competitively, at the request of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, such
candidates as might be nominated for cadetships in the Royal Irish
Constabulary; and, in 1861, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
"threw open to public competition" appointments as apprentices in Her
Majesty's dockyards, and appointments as "engineer students" in the
steam factories connected therewith.
In 1870, the end so long aimed at was attained, and by an Order in
Council of June 4, open competition was made the only door of entry to
the general Civil Service.
In entire contrast with this, as has been already said, was the action
in the case of the Indian Civil Service. Here the principle of open
competition was adopted from the first, and the examination took a very
elevated start, comprising the highest branches of a learned education.
These branches were duly specified in a Report drawn up in November,
1854, by a Committee, of which Lord Macaulay was chairman; and, with the
exception of Sanskrit and Arabic, they included simply (as might have
been expected) the literary and scientific subjects ordinarily taught at
the principal seats of general education in the Kingdom. These were:--
English Language and Literature (Composition, History, and General
Literature,--to each of which 500 marks were assigned, making a total of
1,500); Greek and Latin (each with 750 marks); French, German, and
Italian (valued at 375 marks, respectively); Mathematics, pure and mixed
(marks 1,000); Natural and Moral Sciences (each 500); Sanscrit and
Arabic (375 each).
[PRINCIPLE OF SELECTION OF SUBJECTS.]
The principle of selection here is clear and obvious. It did not rest
upon any doctrine regarding the utility or value of subjects for mental
training, but simply upon this, that those subjects already in the field
must be accepted, and that (as Mr. Jowett, in his letter to Sir Charles
Trevelyan, of January, 1854, put it) "it will not do to frame our
examination on any mere theory of education. We must test a young man's
ability by what he knows, not by what we wish him to know." Indeed, this
is explicitly avowed in the Report by the author of the Scheme himself.
The Natural Sciences are included, because (it is confessed) "of late
years they have been introduced as a part of general education into
several of our universities and colleges": and, as for the Moral
Sciences, "those Sciences are, it is well known, much studied both at
Oxford and at the Scottish Universities".
Into the details of Macaulay's interesting Report, I need not here
enter. Room, however, must be found for one quotation. It deals with the
distribution of marks, and is both characteristic and puts the matter in
small compass. "It will be necessary," says the writer, "that a certain
number of marks should be assigned to each subject, and that the place
of a candidate should be determined by the sum total of the marks which
he has gained. The marks ought, we conceive, to be distributed among the
subjects of examination in such a manner that no part of the kingdom,
and no class of schools, shall exclusively furnish servants to the East
India Company. It would be grossly unjust, for example, to the great
academical institutions of England, not to allow skill in Greek and
Latin versification to have a considerable share in determining the
issue of the competition. Skill in Greek and Latin versification has,
indeed, no direct tendency to form a judge, a financier, or a
diplomatist. But the youth who does best what all the ablest and most
ambitious youths about him are trying to do well will generally prove a
superior man; nor can we doubt that an accomplishment by which Fox and
Canning, Grenville and Wellesley, Mansfield and Tenterden first
distinguished themselves above their fellows, indicates powers of mind,
which, properly trained and directed, may do great service to the State.
On the other hand, we must remember that in the north of this island the
art of metrical composition in the ancient languages is very little
cultivated, and that men so eminent as Dugald Stewart, Horner, Jeffrey,
and Mackintosh, would probably have been quite unable to write a good
copy of Latin alcaics, or to translate ten lines of Shakspeare into
Greek iambics. We wish to see such a system of examination established
as shall not exclude from the service of the East India Company either
a Mackintosh or a Tenterden, either a Canning or a Horner."
[ORIGINAL SCHEME FOR THE INDIA SERVICE.]
Now, reverting to Macaulay's Table of Subjects as above exhibited, I may
observe that, till quite recently, no very serious alterations were ever
made upon it. The scale of marks, indeed, was altered more than once,
and sometimes Sanskrit and Arabic were struck off, and Jurisprudence and
Political Economy put in their stead; but, if we except the exclusion of
Political Philosophy in 1858, at the desire of the present Lord Derby,
from the Moral Science branch, the list remained, till Lord Salisbury's
late innovation, to all intents and purposes what it was at the
beginning. Here, for instance, is the prescription for 1875:--
MAKES
English Composition 500
History of England, including that of the laws
and constitution 500
English Language and Literature 500
Language, literature, and history of Greece 750
Rome 750
France 375
Germany 375
Italy 375
Mathematics, pure and mixed 1,250
Natural Sciences, that is, (1) chemistry, including
heat; (2) electricity and magnetism; (3) geology
and mineralogy; (4) zoology; (5) botany 1,000
*** The total (1,000) marks may be obtained by
adequate proficiency in any two or more of the five
branches of science included under this head.
