrines and methods. For example, physics uses freely the method of notation, but mathematics is the true school of this method. Biology uses experiment, but physics is the true school of this method. If there be any other still higher science which shall use the doctrines of life and the method of comparison, the cultivators of that science should first acquire clear conceptions of these doctrines, and learn expertness in the use of this method by the previous study of biology. ”

“ Natural science claims a place in the elementary school not so much as a disciplinary study side by side with grammar, arithmetic, and history, as a training in habits of observation and in the use of the technique by which such sciences are expounded. With a knowledge of the technical terms and some training in the methods of original investigation employed in the sciences, the pupil broadens his views of the world and greatly increases his capacity to acquire new knowledge. ”

“ This general science course has met a splendid response and its method has resulted in more effective work in subjects other than science during the first year and in the sciences in the following years. It is stated by teachers and principals that where significant laboratory courses in general science are given, fewer pupils fail in their work, more remain in school in the second year, and there is a much larger demand in subsequent years for courses that utilize laboratory methods, similar to those of general science courses. ”

“ We have come to the conclusion that this form of education is a mistaken and injurious one. We desire to make the chief subject of education both in school and in college a knowledge of nature as set forth in the sciences which are spoken of as physics, chemistry, geology and biology. We think that all education should consist in the first place of this kind of knowledge, on account of its commanding importance both to the individual and to the community. ”

“ For the classification of the sciences it is convenient to prepare the way by distinguishing between theoretical sciences which are the sciences properly so called, and practical science. A theoretical science embraces a distinct department of nature, and is so arranged as to give in the most compact form the entire body of ascertained (scientific) knowledge in that department, such as mathematics, chemistry, physiology, and zoology. ”

“ The wonderful progress in the development of the natural and physical sciences has come through the agency of experiment and comparison. In this, the scientific method, the student at his home masters the text-books; in the library and reading room he studies the works of the best authors and investigators; in the lecture room he is drilled in theory and application; and in the laboratory he puts questions to Nature and receives her replies; and thus develops strength in all the faculties of a true investigator. ”

“ When one science, or possibly two, are chiefly taken up, and others considered merely accessory to the main subject of study, a more adequate knowledge of science and scientific method can be gained, especially if the sciences taken up are such as botany, and physics, which illustrate respectively different methods of scientific research.
It may be maintained that the Normal School students must be prepared for their future work in the Primary and Grammar Schools, in most of which the elements of several sciences are taught. This, of course, must be remembered. ”

“ The teacher of the very little child must first know what are the fundamental facts in science. Too often the traditional school training has given an intensive acquaintance with one or two sciences, so detailed that the fundamental foundations are obscured. The teacher of the very little child needs, instead, a comprehensive knowledge of many sciences, in their broad basic outlines,—especially physics, chemistry, nature-study, biology, physical geography, geology, astronomy, industrial geography and industrial processes, the story of primitive life and industries. ”

“ The method of study is also important, and just here is where many otherwise good institutions fail. Every student of science should meet Nature at first hand, and learn to observe her phenomena for himself. Lectures and text-books are but minor accessories to study; in the sciences they play a wholly subordinate part; in the laboratory, the field, and the museum, the chief work is to be done. No matter what branch of science is to be pursued, the student from the very first must meet it face to face. The biological sciences ought to be studied in the field, collecting ”

“ What at the beginning of the nineteenth century was a small textbook study of natural philosophy has since been subdivided into the two great sciences of physics and chemistry, and these in turn into numerous well-organized branches. Today these are taught, not from textbooks, but in large and costly laboratories, while manufacturing establishments and governments now find it both necessary and profitable to maintain large scientific institutions for chemical and physical research. ”

“ For the pupil who is unacquainted with the technique of science has to pass without mental profit the numerous scientific allusions and items of information which more and more abound in all our literature, whether of an ephemeral or a permanent character. In an age whose proudest boast is the 38 progress of science in all domains, there should be in the elementary school, from the first, a course in the elements of the sciences. ”

“ The heads of colleges in our great Universities (who have not the reputation of being the most mobile of persons) have, in several cases, thought it well that, out of the great number of honours and rewards at their disposal, a few should hereafter be given to the cultivators of the physical sciences. Nay, I hear that some colleges have even gone so far as to appoint one, or, may be, two special tutors for the purpose of putting the facts and principles of physical science before the undergraduate mind. ”

“ Mathematics, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, Social Physics. This he asserts to be "the true filiation of the sciences." He asserts further, that the principle of progression from a greater to a less degree of generality, "which gives this order to the whole body of science, arranges the parts of each science." And, finally, he asserts that the gradations thus established à priori among the sciences, and the parts of each science, "is in essential conformity with the order which has spontaneously taken place among the branches of natural philosophy;" ”

“ I need not enumerate the various branches of Natural History, suffice it to say, that I would have a system of education that should embrace the whole successively; and here a wide field would be open for the conversion of priests to professors in the various departments of this science; and this science alone is so far infinite as to make the life of man a continual system of education and research. Independent of the foregoing sciences there are Geography, Astronomy, Mechanics, and all the lesser branches which are commonly and necessarily taught to youth in the present system of education. ”

“ To promote one of its chief objects, and as a distinctive feature of the journal, Science will give its hearty support to those who are endeavoring to introduce the study of the natural and physical sciences into public and private schools, by drawing attention in every possible way to the high importance of this measure, as well as by illustrated articles, plainly worded, prepared by skilful hands, to guide the efforts of the teachers. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The scientific method, of which you make certain use, owes you its finest triumphs. The Normal School is proud to count you among the number of its students; the Academy of Sciences is elated at your researches ”

“ Created for purposes of teaching and administration, they are a veritable bane to the investigator who can not stop mining because his vein happens to dip into another man's superficial territory. Even in the routine of teaching many changes are likely to come. I believe there will be developments in two main directions. The present laboratory studies, or propædeutics, will be deepened and extended in the direction of the more exact sciences, or toward the physical, chemical and biological work of the university proper. ”

“ A course in the aims and values of science should be introductory, for in the absence of general knowledge concerning values, such as has grown up with other professions, the student must be given early in his work an enthusiasm for it and a sort of guide for future choice of subjects for study. The difference in aim between university and secondary school science must be clearly understood at the start. ”

“ According to the notions of scientific order and completeness in the present day, a full course of the primary sciences would comprise mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry, physiology or biology, and mental philosophy. The natural history branches are not looked upon as primary sciences; they give no laws, but repeat the laws of the primary sciences while classifying the kingdoms of Nature. ”

“ There he gained the acquaintance of many of the foremost scientific men of the day, and quickly made a name for himself both as a teacher and an investigator, attaining within ten years the honour of membership of the Academy of Sciences. ”

“ The range of the Experimental Sciences, viz., psychology, and politics, and political economy, and the many departments of physics, various both in their subject-matter and their method of research; the great Sciences which are the characteristics of this era, and which become the more marvellous, the more thoroughly they are understood,—astronomy, magnetism, chemistry, geology, comparative anatomy, natural history, ethnology, languages, political geography, antiquities,—these be your indirect but effectual means of overturning Religion! They do but need to be seen in order to be pursued ”

“ If he chance to be wealthy, the experiment may possibly open his eyes to the more urgent needs of the institution, and induce him to contribute liberally toward their satisfaction.
Among the advantages and privileges of your life at college there is one, the full significance and value of which you will better appreciate in later years. You have here an opportunity of acquiring a wide general view of the whole range of scientific thought and method. If you proceed to a science degree you are required to lay a broad foundation of acquaintance with the physical and biological sciences. ”