Scientific instruction : its aims and methods / by George Gore.

  • Gore, George, 1826-1909.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Scientific instruction : its aims and methods / by George Gore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    experience by making experiments; and bis reply was, “ I* do not like the drudgery. ” In addition to seeing experiments, it is of great advantage to pupils to have an opportunity of occasionally visiting large manu- factories, in company with their teacher, and seeing in operation the principles of physics and chemistry on a large scale, and having explained to them the manipulations and processes: they thus acquire an idea of the great and indispensable value of science in industrial operations, and receive an additional stimulus to learning. It is also beneficial to accustom the pupils to observe the phenomena of physics and chemistry as they occur upon a large scale, in the phenomena of the earth, the sea, and the atmosphere, the changes indicated by a barometer, etc. Notwithstanding the great value of experience in original experi- mental investigation, as a discipline to the teacher of science, it has been extremely neglected in this country, and we possess no colleges or other establishments in which such experience is systematically provided, or in which it is even assisted. All those who wish to acquire such discipline have to make great sacrifices for its attain- ment ; and the result is that a great many of our scientific teachers do not acquire it at all, and are very unreliable and inaccurate. In Germany, the case is different; there the students are encouraged and aided by the Government in the prosecution of scientific research. In the large State laboratory at Berlin, a portion of the building is specially set apart for that purpose.* The difficulty of obtaining a sufficient number of properly quali- fied scientific teachers, under the present circumstances, is very manifest. But if science was properly encouraged in this country, the case would be different: many young men possessed of natural scientific ability, who are now obliged to abandon the pursuit of science for want of proper remuneration, would be glad to devote themselves to teaching and to original research, and thus a sufficient supply of properly qualified teachers would be obtained. In addition to the training of the senses and of the mind which a pupil receives by means of lessons in experimental science, he should be disciplined in manipulation, by making physical and chemical experiments and chemical analyses. “ Lectures alone can- not be expected to give more than a general idea of this most * Kensington and Jermyn Street Museums, the College of Chemistry, the Albert Hall, and all our Mechanics’ Institutions, might be rationally utilized, provided only qualified teachers of science existed. Query : Why do they not exist ?—Ed.