XVI TECHNICAL EDUCATION 405 



Thus, I cannot but be aware that I am danger- 

 ously near becoming the thing which all men fear 

 and fly. But I have deliberately elected to ran 

 the risk. For when you did me the honour to ask 

 me to address you, an unexpected circumstance had 

 led me to occupy myself seriously with the question 

 of technical education ; and I had acquired the con- 

 viction that there are few subjects respecting which 

 it is more important for all classes of the commu- 

 nity to have clear and just ideas than this ; while, 

 certainly, there is none which is more deserving 

 of attention by the Working Men's Club and 

 Institute Union. 



It is not for me to express an opinion whether 

 the considerations, which I am about to submit to 

 you, will be proved by experience to be just or not, 

 but I will do my best to make them clear. Among 

 the many good things to be found in Lord Bacon's 

 works, none is more full of wisdom than the saying 

 that " truth more easily comes out of error than 

 out of confusion." Clear and consecutive wrong- 

 thinking is the next best thing to right-thinking ; 

 so that, if I succeed in clearing your ideas on this 

 topic, I shall have wasted neither your time nor 

 my own. 



" Technical education," in the sense in which the 

 term is ordinarily used, and in which I am now 

 employing it, means that sort of education which 

 is specially adapted to the needs of men whose 

 business in life it is to pursue some kind of handi- 



