44 



NATURE 



{Nov. lo, 1887 



address at Manchester, but of innumerable other speeches, 

 pamphlets, papers, and even books, one of the very earliest and 

 most brilliant of which was a treatise from the pen of the late 

 Mr. Scott Russell. It has been quite recently the subject of a 

 special Government Bill, which was considered suificiently 

 urgent to be carried through almost to the last stage when other 

 Bills were being dropped right and left, and then disappeared 

 only with the full assurance of a revival in more vigorous form 

 at an early period of next session ; while only in last July 

 there was formed "A National Association for the Promotion 

 of Technical Education," which numbers as its President, 

 Vice-Presidents, and Committee, many of the most able poli- 

 ticians, experienced men of business, and well-known men of 

 science. 



These facts are quite sufficient to show that there is now a 

 very prevalent and wide-spread belief that the subject of 

 technical education has become one of pressing national import- 

 ance. There are, indeed, already not wanting persons who 

 connect the subject with the terms "foreign competition" and 

 "commercial depression," by a train of reasoning apparently 

 somewhat as simple as the following : — 



1st proposition. — Bad trade is the reuilt of foreign competi- 

 tion. 



2nd proposition. — Foreign competition derives its strength 

 from superior foreign technical educa- 

 tion. * 



Conclusion. — Therefore bad trade at home is due to 

 superior technical education abroad. 



This mode of reasoning is brief and conclusive enough to 

 satisfy even the most superficial, it is easily portable, and has 

 the advantage of admitting of illustration in certain special cases 

 in which both propositions and conclusion are true, but it i-; 

 nevertheless a striking example of the danger of arguing from 

 the special to the general. Without, however, accepting such a 

 sweeping generalization, it may be safely said that foreign 

 countries have derived great benefit from their systematic 

 encouraging of technical teaching, and we may proceed to 

 consider briefly what progress we ourselves have made in this 

 direction. 



In the first place it may be well to ask what the term "tech- 

 nical education " really means ? Most people have, no doubt, a 

 general idea on the subject, but there are a great many who 

 freely discuss the question, who would be woefully at a loss if 

 asked for an exact definition ; and if anyone doubts the truth of 

 this, let him try the experiment on a few friends. The answer 

 which will generally be given, with some hesitation, will 

 probably have some not very distinct reference to instruction in 

 the use of tools, backed by allusion to carpentering by way of 

 illustration, or will, perhaps, be some mention of chemistry, or 

 other branch of science, or, as a final resort, "something to meet 

 the German competition." Now the fact is that the first of 

 these may not be really technical instruction at all, but only 

 manual training as part of a general education, as, for instance, 

 is now given out of school hours in the working of wood to the 

 boys at most of our Colleges, partly to keep them out of mis- 

 chief and partly to train the hand and eye, but in which case 

 there is not the slightest intention or idea that any of the boys 

 shall actually become a carpenter. The last answer, however 

 grotesque it may seem, is much nearer the truth, as it connects 

 technical instruction with a special object in view, Now that 

 this is really the idea of those who have thought most carefully 

 over the subject is made clear by the terse and excellent state- 

 ment of the aims of the Association for the Promotion of Tech- 

 nical Education, one of which is "to effect such reforms in our 

 educational system as will develop in the best way the intelli- 

 gence of those of all classes upon whom our industries depend," 

 the Association itself being formed because of "the general 

 expression of opinion throughout the country as to the necessity 

 of a reform in our system of national education, with the object 

 of giving it a more practical direction." Thus we may accept 

 the following definition of a writer on the subject, that " by 

 technical education is meant special instruction in some scientific, 

 artistic, or mechanical process or handicraft as distinguished 

 from purely literary instruction " ; or that by another writer, 

 who defines it as " special training for an industrial pursuit as 

 distinguished from a general preparation for any calling hereafter 

 to be chosen." Thus technical education will comprise a very 

 wide range of subjects, not those merely taught with a view to 

 manufacturing, mechanical, and artistic pursuits, but will com- 



prise the instruction given in a medical school, in an agricultural 

 college, and even commercial education, which last now forms a 

 distinct feature of our own College, and the reform of which 

 branch of education is one of the special objects of the Associa- 

 tion above alluded to. It is therefore at first surprising to the 

 uninitiated that we find the following definition in the recent 

 Bill for Technical Education : " The expression technical 

 instruction means instruction in the branches of science and art 

 with respect to which grants are for the time being made by 

 the Science and Art Department, or in any other subject which 

 may for the time being be sanctioned by the Department." 

 This definition is no doubt quite satisfactoiy to the authorities 

 of the Department, although it savours strongly of the opinion 

 attributed in a well-known series of rhymes to a certain eminent 

 University don, who is made to assert — 



" I am the Master of this College, 

 And what isn't taught here isn't knowledge." 



And though this definition happens at present to exclude manual 

 and workshop instruction, concerning which the mover of the 

 Bill, Sir Wm. Hart Dyke, expatiated somewhat eloquently and 

 at considerable length when moving the second reading of the 

 Bill — but this is a trifling matter, as no doubt when the Science 

 and Art Department has had time to go into the matter, and to 

 study the subject, and has made arrangements for teaching and 

 examining it, it will be "sanctioned" with the rest, and become 

 technical instruction. It must, however, be recognized that the 

 Science and Art Department is the most important institution in 

 this country for the promotion and encouragement of technical 

 education, and has done a work, especially in the direction of 

 evening-class teaching to the artisan class, which must have 

 proved of incalculable benefit, and it will be well to study the 

 progress made in science instruction, as affording some index of 

 our general progress in technical education. The following 

 table gives the result of work during the last ten years, showing 

 in three columns : (i) the amount of the grants given to teachers 

 for successful candidates on the system of payment by examina- 

 tional results ; (2) the actual number of students under instruc- 

 tion in science classes fulfilling conditions which would enable a 

 grant to be claimed ; (3) the number of papers actually worked 

 in different science subjects. The three columns are independent 

 of each other in a certain sense, since a registered student may 

 either take several papers, or may, on the other hand, possibly 

 not come up for examination at all, or, coming up, may fail to 

 secure a grant. 



Table I. — Results of Science and Art Department during tJu 

 last Ten Years. 



The results are striking, but in order to reveal their signifi- 

 cance more closely, the diagram. Fig. I, is reproduced from 

 a recent memorandum of expenditure and estimates of the 

 Department, in which the height of the lines in each year from 

 the base line gives the value of grant, number of students, or of 

 worked paper. 



The three curves represent at once to the eye the rapid pro- 

 gress which is being made. Indeed, the rate of increase is twice 

 as great during the last two years as during previous years, and, 

 so far from there being any want of appreciation of technical 

 instruction, the results are such as might possibly cause the tax- 

 payer some concern ; on this point, however, the memorandum 

 states : — '*' There is no reason to suppose that the expenditure 

 will rise at the present rate ; on the contrary, even without look- 



