Ii6 



NA TURE 



[November 29, 1894 



SIR JOHN DOXXELL V OX TECHNICAL 

 EDUCATIOX. 



A T the first ordinary meeting of the new session of the Society 

 •'^ of Arts, Major-General Sir John Donnelly delivered an 

 address in which he dealt with some points in the history of 

 the Socielj", and especially with those connected with the 

 promotion of education. The following is a condensed report 

 of his remarks bearing upon the development of technical 

 instruction : — 



In 1S6S, a Cooference on Technical Education was held 

 by the Society of Arts, and shortly afterwards — on March 24, 

 1S6S — on the moiion of Mr., now Sir B. Samuelson, Bart., the 

 House of Commons granted a Select Committee, of which he 

 was appointed chairman, " to inquire into the provisions for 

 giving instruction in theoretical and applied science to the 

 industrial classes." The first three of their conclusions were— 

 (l) That, with the view to enable the working classes to benefit 

 by scientific instruction, it is of the utmost importance that 

 efficient elementary insiructioa should be within the reach of 

 every child ; (2) that unless regular attendance of the children 

 for a sufficient period can be obtained, little can be done in the 

 way of their scientific instruction ; (3) that elementary instruc- 

 tion in drawing, in physical geography, and in the phenomena 

 of nature should be given in elementary schools. Throughout 

 these discussions the object-lesson afforded by the Paris Exhi- 

 bition of 1867 was universally acknowledged to be the main 

 feature of the movement. 



Sir John Donnelly brought before the Society in 18723 scheme 

 for examinations in technology, which were to be supplementary 

 to the examinations of the Science and Art Department. The 

 scheme did not meet with much enthusiasm, and manufacturers 

 set themsel%-es against it on the grounds that trade secrets 

 should not be the talk of the class-room. However, since then 

 the examinations have been very largely developed by the Ciiy 

 and Guilds of London Institute. 



Owing to a set of circumstances, with which everyone is now 

 thoroughly conversant, there was, shortly after the passing of 

 the Technical Instruction Act, in 1S89, a great windfall for 

 technical instruction. Under the Customs and Excise Act of 

 1890, the residue, amounting to something over three-quarters 

 of a million of money in England and Wales, became applic- 

 able to technical education. It has been so applied very largely. 

 From a recent return it appears that, of the forty nine County 

 Councils, excluding Wales and Monmouth, forty-one are 

 applying the whole, and eight a part of the residue to technical 

 education. Of the sixty-one County Boroughs, fifty-three are 

 applying the whole, and seven a part of the residue to technical 

 education ; while in one case only (the County Borough of 

 Preston) the residue is being applied wholly to relief of rates. 

 Further than this, ten County Boroughs are, in addition, levy- 

 ing a rate under the Technical Instruction Acts. 



For the year 1893-94, 'fie forty-nine County Councils have 

 allocated about £,^()^,(jao, and the County Boroughs about 

 ;^l6l,ooo from the Customs and Excise grant, besides raising 

 over Z' 1 2. 700 by rates. This makes a total of almost exactly 

 ;^626,ooo provided in England alone for technical instruction 

 (or the year, independent of the grants from the Science and 

 Art Department. 



It is purely at the option of local authorities whether they 

 apply the "beer" money to technical education, or whether 

 they use it in relief of the rates. It is very gratifying to see the 

 extent to which they have devoted it to the former object, and 

 it shows that the operations of the Science and Art Depart- 

 ment, the Society of Arts, the City and Guilds of London, and 

 other bodies which had |)reviously been engaged In the uiove- 

 menl, have not been unfruitful. But unquestionably a great 

 danger lurks around a sudden outburst 01 zeal of this kind. 

 How far have the public generally been convinced of the efficacy 

 of science and art and technical instruction, and the advantage 

 of spending all the money on it, rather than in relief of rales ? 

 or how far have lliey been only momentarily carried away un- 

 willing captives at the chariot-wheels of the enthusiasts ? How 

 soon will the pendulum of public opinion which has been so 

 auddcniy and so severely forced in one direction swing back 

 again.' Or— a still greater danger — how scm will llie critic, 

 the cynic, and the "practical " man commence their innings by 

 asking to have the account balanced and the profit shown ? 

