622 



NATURE 



[October 27, li 



very convenient to those engaged in original investigations to 

 have undivided command over a space in which they are 

 absolutely undisturbed, and in which they may leave their 

 apparatus secure against interference. But having regard not 

 only to individual convenience but to the general good of the 

 laboratory, my experience leads me to believe that the advan- 

 tage lies with the older and less luxurious times, when 

 -space was valuable and a number of men were forced to work 

 together. 



I remember the old laboratory of the great Helmholtz, in which 

 we were about half a dozen students carrying on research 

 work in a room in which each of us had to be satisfiedwith 

 a table. 



The Professor used to spend an hour a day with us, conversed 

 with each about the work he was doing, and we could all daily 

 hear him speak and give his advice about a variety of subjects 

 in a way which would have been impossible if we had been 

 shut up in single rooms. We became interested in each other's 

 work, and thus increased our experience and obtained a much 

 broader view of the range of physics. I consider the experience 

 thus gained to have been quite invaluable, but curiously enough 

 the Professor did not himself realise the importance of this 

 mutual intercourse, and a few years later, when he drew up the 

 plans of a new laboratory, he adopted what has with reason 

 been called the principle of solitary confinement, each student 

 having a separate small room assigned to him. The result, I 

 think, showed that the advantage secured by the increased 

 privacy was too dearly paid for. It became impossible for the 

 Professor to make the round of all the rooms each day, he 

 ceased to exercise the same supervision as before ; and the 

 students, left to themselves, soon only looked after their own 

 individual interests and lost touch with their comrades. 



A great deal of attention has recently been given to the 

 splendidly equipped laboratories of the German polytechnic 

 schools, and the remarkable development of German industry 

 is not unnaturally ascribed to their influence. But if it be our 

 wish to emulate these laboratories, we should remember that 

 the polytechnic school is only one part of a complete system of 

 education which is not possible to copy here. We should 

 inevitably be led to failure if we tried to solve the educational 

 problem of this country by importing one particular type of 

 institution, without regard to the previous training of the students 

 attending it, and what is more difficult to ascertain, their future 

 career or position in life. 



We shall do better if we attack the problem by forming a 

 clear idea as to whom we want to educate, and then doing the 

 best we can with the material at our command. 



In the industrial life of a country two distinct classes of men 

 are needed. There are in the first place the leaders, on whom 

 all the burden of further progress will fall. We look to them 

 for future discoveries and inventions, and we must provide them 

 with the proper tools to work their way, and weapons to over- 

 come their obstacles. Though necessarily few in numbers, these 

 men who are specially endosved to serve their country by their 

 intellect and enterprise should receive our first attention. At 

 first sight their education seems easy enough, for what can we 

 do more than lead them up to the highest level of their subject. 

 Yet there is one danger so serious that I believe it lies at the 

 foundation of the distrust with which the greater part of the 

 industrial community still looks upon education. The want of 

 confidence in the teaching profession, which is a national 

 characteristic to be reckoned with, because probably not to be 

 cured, has had the effect of establishing a rigid system of 

 teaching and examining, which undoubtedly tends to subdue, if 

 not to kill, individuality. Where any pronounced originality 

 exists, our whole effort should be to foster and develop it. I 

 feel no doubt that the success of our university will entirely 

 depend on the manner in which we allow room for individuality 

 and originality in our courses, while the continued success of 

 our college must depend on the freedom which we claim for 

 individual teaching, even if in special cases the students should 

 be kept out of the university altogether. Far better that a man 

 of original mind should go through life without a a degree, 

 than that he should artificially be driven into the broad path of 

 common-place reasoning. This country has never been wanting 

 in men ot the type I am speaking about ; they are not brought 

 up in the polytechnic schools of Germany, and never will be 

 brought up by any schools formed on that pattern. Whatever 

 success Germany has achieved is due to the stringent slavery of 



NO. I513, VOL. 58] 



its schools, followed and corrected by the absolute freedom of 

 its universities. 



I have spoken of two types of students, and the second is no 

 less important than the first. The great majority of men are 

 neither discoverers nor inventors, and they are for that very 

 reason all the more in need of an education which will fit them 

 for their life's work. It is in the instruction of this numerous 

 class of students that we have most to learn, and it is in the 

 intelligent organisation of their teaching that we are behind 

 other countries. It has become a matter of vital importance 

 for this college to offer a thorough training to those men, who, 

 though they may not be leading spirits or originators, yet form 

 a necessary portion of the community and fill responsible posi- 

 tions in our industries. We have taken the first step to-day to 

 remove one of the causes, which has hitherto prevented the 

 physical department attracting these students in sufficient 

 numbers. Our accommodation has till now been hopelessly 

 deficient, but I hope that those who take the trouble to look 

 through'our plans will find that, as regards space and disposition 

 of rooms, we may in future court comparison with any other 

 institution. May I express the hope that the support which we 

 shall get from our friends, will enable us to say the same of our 

 equipment and instrumental appliances. I am, however, quite 

 aware that building and equipment alone will not entirely solve 

 the problem. Certain difficulties of instruction will have to be 

 overcome, which will require not only the co-operation of 

 different departments of the college, but also the help and 

 advice of the manufacturers in whose workshops our students 

 will have to complete their education. I attach the greatest 

 importance to this help, and believe that real progress 

 in what may be called the highest branch of technical 

 education can only be secured by a frequent and sympa- 

 thetic consultation between the teachers and employers of 

 labour. 



One further remark I should like to make in order to remove 

 the objection which I know has been urged against our college, 

 that we wish to unite in it students of different classes, and that, 

 as in Germany, the university instruction should be entirely 

 separated from that of the polytechnic school. But the separation 

 of the two kinds of institutions in that country has not been 

 chosen deliberately to secure the best educational result. It has 

 been the consequence of the very high standard of classical 

 education, which the universities require, and which it was not 

 possible to enforce on the technical students. No one can 

 urge that the literary requirements of our college or of our 

 university are such as unjustly to exclude any one who is 

 fitted to receive a higher technical education. If we want 

 to find a country the educational institutions of which have 

 grown unhampered by historical tradition, we must go to the 

 United States of America, and amongst their universities we 

 shall find some whose success we need not be afraid to emulate. 

 I confess that no other institution has ever impressed me so 

 much as regards efficiency in teaching organisation and com- 

 pleteness of laboratory organisation as the Cornell University at 

 Ithaca. The class of students visiting that university are 

 nearly akin to those we wish to attract, and if the citizens of 

 Manchester could see the appliances of the physical labor- 

 atory and of its splendidly equipped dynamo house, I think 

 we should have no difficulty here in obtaining the neces 

 sary funds for furnishing appropriately the rooms of our new 

 laboratory. 



The extraordinary development of electrical industries in the 

 United States, and the great value which is in that country 

 attached to a university education, may encourage us in the 

 hope that the efforts we are making to extend and improve our 

 electrical teaching will meet with some success. 



I hope that the stress I have laid on our intentions regarding 

 electro-technical teaching will not give rise to the impression 

 that we mean to neglect other branches of physics. Our labora- 

 tory will provide arrangements for optical and more particularly 

 spectroscopic work, which will at least be equal to that of any 

 other institution ; nor shall we forget the necessary machinery 

 to produce very low temperatures by means of the liquefaction 

 of air. 



I had some hope originally to add a small astronomical 

 observatory, but although the plans are such that it could be 

 added at any time, the question of expense has for the present 

 prevented us from carrying out a project for which there was no 

 such pressing necessity. 



