IV. 



SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION : NOTES OF AN 

 AFTER-DINNER SPEECH. . 



[MR. THACKERAY, talking of after-dinner speeches, has lamented that &quot; one 

 never can recollect the fine things one thought of in the cab,&quot; in going to 

 the place of entertainment. I am not aware that there are any &quot; tine 

 things&quot; 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 Philo- 

 mathic Society, more or less in the position of what &quot;one thought of in 

 the cab.&quot;] 



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, committees 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 Roderick Murchison, the Director 

 of the Royal School of Mines, whether the organization of the 

 Institution in Jermyn Street could be made available for the 



