158 SCIENCE TEACHING. 



Museum, i8i;5). These lectures mark the foundation of the GOVERNMENT 

 School of' Science applied to Mining and the Arts, Dublin, and 

 were at once succeeded by the formation of a class of " Practical Chemistry." 

 By arrangement with the Royal Dublin Society, the courses of lectures 

 already given by that body in each year were made to serve as introduc- 

 tions to more special courses in the new School of Science. In addition the 

 popular evening lectures were maintained. In 1866, the Government 

 resolved to further systematise scientific instruction in Dublin by the con- 

 version of the Museum of Irish Industry " into a college of science " (14/^ 

 Rep. Sci. and Art Dep., 1867, p. 2). At that time seven professorships 

 already existed in connection with the Museum of Irish Industry, including 

 one of Agriculture. Professorships of " Applied Mathematics and Mechan- 

 ism," " Mineralogy and Mining," and " Descriptive Geometry, Mechanical 

 Drawing, Machinery and Surveying," were now added, and a comprehen- 

 sive scheme of instruction, extending over three years, was drawn up. 

 Students successfully pas'sing the final examinations were awarded the 

 diploma of Associate of the RoYAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE FOR Ireland. 



The College thus established was to some extent modelled on the Royal 

 School of Mines in London, but was intended to have a wider scope. From 

 the first it admitted women to its lectures and class-rooms, and its influence 

 in the scientific education of women has always been considerable. The 

 Council of Professors, in 1874, appears to have proposed some extension of 

 the courses afforded in agriculture, which remained practically confined to 

 agricultural chemistry ; but the scheme was not regarded as practicable, and 

 the chair of Agriculture was abolished in 1878. That of Mining was also 

 abolished in 1 899, the teaching in Mineralogy being transferred to the chair 

 of Geology. With these changes, the general teaching has been maintained 

 much on the lines formulated in 1 867 ; but the practical laboratory work 

 then encouraged has assumed greater and greater prominence, in accord- 

 ance with scientific progress. External examiners are associated with the 

 Piofessors in the several examinations for the Diploma. 



The list of associates who have graduated in the College in the past 

 represents only a small part of the educational and public work performed 

 by the Royal College of Science for Ireland. An institution in which indi- 

 vidual students can pursue special studies, without following the routine 

 required for a degree, naturally attracts many who otherwise would find it 

 diiTicult to acquire scientific knowledge. Persons, moreover, already 

 engaged in scientific or industrial pursuits, are able to receive instruction in 

 new methods and developments, and to work with special apparatus before 

 introducing it into their own laboratories or workshops. While a number of 

 past students have adopted teaching as a profession, the Department of 

 Agriculture and Technical Instruction, to which the College was transferred 

 in 1900, has arranged for the attendance of selected students as free scholars 

 for courses of three years' instruction, with a view to their qualifying them- 

 selves as technical teachers and as instructors in agriculture for the service 

 of County Councils. Short courses of instruction to qualified teachers have 

 also been in existence during the summer months of the last four or five 

 years. The Department proposes to revive and to enlarge the Faculty of 

 Agriculture, with special regard to the requirements of the country. The 

 faculties at present in operation are those of Engineering, Manufactures, 

 Physics, and Natural Science. 



The following extract from the Report of the Recess Committee, 



