378 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION B. 
interval between the seasons for independent research and the 
interchange of results, certainly produce healthful and useful 
interest in the work. 
Such is the record of our experiences, but I may, before con- 
cluding, answer two questions which are sometimes put to me. 
These are—‘' How was such a staff got together,” and “ What 
education do you consider best for boys intended for chemical 
work.” To the first I would say that the officers I have 
mentioned, as well as one Englishman, one Scotchman, and one 
German, were engaged in Europe and brought to Australia by 
us. The rest were engaged here and trained by us, with the 
exception of a few who had instruction in chemistry before 
entering our service. 
The staff now consists of nine Scotchmen, two Germans, 
three Danes, one Belgian, one Swiss, two Englishmen, fourteen 
Australians ; total, thirty-two. 
It will be noticed at once that the proportion of Englishmen 
—and of the two one was trained by us—is but small, but I can 
only say about this that such a result is not due to any inclination 
on my part to employ in preference men born elsewhere. 
Whether the passing of chemical work of this sort into the hands 
of men of other nationalities is due to the temper and character 
of the English, making them averse to the study and application 
which it demands, or to the opportunities for such study in 
England being less frequent or availed of to a smaller extent than 
is the case elsewhere, is a matter about which I cannot pretend 
to speak with authority ; but I think I should call attention to 
the position which men born in England hold numerically in a 
staff recruited as ours has been. Nor have I any intention of 
comparing the work of the men from the various countries ; but 
I can say this, that we have derived much benefit from having 
officers of different nationalities and dispositions and trained in 
different ways, and that the Australians, who are all younger 
than the others, have shown that in quickness and natural 
ability they are not inferior, though not all possessed of the 
patient perseverance which is so marked a characteristic of the 
Scotch, Danes and Germans; and some of them have been, in a 
measure, hindered in the acquisition of the knowledge of the work 
by superficial school training. 
And this remark brings me to the second question—about the 
education best calculated to benetit boys intended for scientific 
work. To this the reply is very simple, viz., that in my opinion 
no special training should be attempted. Of all the plausible 
fallacies put forward from time to time about education, the most 
foolish seems to me that of attempting to teach any boy a trade 
at school. If he is to leave school between sixteen and seventeen, 
as most boys do, the years available are none too long for him to 
master the ordinary school course, and it is simply wasting 
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