MR. WELLS AND EDUCATION [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Mr. H. G. Wells's address on Education was supposed to be a disquisition by a scientific man to the Educational section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, but in it there was very little trace of the scientific spirit.
The first duty of the scientific man is generally considered to be the exact statement of facts, but Mr. Wells was reckless about facts. He said : "I do not see either the charm or the educational benefit of making an important subject of the criminal history of royalty—the murder of the Princes in the Tower, the wives of Henry the Eighth, the families of Edward and James the First, the mistresses of Charles the Second, Sweet Nell of Old Drury and all the rest of it."
. I have told Mr. Wells that if he will send me a widely-used school book in which these subjects occupy an important place, I will give Ls to any charity he likes to name.
Mr. Wells regards teachers with a contempt which he makes no attempt to conceal. With how much respect, I wonder, will teachers regard Mr. Wells—a scientific man who deliberately distorts facts in order to provide a sensational tit-bit for the
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