2o6 LIFE AND EXPERIENCES CHAP. 



tite iron. But this is not quite the end of the story, 

 for the material which was previously so harmful as 

 well as useless, namely, the phosphoric acid now con- 

 tained in the slag, is available as a valuable manure, 

 so that not only do the iron-masters obtain a pure 

 steel from impure ore, but they sell the impurity for 

 good money. 



My predictions of twenty years ago have now 

 been fully realised. The Sheffield University with 

 its Technical School stands now, with regard to 

 metallurgy and engineering, equal in rank to the 

 best of similar seats of learning, both at home 

 and abroad ; and it is fitting that a great technical 

 school for the study of the metallurgy of iron and 

 steel should be established in a locality which is 

 the chief focus of that industry. This has been 

 accomplished, thanks mainly to the labours of Arnold 

 and Ripper. 



On December i7th, 1889, I distributed the prizes 

 and certificates to the City and Guilds of London 

 Institute at Goldsmiths' Hall, when I pointed out that 

 the newly founded metropolitan polytechnic institu- 

 tions could not give the highest kind of education such 

 as is carried out on the Continent. There institutions 

 exist which bear the same name, but which are 

 analogous rather to the scientific departments of our 

 Universities, and to those of the metropolitan and 

 local university colleges, to the Royal School of 

 Science, and to the Central Institution founded by 

 the Guilds. I then suggested that this latter might 

 with advantage become a Government School for 

 Applied Science, as the Royal College of Science 

 is at the present moment one for pure science. 

 The proposal to form a Central College for Applied 

 Science at South Kensington has since been widely 



