GEOLOGY OF THE INNER EARTH—GREGORY. 329 
metalliferous ores to be investigated with illuminating and practically 
useful results. 
British interest in mining education has therefore been revived. Its 
history has been sadly fitful. Lyell,« in 1832, deplored the superiority 
of the Continent in this respect, as “ the art of mining has long been 
taught in France, Germany, and Hungary in scientific institutions 
established for that purpose,” whereas, he continues (quoting from 
the prospectus of a school of mines in Cornwall, issued in 1825), 
‘our miners have been left to themselves, almost without the assist- 
ance of scientific works in the English language, and without any 
‘school of mines,’ to blunder their own way into a certain degree of 
practical skill. The inconvenience of this want of system in a country 
where so much capital is expended, and often wasted, in mining ad- 
ventures, has been well exposed by an eminent practical miner.” 
Though the chief British school of mines made a late start, the 
brilliant originality of its professors soon carried it into the front 
rank; but in an evil day for the mining school it was united with a 
normal school for the training of teachers, now the Royal College of 
Science, and that school by its great success overwhelmed its older 
ally. Those interested in economic geology therefore welcome the 
recent decision to separate the technical from the educational and 
other courses, while leaving the schools of mines and science suf- 
ficiently connected for successful cooperation. This policy should 
give such opportunities for the teaching of mining research that we 
may not always have to confess, as at present, that British contribu- 
tions to mining geology do not rank as high as those made to other 
branches of our science. 
Regrets are sometimes expressed, and perhaps still more often felt, 
at the tendency in scientific teaching to become more technical; but I, 
for one, do not fear evil from any such change. It is possible that 
the educational conflict of the future will be between academic science 
and technical science, on grounds in some respects analogous to those 
between classics and science during the last century. The advocates 
of the educational value of technical science are not inspired by mere 
impatience with the apparently useless, for they accept the principle 
that the essence of education is method, not matter. Therefore, they 
claim that the methods and principles of science can be better taught 
by subjects which are being used on a large scale in modern industries 
than by subjects of which the interest is still purely theoretical. 
Those who fear that academic science will be neglected if technical 
science be used in education may be encouraged by the brilliant revival 
of classical research since classics lost its educational monopoly. 
Academic science is even less likely to be neglected. It will always 
@C, Lyell, ‘“ Principles of Geology,” Vol. I, 2d ed. (1832), p. 638. 