Moral Sciences, that is, logic, mental and
moral philosophy 500
Sanskrit, language and literature 500
Arabic, language and literature 500
But Lord Salisbury's changes have been great and sweeping. They are
probably in keeping with the restriction of the competitor's age to
"over 17 under 19"; but, if so, they serve only to shew all the more
conclusively that the restriction is a mistake. A scheme that
distributes marks on anything but a rational and intelligent system; a
scheme that excludes the Natural History Sciences, mineralogy and
Geology, as well as Psychology and Moral Philosophy from its scope
altogether; a scheme that prescribes only _Elements_ and _Outlines_ of
such important subjects as Natural Science (Chemistry, Electricity and
Magnetism, &c.) and Political Economy--stands self-condemned. But, to do
it justice, let us produce the Table _in extenso_:--
MAKES.
English Composition 300
History of England, including _a period selected_
by the candidate 300
English Literature including _books selected_ by
the candidate 300
Greek 600
Latin 800
French 500
German 500
Italian 400
Mathematics, pure and mixed 1,000
Natural Science, that is, the _Elements_ of any
two of the following Sciences viz.:--
Chemistry, 500; Electricity and Magnetism,
300; Experimental Laws of Heat and Light,
300; Mechanical Philosophy, with _Outlines_
of Astronomy, 300.
Logic 300
_Elements_ of Political Economy 300
Sanskrit 500
Arabic 500
Further remarks are reserved for the sequel. Meanwhile,
I give the scheme advocated by myself in the
present Essay:--
GENERAL SCIENCES:--
Mathematics 500
Natural Philosophy 500
Chemistry 500
Biology, as physiology 500
Mental Science 500
SPECIAL OR CONCRETE SCIENCES:--
Mineralogy }
Botany } each 250
Zoology } or 300
Geology }
As a substitute for language, literature, and philosophy
of Greece, Rome, France, Germany, and Italy:--
Greece--Institutions and History 500
Literature 250
Rome--Institutions and History 500
Literature 250
France--Literature 250
Germany--Literature 250
Italy--Literature 250
Modern History 1,000
* * * * *
II. THE SCHEME CONSIDERED.
The system of competitive examinations for the public service, of which
I have laid before the Section a brief history compiled from the
Reports, is one of those radical innovations that may ultimately lead to
great consequences. For the present, however, it leads to many debates.
Not merely does the working out of the scheme involve conflicting views,
but there is still, in many quarters, great hesitation as to whether the
innovation is to be productive of good or of evil. The Report of the
Playfair Commission, and the more recent Report relative to the changes
in the India Civil Service Regulations, indicate pretty broadly the
doubts that still cleave to many minds on the whole question. It is
enough to refer to the views of Sir Arthur Helps, W.R. Greg, and Dr.
Farr, expressed to the Playfair Commission, as decidedly adverse to the
competitive system. The authorities cited in the Report on the India
Examinations scarcely go the length of total condemnation; but many
acquiesce only because there is no hope of a reversal.
The question of the expediency of the system as a whole is not well
suited to a sectional discussion. We shall be much better employed in
adverting to some of those details in the conduct of the examinations
that have a bearing on the general education of the country, as well as
on the Civil Service itself. It was very well for the Commissioners, at
first starting, to be guided, in their choice of subjects and in their
assigning of values to those subjects, by the received branches of
education in the schools and colleges. But, sooner or later, these
subjects must be discussed on their intrinsic merits for the ends in
view. Indeed, the scheme of Lord Salisbury has already made the venture
that Macaulay declined to make; it has absolutely excluded some of the
best recognised subjects of our school and college teaching, instead of
leaving them to the option of the candidates.
I will occupy the present paper with the consideration of two
departments in the examination programme--the one relating to the
PHYSICAL or NATURAL SCIENCES, the other relating to LANGUAGES.
* * * * *
[COMMISSIONER' SCHEME OF SCIENCE.]
The Commissioners' scheme of Mathematics and Natural Science is not, in
my opinion, accordant either with the best views of the relations of the
sciences, or with the best teaching usages.
