ON SCIENCE AND ART IN RELATION 

 TO EDUCATION 



[1882] 



When a man is honoured by such a request as that which 

 reached me from the authorities of your institution some 

 time ago, I think the first thing that occurs to him is that 

 which occurred to those who were bidden to the feast in the 

 Gospel — to begin to make an excuse; and probably all the 

 excuses suggested on that famous occasion crop up in his 

 mind one after the other, including his "having married a 

 wife," as reasons for not doing what he is asked to do. 

 But, in my own case, and on this particular occasion, there 

 were other difficulties of a sort peculiar to the time, and more 

 or less personal to myself; because I felt that, if I cam^e 

 amongst you, I should be expected, and, indeed, morally 

 compelled, to speak upon the subject of Scientific Education. 

 And then there arose in my mind the recollection of a fact, 

 which probably no one here but myself remembers; namely, 

 that some fourteen years ago I was the guest of a citizen 

 of yours, who bears the honoured name of Rathbone, at a 

 very charming and pleasant dinner given by the Philomathic 

 Society; and I there and then, and in this very city, made a 

 speech upon the topic of Scientific Education. Under these 

 circumstances, you see, one runs two dangers — the first, of 

 repeating one's self, although I may fairly hope that every- 

 body has forgotten the fact I have just now mentioned, 

 except myself; and the second, and even greater difficulty, 

 is the danger of saying something different from what one 

 said before, because then, however forgotten your previous 



