116 Sir Frederich Abel [April 22, 



eight or nine thousand students, whicli sprang out of the Land Grant 

 Act for Industrial Education, there are now in the States about 400 

 other universities and colleges (with 35,000 students, and between 

 5000 and 6000 teachers), in a large j)roportion of which efficient 

 instruction in applied science is provided. 



Among the more prominent of America's technical schools are 

 the Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey ; the Pennsylvania 

 Polvtechnic College, Philadelphia ; the Lawrence Science School, in 

 connection with Harvard University ; the Columbia College and 

 School of Mines, New York; the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology, Boston ; the Engineering School of the Michigan University ; 

 the Lafayette College, Pennsylvania ; the Mechanical College of 

 Louisiana University ; the Brown University, Ehode Island ; Wash- 

 ington College, Virginia; Union College, Schenectidy; and the 

 Shipley School, in connection with the Cornell University. To the 

 useful work accomplished within a few years by these and many other 

 highly important educational institutions, which have placed the 

 acquisition of scientific knowledge within the reach of the very 

 humblest, the enormous strides made by the United States in the 

 development of home industries must unquestionably be in the main 

 ascribed. 



While extolling the comprehensive and well-organized systems of 

 technical education existing in all parts of the Continent and the 

 United States, let us not undervalue the great progress which has 

 been made in recent years in Great Britain in the advancement and 

 extension of technical instruction. The Royal Commission on the 

 Depression of Trade and Industry state, as the result of evidence 

 collected by them, that " It would be difficult to estimate the extent 

 to which our industries have been aided in various ways by the 

 advance of elementary, scientific, and technical education during the 

 last twenty years." 



The important influence exercised by the admirable work which 

 the organisation of the Science and Art Department has accomplished, 

 upon the intellectual and material progress of the Nation, is now 

 thoroughly recognised. Professor Huxley, the Dean of the Normal 

 School of Science, in his recent important letter " On the organisation 

 of industrial education," has reminded us that " the classes now estab- 

 lished all over the country in connection wdth that department, not 

 only provide elementary instruction accessible to all, but ofier the 

 means whereby the pick of the capable students may obtain in the 

 schools at South Kensington as good a higher education in Science 

 and Art as is to be had in the country," and " that it is from this 

 source that the supply of science and art teachers is derived, who in 

 turn raise the standard of elementary education " provided by the 

 School Boards. The extension of facilities for the education of those 

 engaged in art-industries is constantly aimed at, as was recently 

 demonstrated by the creation of free studentships for artizans in 

 the Art Schools at South Kensington. 