In the classification of the Sciences, the first and most important
distinction is between the fundamental sciences, sometimes called the
Abstract sciences, and the derivative or Concrete branches. My purpose
does not require any nice clearing of the meanings of those technical
terms. It is sufficient to say that the fundamental sciences are those
that embrace distinct departments of the natural forces or phenomena;
and the derivative or concrete departments assume all the laws laid down
in the others, and apply them in certain spheres of natural objects. For
example, Chemistry is a primary, fundamental, or abstract science; and
Mineralogy is a derivative and concrete science. In Chemistry the stress
lies in explaining a peculiar kind of force, called chemical force; in
Mineralogy the stress is laid on the description and classification of
a select group of natural objects.
The fundamental, or departmental sciences, as most commonly accepted,
are these:--1. Mathematics; 2. Natural Philosophy, or Physics; 3.
Chemistry; 4. Biology; 5. Psychology. They may be, therefore, expressed
as Formal, Inanimate, Animate, and Mental. In these sciences, the idea
is to view exhaustively some department of natural phenomena, and to
assume the order best suited for the elucidation of the phenomena.
Mathematics, the Formal Science, exhausts the relations of Quantity
and Number; measure being a universal property of things. Natural
Philosophy, in its two divisions (molar and molecular), deals with one
kind of force; Chemistry with another: and the two together conspire to
exhaust the phenomena of _inanimate_ nature; being indispensably aided
by the laws and formulae of quantity, as given in Mathematics. Biology
turns over a new leaf; it takes up the phenomenon--Life, or the
_animated_ world. Finally, Psychology makes another stride, and embraces
the sphere of _mind_.
Now, there is no fact or phenomenon of the world that is not comprised
under the doctrines expounded in some one or other of these sciences.
We may have fifty "ologies" besides, but they will merely repeat for
special ends, or in special connections, the principles already
comprised in these five fundamental subjects. The regular, systematic,
exhaustive account of the laws of nature is to be found within their
compass.
[ORDER OF THE FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCES.]
Again, these sciences have a fixed order or sequence, the order of
dependence. Mathematics precedes them all, as being not dependent upon
any, while all are more or less dependent upon it. The physical forces
have to be viewed prior to the chemical; and both physical and chemical
forces are preparatory to vital. So there are reasons for placing Mental
Science last of all. Hence a student cannot comprehend chemistry without
natural philosophy, nor biology without both. You cannot stand a thorough
examination in chemistry without indirectly showing your knowledge of
physics; and a testing examination in biology would guarantee, with some
slight qualifications, both physics and chemistry.
Let us now turn to the other sciences--those that are not fundamental,
but derivative. The chief examples are the three commonly called Natural
History sciences--Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology. In these sciences no law
or principle is at work that has not been already brought forward in
the primary sciences. The properties of a Mineral are mathematical,
physical, and chemical: the testing of minerals is by measurement, by
physical tests, by chemical tests. The aim of this science is not to
teach forces unknown to the student of physics and chemistry; it is to
embrace, under the best classification, all the bodies called minerals,
and to describe the species in detail under mathematical, physical, and
chemical characters. It is the first in order of the _classificatory_
sciences. Its purpose in the economy of education is distinct and
peculiar; it imparts knowledge, not respecting laws, forces, or
principles of operating, but respecting the concrete constituents of
the world. It gives us a commanding view of one whole department of
the material universe; supplying information useful in practice, and
interesting to the feelings. It also brings into exercise the great
logical process, wanted on many occasions, the process of
CLASSIFICATION.
[CLASSIFICATORY SCIENCES.]
So much for an instance from the Inorganic world, as showing the
distinction between the two kinds of sciences. Another example may be
cited from the field of Biology; it is a little more perplexing. For
"biology" is sometimes given as the name for the two concrete
classificatory sciences--botany and zoology. In point of fact, however,
there is a science that precedes those two branches, although blending
with them; the science commonly expressed by the older term,
'Physiology,' which is not a classificatory and a dependent science, but
a mother science, like chemistry. It expounds the peculiarities of
living bodies, as such, and the laws of living processes--such processes
as assimilation, nutrition, respiration, innervation, reproduction, and
so on. One division is Vegetable Physiology, which is generally fused
with the classificatory science of botany. Animal Physiology is allied
with zoology, but more commonly stands alone. Lastly, the Physiology of
the Human animal has been from time immemorial a distinct branch of
knowledge, and is, of course, the chief of them all. Man being the most
complicated of all organised beings, not only are the laws of his
vitality the most numerous, and the most practically interesting, but
they go far to include all that is to be said of the workings of animal
life in general. Thus, then, the mother science of Biology, as a general
or fundamental science, comprises Vegetable, Animal, and Human
physiology. The classificatory adjunct sciences are Botany and Zoology.