 There are already murmurings in the air: did not our fore- 

 fathers get on very well without technical education ? or how i> 



it that we stand — or, at least, stood — at the head of manu- 

 facturing and commercial fame and engineering ability ? 

 At all events, if you cannot show any fruit let us have an 

 inquiry ; dig up the plant and have a look at its roots to see 

 that we have planted the right sort. 



Now what is this "technical instruction " with which the 

 country is so much occupied at the present time ? It is defined 

 in the Act of 1889 as instruction in the principles of science 

 and art applicable to industries, and in the application of special 

 branches of science and art to specific industries or employ- 

 ments, as well as in modern languages and commercial and 

 agricultural subjects, but not in teaching the practice of any 

 trade, or industry, or employment. 



The Act, in fact, provides for instruction in technology and 

 not in technics. Besides, though the definition clause is careful 

 to indicate that the principles of science and art are to be culti- 

 vated, the title of the Act appeals to the sympathy of the great 

 mass who always clamour for a short cut^some way for arriving 

 at the money-making application of science and of art without 

 that preliminary study which is so laborious and apparently un- 

 remunerative. 



After dwelling upon changes of style in artistic work and 

 design, Sir John Donnelly went on to say that every now and 

 then we hear a great outcry against South Kensington and its 

 "system." .\nd if South Kensington now, why not in a few 

 years hence the technical schools and courses of instruction 

 which are being set up with so much care and thought in all 

 parts of the country ? This danger is already felt by many who 

 are interested in technical instruction. The Science and .\rt 

 Department couKl always point to the fact that, if its science 

 teaching was wrong, it erred in good company, for the sylla- 

 buses were prepared, and the examinations were conducted by 

 some of the most eminent men of science of the day. 



But to whom can the local authorities under the Technical 

 Instruction .•\ct appeal ? It seemed to him that for their own 

 satisfaction, and lor the future stability of technical instruction, 

 they will desire, instead of remaining, as it were, isolated and 

 self-conlained. to have an influential examining and inspecting 

 board, to which they might refer, if they found it desirable, for 

 assistance ami advice. There are at present several bodies 

 partially covering the ground — but only partially, and there is 

 ttie great disadvantaije of a want of unity. He threw out the 

 suggestion that the Society of Arts, which is at present cover- 

 ing part of the field, should take the initiative in bringing all 

 these bodies together, so that they may form some kind of joint 

 board, or a! least co-operate. 



T^ 



THE BA TTLE OF THE FORESTS} 



I. 



HE earth is a potential forest. Given time, freedom from 

 geologic revolutions and from interference by man, the 

 tree growth must finally dominate everywhere, with few excepted 

 localities. 



Its perennial nature and its elevation in height above all other 

 forms of vegetation, together with its remarkable recuperative 

 powers, assure to the arborescent flora this final victory over its 

 I competitors. 



So impressed was Dr. Asa Gray with the persistence of indi- 

 vidual tree life that he questioned whether a tree need ever die : 

 " For the tree (unlike the animal) is gradually developed by the 

 successive addition of new parts. It annually renews not only 

 its buds and leaves, but its wood and its roots ; everything, 

 indeed, that is concerned in its life and growth. Thus, like the 

 fabled .ILson, being restored from the decrepitude of age to 

 the bloom of early youth, the most recent branchlels being 

 placed by means of the latest layer of wood in favourable com- 

 munication with the newly-formed roots, and these extending at 

 a corresponding rate into fresh soil, why has not the tree all the 

 conditions of existence in the thousandth that is possessed of 

 in the hundredth or the tenth year of lis age? 



'The old and central part of the trunk may, indeed, decay, 

 but this is of little moment, so long as new layers are regularly 

 formed at the circumference. The tree survives, and it is 

 difficult to show that it is liable to death from old age in any 

 proper sense of the term." 



' A lecture Jclivcrcd by Prof. U. E. Fcrnow. Chief of tlic Korestry 

 Depirimcnl of Agriculture. U.S.A., during ifie Brooklyn meeting of the j 



American Atsociaiijn for tiie Advancement cjf Science.. 



NO. 1309, VOL. 51] 



