278 THE ADDRESSES, LECTURES, ETC., OF 



continue to increase both as regards number of students and high 

 state of efficiency, the purely technical colleges, almost without 

 exception, have during the last ten years been steadily receding ; 

 whereas the provincial "Gewerbe Schule" has, under the pro- 

 gressive Minister Von Talk, been modified so as to approximate 

 its curriculum to that of the " Gymnasium " or grammar school. 



In some technical schools mechanical workshops are provided, 

 in which students may work at the lathe, the vice, and the planing 

 machine, and where they are allowed to construct small steam 

 engines or other pieces of machinery. I doubt very much whether 

 these toy steam engines are such as would satisfy a mechanical 

 engineer in real practice, and think that both the money of the 

 institution and the time of the student could be much better 

 employed, if, instead of imitating practical engineering, he were 

 made to experiment with testing machines in order to obtain a 

 thorough insight into the mechanical nature of materials, their 

 absolute strength, their elastic limits, and the effects produced 

 upon them by the processes of annealing, tempering, and welding. 

 University College, London, has taken a lead in this respect under 

 the able direction of Professor Kennedy, and its example will, I 

 hope, be followed by other colleges. 



As regards middle class education, it must be borne in mind 

 that, at the age of sixteen, the lad is expected to enter upon 

 practical life, and it has been held that under these circumstances 

 at any rate it is best to confine the teaching to as many subjects 

 only as can be followed up to a point of efficiency and have 

 reference to future application. It is thus that the distinction 

 between the German Gymnasium or Grammar School and the 

 Real Schule or Technical School has arisen a distinction which, 

 though sanctioned to some extent in this country also by the 

 institution of the "modern side," I should much like to see 

 abolished. 



But I shall be told that it is impossible to teach everything 

 properly within the time, and shall be reminded of the proverb 

 that says, " A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." I, for one, 

 do not believe in this proverb, which I consider erroneous, and 

 mischievous in its application. Referring to myself as an example, 

 I am sorry to state that I had not the advantage of being taught 

 Greek at school beyond the mere letters of the alphabet my early 



