IV. 



SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION : NOTES OF AN 

 AFTER-DINNER SPEECH. 



[Mr. Thackeray, talking of after-dinner speeches, has lamented that 

 "one never can recollect the fine things one thought of in the 

 cab," in going to the place of entertainment. I am not aware that 

 there are any "fine things" in the following pages, but such as 

 there are stand to a speech which really did get itself spoken, at 

 the hospitable table of the Liverpool Philomathic Society, more or 

 less in the position of what " one thought of in the cab."] 



The introduction of scientific training into the general 

 education of the country is a topic upon which I 

 could not have spoken, without some more or less 

 apologetic introduction, a few years ago. But upon 

 this, as upon other matters, public opinion has of late 

 undergone a rapid modification. Committees of both 

 Houses of the Legislature have agreed that something 

 must be done in this direction, and have even thrown 

 out timid and faltering suggestions as to what should 

 be done ; while at the opposite pole of society, com- 

 mittees of working-men have expressed their conviction 

 that scientific training is the one thing needful for 

 their advancement, whether as men, or as workmen. 

 Only the other day, it was my duty to take part in 

 the reception of a deputation of London working men, 

 who desired to learn from Sir Eoderick Murchison, the 

 Director of the Koyal School of Mines, whether the 



