46 



NA TURE 



{Nov. lo, 1887 



and manufactures, and the term "technological examination" 

 is always employed to emphasize this point, and before a full 

 technological certificate is granted by the City and Guilds Insti- 

 tute in any subject, certificates in the elementary stage of certain 

 specified theoretical examinations of the Science and Art De- 

 partment must be produced. A comparison of a few of the 

 subjects will at once make this clear, the numbers appended to 

 the subjects in the following list being those attached to them 

 in the syllabus of each examining body. 



CITY AND GUILDS. 



(27) Tools, 

 (a) Wood Working. 

 {b") Metal Working. 



(34) Carpentry and Joinery. 



(35) Brickwork and Masonry. 



(28) Mechanical Engineering. 



(22) Electrical Engineering. 

 (a) Telegraphy. 

 Kfi) Electric Lighting, 

 (c) Electrical Instrument 

 Making, 

 (i) Alkali and Allied Branches. 

 (4) Coal Tar Products. 



(7) Oils, Varnishes. 



(8) Oils and Fats. 



(9) Gas Manufacture. 

 Subject XIX. — Metallurgy. (10) Iron and Steel Manufacture. 



Practical examinations are held by the City and Guilds in weav- 

 ing and pattern designing, in metal plate work, in carpentry and 



SCIENCE AND ART| 

 DEPARTMENT. 



Subject II. — Machine Construction 

 and Drawing. 



Subject III. — Building Construction. 



Subject VI. — Theoretical Mechanics. 

 Subject VII. — Applied Mechanics. 

 Subject IX. — Magnetism and Elec- 

 tricity. 



Subject X. — Inorganic Chemistry. 

 Subject XI. — Organic Chemistry. 



joinery, and in mine surveying, while last year, for the first 

 time, an examination was held in typography. This latter was 

 conducted in several printing works placed at the disposal of the 

 Institute, and thirty-two out of the seventy-seven candidates 

 succeeded in composing and printing the difficult manuscript 

 supplied to them — sufficiently well to obtain a certificate. 



There is nothing at all approaching our own system of pay- 

 ment by results in any country in Europe, and eminent foreign 

 educationalists have frequently deplored the absence of such in 

 their own respective countries. This system has given particular 

 vitality to that most valuable kind of education — evening class 

 iuhtruction ; and as an examiner for both the bodies above 

 alluded to, and after an experience — not a very enjoyable expe- 

 rience, and not the experience that a rich man would continue 

 to indulge in — of upwards of 6000 examination papers, I may 

 be permitted to testify to the valuable nature of the work done 

 by the students, and the possibility of almost complete preven- 

 tion of "cram" when proper precautions are taken. Thus, 

 though large numbers of technical night classes exist all over the 

 Continent, it is very doubtful if the results obtained by them 

 are superior or even equal to our own. 



When it is considered what splendid technical training the 

 workshops arid manufactories of this country have afforded, there 

 will, perhaps, appear to be veiy good reasons why, originally, 

 technical schools were not so extensively instituted at home as 

 abroad, where almost all foreign States have established and 

 maintained technical schools, the Ecole Centrale at Paris being 

 almost the solitary exception to this rule. When, however 



Fig. 3. — L^niversity College, Liverpool. 



their need was felt, it was not left to the slowly-moving wheels 

 of State to bring such schools on the scene. At first these 

 schools took the form of lectureships and chairs in constructive 

 science, for which the term "engineering" was conveniently 

 adopted, the first of these being at London, Glasgow, and Man- 

 chester, and founded in connexion with the local Colleges. 

 These have been gradually followed by Engineering Schools in 

 the Colleges at Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Dundee, New- 

 castle, Bristol, Birmingham, and last, but it is hoped not least, 

 at Liverpool. These schools give instruction not merely in 

 engineering subjects in a narrow sense of the word, but include 

 in their courses of teaching the wide range of subjects necessary 

 for laying a firm foundation for a successful career in any one of 

 the constructive professions, and prepare a student to enter any 

 of the particular branches into which engineering has become 

 differentiated, and compare in this way with chemical teaching, 

 which isgiven in places like this city— which may be specialized 

 with a view to particular local industries. Besides these schools, 

 others have arisen of a more special nature, due? to liberal- 

 minded men and public-spirited bodies, such as the Weaving 

 and Dyeing Schools at Leeds, upon which the Worshipful Com- 

 pany of Clothworkers have spent between ;^20,ooo and ^30,000 ; 

 the Technical Schools at Huddersfield, Bradford, Glasgow, Man- 

 chester, and other towns, some of which will bear comparison 

 with the celebrated foreign schools of Chemnitz, Mulhouse, 

 Verviers, Crefeld, and Vienna. The benefit of such schools 



has already been felt, for it is most encouraging to find amongst 

 many similar opinions the testimony of the Technical Education 

 Commissioners that — " In those textile manufactures in which 

 other nations have hitherto excelled us, as in soft all-wool goods, 

 we are gaining ground. We saw, at Bradford, merinos manu- 

 factured and finished in this country, which would bear com- 

 parison in texture and colour with the best of those of the 

 French looms and dye-houses, and in the delicate fabrics of 

 Nottingham and Macclesfield (thanks in great measure to their 

 local Schools of Art) we no longer rely upon France for 

 design." 



The address, after pointing out that this country was, taken 

 as a whole, after all not in such a deplorable state with regard 

 to technical education, asserted that such education was of two 

 kinds — general and special. General technical education may 

 be .'^aid to be that necessary in all large centres of population, 

 being the preparation for such callings as engineering, architec- 

 ture, medical science, and other professions, which at any 

 rate a certain percentage of the inhabitants will always follow, 

 besides training of another kind suitable to the artisan class. 

 Special technical education is that necessary in a locality where 

 there are special industries, instances of which have already been 

 given, and others will readily occur to the mind. 



The remainder of the address was devoted to considering the 

 educational work of Liverpool and its special techn ical require- 



