.SVA- //y/. /./.;.i/ .V/A. I/A:, v.v, /*./?..<>. 53 



the friendly support of those senior members of our profession who 

 by their attendance at these annual gatherings give weight and 

 importance to our proceedings. I also greatly depend on the co- 

 operation of those members of the British Association who, although 

 devoted chiefly to the cultivation of pure science, are nevertheless 

 ever ready to assist us in our endeavours to apply that science to 

 practical ends. 



It is by submitting such subjects as will be brought before us to 

 the double touchstone of science and of practical experience that 

 we shall be able to appreciate real merit, and at the same time 

 assist the authors of the several papers, by a confirmation or recti 

 fication of their views ; thus redeeming our proceedings from the 

 adherent disadvantage of lack of time to give that full and patient 

 attention which the authors might meet with in bringing their 

 subjects before the purely professional institutions of Civil 

 Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, or Naval Architects. 



In prefacing our proceedings with a few remarks on the leading 

 subjects of the day of special interest to our section, I can scarcely 

 pass over the popular question of technical education. 



The Great International Exhibitions proved that, although 

 England still holds her ground as the leading manufacturing 

 country, the nations of the Continent have made great strides to 

 dispute her pre-eminence in several branches, a result which is 

 generally ascribed to their superior system of technical education. 

 Those desirous of attaining a clear insight into that system, and 

 the vast scale upon which it is being carried out under Government 

 supervision, cannot do better than read Mr. John Scott Russell's 

 very able volume on this subject : they will no doubt agree with 

 the author in the necessity of energetic steps being taken in this 

 country to promote the work of universal education, although I 

 for one think that objection may fairly be made against the plan 

 of merely imitating the example of our neighbours. 



The polytechnic schools of the Continent, not satisfied to impart 

 to the technical student a good* knowledge of mathematics and of 

 natural sciences, pretend also to superadd the practical information 

 necessary to constitute them engineers or manufacturers. 



This practical information is conveyed to them by professors 

 themselves lacking practical experience, and tends to engender in 

 the students a dogmatical conceit which is likely to stand in the 



