70 



NATURE 



[November 15, 1900 



the school in which they have been taught, and in no case under 

 the age of 14 years; in advanced commercial subjects at dr-y 

 and evening classes, to which none shall be admitted under the 

 age of 16 years." 



Department of Textile Industries. 

 In the textile industries department, which is directed by 

 Mr. A. F. Barker, the idea that a satisfactory knowledge of the 

 subject can be gained at evening classes has been given up 

 as fallacious. A three years' course of study for day students 

 has been mapped out, and students who enter must take at 

 least two years of the course, though it is preferable that the 

 whole should be gone through. In addition, a one-year course 

 of textile-mechanics has been arranged, and a special textile 

 and dyeing course is also available for those who desire to carry 

 their studies still further. Such evening classes as have been 

 arranged are all specialised courses for the benefit of tho^e 

 who, having passed through the day classes, are now engaged 

 in the textile trade. In the day classes the teaching of the 



limitations, work will be carried out on an economical and com- 

 mercial scale. In the " model factory" each department would 

 balance the other. For instance, there would be a sufficiency 

 of spinning frames to supply the necessary yarn to the looms,, 

 and so on throughout. Many important advantages would 

 follow such a scheme. It would add intere.<-t to the work, and 

 the students, in addition to gaining skill in the various opera- 

 tions and knowledge of the scientific laws which govern them, 

 would also get an insight into mill management, a practical 

 acquaintance with manufacturers' book-keeping, and a grasp of 

 the economic problems involved. 



Department of Chemistry and Dyeing. 

 Mr. W. M. Gardner is in charge of this department. In 

 addition to the work in the chemical laboratories and experi- 

 mental dyehouse, it is intended that in the future a practical 

 dyehouse, fitted with typical machinery — including finishing 

 machines — shall be provided, in which the students may be intro- 

 duced to practical work. An experimental dyehouse for trade 



Fig. 2.— Dyehouse of the Department of Chemistry and Dyeing, Bradford Municipal Technical College. 



subject is subservient to the training of the student : in the 

 evening classes means are afforded the already well-grounded 

 student for gaining all possible up-to-d^te knowledge of his 

 particular branch of the trade. One item in the arrangements 

 deserves special mention, as it is an anticipation of the great 

 development which will eventually take place. Lectures on the 

 preparation of wool and its treatment until it reaches the yarn 

 stage are included in the three years' day course, and for the even- 

 ings a course of twenty-five lectures by acknowledged experts 

 in the various branches has been arranged. This is in pre- 

 paration for the carrjing out of the full plan of the committee to 

 remodel the textile industries department by providing plant for 

 the practical teaching of the whole of the operations involved in 

 the production of cloth from the raw material. The Cloth- 

 workers' Company have recently carried out a similar scheme at 

 the Yorkshire College. The idea, which as far as possible will 

 be worked to, in providing new buildings and machinery, is to 

 make the college a model factory in which, subject to obvious 



research work will also be an important feature in the future. 

 The complete course in chemistry and dyeing occupies three 

 years. The first year's work consists largely of chemistry 

 and physics ; the second includes chemistry, but dyeing is 

 specially studied ; and in the third year the work is to be still 

 more specialised, and the students will be engaged during a pari 

 of their time in the dyeworks of the city. The course is 

 made as complete as possible by the inclusion of physics (with 

 special reference to chemical questions and to colour) and en- 

 gineering (with special reference to dyeworks machinery). The 

 work of this department in the future, and especially when the 

 new buildings are available, will cover a much wider field thai> 

 the dyeing trade, and will deal with all the chemical industries of 

 the neighbourhood, but the same principle will operate, and every 

 new branch that is opened and every fresh class that is started 

 will have a direct bearing upon some local industry. Some of 

 the new lines of work are supplementary to the other de- 

 partments. Thus, teaching in bacteriology forms part of the 



NO. 1620, VOL. 63] 



