Sibylla

Scientific forecasting becomes a subject for philosophical experiment in this short work by C. A. Mace. Published in 1927, Sibylla asks whether knowledge of past tendencies can support reliable claims about the future. Mace considers writers such as J. B. S. Haldane, Wells and Bernard Shaw, distinguishing forecasts centred on machinery from those concerned with changes to life itself. His foreword argues for research that continues across generations, building records beyond the span of one investigator's career.

Education brings these large ideas into everyday practice. Mace examines memorization, examinations, moral example and mental testing, questioning how much teachers understand about the results of their methods. His discussion of learning rhythms connects classroom habits with industrial psychology. Readers interested in the history of ideas will find a pointed account of what scientific planning promised for schools and society, alongside an argument for disciplined speculation.