182 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION 



upon the universities to institute new chairs and new degrees, 

 to meet the requirements of new professions ; and, on the other 

 hand, I called on these professions to support the universities, 

 by according a real preference to the men who were well pre- 

 pared over those who declined to take advantage of the facilities 

 given them. 



I have now the great pleasure of informing you that I have 

 to-day received a proof of the preference for educated pupils felt 

 by one of the leading firms of mechanical engineers in Edin- 

 burgh. I cannot better explain my meaning than by reading 

 the following extract from minutes of a meeting of the directors 

 of T. M. Tennant & Co., Limited, held on Tuesday, January 5, 

 1869: 



'Mr. B. W. Thorn son moved, and it was unanimously agreed, 

 that to encourage the new mechanical engineering class in the 

 Edinburgh University, this company will grant a free pupilage, 

 once in three years, to the most meritorious student of the 

 class.' 



This valuable endowment has, I think, been given in a form 

 peculiarly well suited to stimulate the scientific education of 

 our young engineers, by showing that the professional men 

 consider that the road to practice should lie through the college 

 gates. 



