PREFACE

The present writer has the somewhat rare combination
 of several years’ experience in commercial
and industrial spheres both at home and abroad,
together with ten years’ insight into education and
methods at one of the great public schools of this
country. An attempt is here made to deal with
merely one phase of the great question of education,
 namely, the early training of those who are
destined to become the statesmen and professional
men of the future, the leaders of industry and the
masters of men.
The value of modern preparatory and public
school education is estimated, its defects are indicated,
 and a scheme suggested by which the
educational system at present in vogue could be
made much more efficient not only for youths in
general but for those destined for a commercial
and industrial career in particular.
Those who advocate a very considerable extension
 of Science teaching in our Public Schools do
not, however, do so solely, or even chiefly, for its
value to national industry. We make an appeal on
that ground because it is widely and readily understood,
 but we do not desire to conceal the fact that
the chief and great reason for increased attention
to Science in Education is that it is the indispensable
 training of the mind.
It is only by a possession of a knowledge of the
great facts of Nature that a man can think correctly
 or arrive at a true philosophy: it is only by
a study of the natural sciences that he can cultivate
that great quality which is implied in the term
“veracity of thought and action”: or by familiarity