270 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Sept. 



OWEN's COLLEGEj MANCHESTER. 



In the great manufacturing community of Manchester, acade- 

 mical education rears its head in an institution of no mean repute 

 in the matter of science education. Owen's Colle2;e is, like our 

 own McGill, based on the liberality of a wealthy merchant, whose 

 name it bears, supplemented by numerous additional benefactions. 

 Among these I find a sum of £10,000, subscribed by 118 mer- 

 chants and others, for a chemical laboratory and a library ; a sum 

 of £9,472 subscribed by the principal engineers of Manchester 

 and neia'hbourino; towns, for the foundation of a chair of civil and 

 mechanical engineering, and a fund of £200 per annum to aug- 

 ment the endowment of the Professorship of Chemistry. These 

 noble benefactions remind us of the liberality of some of our 

 Montreal merchants and professional men, and should act as a 

 stimulus to others. 



I am indebted to Principal Greenwood and Professor William- 

 son for enabling me to learn the nature and results of the science 

 teaching at Owen's College, -which, in many essential respects, 

 more nearly resembles one of our Canadian colleges than any 

 other institution which I saw in England. The department of 

 general literature and science, or, as we should say, the course in 

 arts, extends over three years, and, like our own, includes a 

 certain amount of modern languages, and physical, natural, and 

 mental science. The department of theoretical and applied 

 science, or science course proper, also extends over three years. 

 The first is identical with the first in arts. The second and third 

 are occupied entirely with science subjects, along with the French 

 or German language. The students in this department are pre- 

 pared for the Bachelor of Science examination at London. This 

 course is said to be suited to prepare "for the higher departments 

 of manufacturing art, and for pursuits and professions purely 

 scientific." It is also said to be '^ adapted for such as are here- 

 after to be engaged in commercial pursuits," a remarkable testi- 

 mony to the ideas of education on the part of business men at 

 Manchester, who, in this respect, come up more nearly than any 

 others in England and her colonies to the standard of the New 

 England cities. The Principal informed me that there were, last 

 session, 100 students taking this science course. The third 

 department in Owen's College is that ot civil and mechanical 

 engineering, in which students are prepared for the examinations 



