136 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY 



The legislation which had been the outcome of the 

 report of the Vivisection Commission suggested a 

 lecture on "Elementary Instruction in Physiology," de- 

 livered at the Anthropological Conference on May 

 22 (Coll. Essays, iii, p. 294). Here animal physiology 

 is spoken of as an essential part of domestic economy, 

 and Huxley's supposed desire to introduce vivisection 

 into school teaching disclaimed. The infliction of pain 

 on animals for the purposes of gain or sport is strongly 

 deprecated. 



For some time the necessity for promoting a proper 

 system of technical education had been strongly borne in 

 upon some of the more enlightened members of the 

 community, the Clothworkers' Company and the Society 

 of Arts co-operating to this end. In July of this year a 

 committee of the City Companies applied to Huxley, 

 among others, for a statement of his opinions regarding 

 the aims and methods of technical education. The fol- 

 lowing paragraph, taken from the extensive report he 

 supplied, goes to the root of the matter: — 



" It appears to me that if every person who is engaged in an 

 industry had access to instruction in the scientific principles on 

 which that industry is based ; in the mode of applying these 

 principles to practice ; in the actual use of the means and appli- 

 ances employed ; in the language of the people who know as 

 much about the matter as we do ourselves ; and lastly, in the 

 art of keeping accounts. Technical Education would have done 

 all that can be required of it," 



An address on " Technical Education," given at the 

 Working Men's Club and Institute, on December I, 

 gives further expression to Huxley's ideas on the subject 

 (Coll. Essays, iii, p. 404). Since an anatomist may be 

 regarded as a handicraftsman, he excuses himself for 

 venturing into the only educational domain with which 



