Hill. — Technical and Scientific Training. 163 



being trained without the aid of the brain acting through one 

 of the senses. 



A Commission appointed by the legislature of Pennsyl- 

 vania to inquire into the subject of scientific education, has 

 defined " technical instruction " to be " the teaching of 

 science with specific reference to its industrial application, 

 and, as a term, is almost universally applied to the higher 

 ranges of such instruction " ; and manual training is thus 

 dealt with : " 'Manual training'" in the strict sense of the term 

 would mean simply the training of the hand, but as currently 

 used with reference to education the words indicate such 

 employment of the hand as will at the same time train 

 the eye(?) to accuracy and the mind to attention. The 

 scientific element, or the teaching of science pure and simple, 

 is not necessarily involved in the expression. As, however, 

 pure science can scarcely be taught without looking some- 

 what towards its applications, so manual training cannot be 

 made an effective educational process except by constant 

 reference to the broad foundations in the mathematical, 

 physical, and natural sciences upon which it rests." I might 

 easily add to these definitions to show how really uncertain 

 we are even now as educationists as to what we mean by 

 the terms "technical instruction" and "manual training." 

 I confess that my definition of either form of instruction 

 would not agree with what is accepted in England. 



But the fact is we are in the hands of the Philistines. 

 It has become fashionable to change and add ornaments (?) 

 to our system of education, and, without considering what 

 is really necessary to place our system on a foundation 

 of its own, adapted and adaptable to modifying conditions 

 of environment, we have taken our cue from the Mother- 

 land, where conditions are very unlike our own. Let any 

 one take up the English blue-book, such as is issued by the 

 Board of Education in London, and there will be no doubt 

 as to what is intended by the syllabuses of instruction that 

 may be taken and taught in the night schools, the con- 

 tinuation schools, and the upper or secondary schools of 

 that country. England is supremely an industrial country. 

 She is sustained by her manufacturing superiority ; but 

 competition is so keen, internal and external alike, that 

 every circumstance that adds to the utilisation at an earlier 

 period of the youthful material as it comes from the schools, 

 and everything that can be done to help motherhood in 

 nursing her offspring so that she may toil in the factory, 

 and in assisting young men and women to become more 

 skilful in their industrial work, is done by the State. To 

 England industrial skill, manipulative and scientific, is 

 everything. It means work, bread, comfort, success, power, 



