enable a man to extract as much happiness as possible out of his spare time.  The secret of happiness is curiosity.  Now curiosity is not only not roused; it is repressed.  You will say there is not time for everything.  But how much time is wasted!  Mathematics. . . .  A medieval halo clings round this subject which, as a training for the mind, has no more value than whist-playing.  I wonder how many excellent public servants have been lost to England because, however accomplished, they lacked the mathematical twist required to pass the standard in this one subject?  As a training in intelligence it is harmful:  it teaches a person to underestimate the value of evidence based on their other modes of ratiocination.  It is the poorest form of mental exercise—­sheer verification; conjecture and observation are ruled out.  A study of Chinese grammar would be far more valuable from the point of view of general education.  All mathematics above the standard of the office boy should be a special subject, like dynamics or hydrostatics.  They are useless to the ordinary man.  If you mention the utility of a mathematician like Isaac Newton, don’t forget that it was his pre-eminently anti-mathematical gift for drawing conclusions from analogy which made him what he was.  And Euclid—­that frowsy anachronism!  One might as well teach Latin by the system of Donatus.  Surely all knowledge is valueless save as a guide to conduct?  A guide ought to be up to date and convenient to handle.  Euclid is a museum specimen.  Half the time wasted over these subjects should be devoted to draughtmanship and object-lessons.  I don’t know why we disparage object-lessons; they were recommended by people like Bacon, Amos Commenius and Pestalozzi.  They are far superior to mathematics as a means of developing the reasoning powers; they can be made as complex as you please; they discipline the eye and mind, teach a child to discriminate between the accidental and the essential, and demand lucidity of thought and expression.  And the hours spent over history!  What on earth does it matter who Henry the Twelfth’s wife was?  Chemistry!  All this, relatively speaking, is unprofitable stuff.  How much better to teach the elements of sociology and jurisprudence.  The laws that regulate human intercourse; what could be more interesting?  And physiology—­the disrespect for the human frame is another relic of monasticism.  In fact our whole education is tainted with the monkish spirit.  Divinity!  Has any purpose ever been served—­”

Mr. Keith sighed.

“I wish I had not eaten so many of those prawns,” he added.  “What are you thinking?”