It is in the various aspects of the mother science that we look for the
account of all vital phenomena, and all practical applications to the
preservation of life. Even if we stop at these, we shall have a full
command of the laws of the animate world. But we may go farther, and
embrace the sciences that arrange, classify, and describe the
innumerable host of living beings. These have their own independent
interest and value, but they are not the sciences that of themselves
teach us the living processes.
Thus, then, a proper scheme of scientific instruction starts from the
essential, fundamental, and law-giving sciences--Mathematics, Physics,
Chemistry, Biology, and Mind. It then proceeds to the adjunct branches
--such as Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology: and I might add others, as
Geology, Meteorology, Geography, no one of which is primary; for they
all repeat in new connections, and for special purposes, the laws
systematically set forth in the primary sciences.
In the foregoing remarks, I do not advance any new or debatable views.
I believe the scientific world to be substantially in accord upon all
that I have here stated; any differences that there are in the manner
of expressing the points do not affect my present purpose--namely, to
discuss the scheme of the mathematical and physical sciences as set
forth in the Civil Service Examinations.
[BAD GROUPINGS OF SCIENCES.]
Under Mathematics (pure and mixed) the Commissioners (in their Scheme of
1875), include mathematics, properly so called, and those departments of
natural philosophy that are mathematically handled--statics, dynamics,
and optics. But the next branch, entitled "Natural Science," is what I
am chiefly to remark upon. Under it there is a fivefold enumeration:
--(1) Chemistry, including Heat; (2) Electricity and Magnetism; (3)
Geology and Mineralogy; (4) Zoology; (5) Botany. I cannot pretend to say
where the Commissioners obtained this arrangement of natural knowledge.
It is not supported by any authority that I am acquainted with. If the
scheme just set forth is the correct one, it has _three_ defects. First,
it does not embrace in one group the remaining parts of natural
philosophy, the _experimental_ branches which, with the mathematical
treatment, complete the department; one of these, Heat, is attached to
chemistry, to which undoubtedly it has important relations, but not such
as to withdraw it from physics and embody it in chemistry. Then, again,
the physical branches, Electricity and Magnetism, are coupled in a
department and made of co-equal value with chemistry together with heat.
I need not say that the united couple--electricity and magnetism--is in
point of extent of study not a half or a third of what is included in
the other coupling. Lastly, the three remaining members of the
enumeration are three natural history sciences; geology being coupled
with mineralogy--which is a secondary consideration. Now I think it
is quite right that these three sciences should have a place in the
competition. What is objectionable is, that Biology is represented
solely by its two classificatory components or adjuncts, botany and
zoology; there is no mother science of Physiology: and consequently the
knowledge of the vast region of the Laws of Life goes for nothing. Nor
can it be said that physiology is given with the others. The subject of
_vegetable_ physiology could easily enough be taken with Botany: I would
not make a quarrel upon this part. It is zoology and animal physiology
that cannot be so coupled. If we look to the questions actually set
under zoology, we shall see that there is no pretence to take in
physiology. I contend, therefore, that there is a radical omission in
the scheme of natural science; an omission that seems without any
justification. I am not here to sing the praises of Physiology: its
place is fixed and determined by the concurrence of all competent
judges: I merely point out that Zoology does not include it, but
presupposes it.
The Science scheme of the London University, to which the first Civil
Service Commissioners, Sir Edward Ryan and Sir John Lefevre, were
parties, is very nearly what I contend for. It gives the
order--Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Biology, Mental
Science (including Logic). In the working of that scheme, however,
Biology is made to comprehend both the mother science, Physiology, and
the two classificatory sciences, Botany and Zoology. Of course the
presence of two such enormous adjuncts cramps and confines the purely
physiological examination, which in my opinion should have full justice
done to it in the first instance: still, the physiology is not
suppressed nor reduced to a mere formality. Now, in any science scheme,
I would provide for the general sciences first, and take the others, so
far as expedient, in a new grouping, where those of a kind shall appear
together, and stand in their proper character, not as law-giving, but as
arranging and describing sciences. There is no more reason for coupling
Zoology with Physiology, than for tacking on Mineralogy to Chemistry.
In point of outward form, Mineralogy and Zoology are kindred subjects.