August 27," 1903] 



NATURE 



403 



hand with manufacturing industry and on the other hand 

 with the teaching of science. Whether the old universities 

 are desirous of nialiing a new departure and of enlarging 

 their spheres of activity so as to bring them more into 

 harmony with the practical requirements of the age I 

 have no authority to discuss. Certainly Cambridge, by the 

 establishment of departments of engineering and agri- 

 cultuie, has made a distinct advance in this direction. 

 At any rate, it may be taken as a sign of the times that 

 the relationship between science and industry has been 

 made a special feature of this year's university extension 

 meeting, and the outer world will no doubt take due cog- 

 nisance of the circumstance that a subject has been chosen 

 for consideration which, in this country, is generally con- 

 sidered quite remote from the higher ideals of university 

 education. 



It is evident from what has long been going on in 

 Germany and America, and from what is now taking place 

 with regard to education by our newer universities here, 

 that applied science is, or can be, brought within the 

 province of university education. Of course, if the view 

 bo held that science is degraded by being turned to practical 

 account, then we must not look to the universities for the 

 training of our industrial leaders. It is impossible, how- 

 ever, to note the progress of events since the coalescence 

 of science and industry abroad without coming to the con- 

 clusion that the position of a nation in the scale of civilisa- 

 tion will be measured in the future by its productive energy 

 — by the capacity of its workers to evolve new ideas and 

 to carry them out practically ; by the number, zeal and 

 originality of its scientific workers, and by their mastery 

 over the resources of nature. I do not mean to imply that 

 the old universities have done nothing towards the educa- 

 tion of scientific thinkers and workers. What strikes out- 

 siders like myself is the very small part that these universi- 

 ties are taking in the modern equipment of the great in- 

 dustrial army of Britain as compared with the work being 

 done by foreign universities for their respective countries. 

 In view of the industrial struggle between nations which 

 has arisen through the discoveries of modern science — a 

 struggle which is bound to become keener with the progress 

 of science — it cannot be seriously maintained that the 

 material welfare of our country is beneath the dignity of 

 even the most profound academic scholar. The old defini- 

 tion of a university as an educational centre for the cultiv- 

 ation of useless knowledge no longer holds good. If there 

 are universities which still cling to this tradition concern- 

 ing their functions, it may safely be predicted that their 

 influence in moulding the future life of the nation is destined 

 tj shrink to smaller and smaller dimensions. 



The part played by the German universities and technical 

 high schools in the training of technologists is now so well 

 known in this country that a. detailed restatement of the 

 facts is hardly necessary. I may remind you that their 

 twenty universities, with foundations dating from the 

 fourteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth century, for 

 many years supplied the factories with men thoroughly 

 trained in science, and capable of applying their knowledge 

 to industrial processes. With the development of manu- 

 facturing industry along scientific lines it was found 

 necessary to provide more specialised education, and during 

 the first half of the nineteenth century trade schools or 

 polytechnics were called into existence in nine different 

 centres. Of course, vou know that our polytechnics here 

 have very little analogy with the German institutions of 

 that name. The polytechnics were in time found inade- 

 quate to meet the growing requirements of German in- 

 dustrial training, and their functions were accordingly 

 enlarged and their educational status raised. Out of these 

 nine polytechnics or trade schools have arisen nine 

 technical high schools, and two more such schools are now 

 in course of erection. Thus in Germany both universities 

 and technical high schools are catering for the scientific 

 needs of the national industries. I may add that a few 

 years ago there was a serious discussion in Germany among 

 certain educational bodies and industrial organisations as to 

 whether the State should not be asked further to strengthen 

 the scientific faculties of the universities by creating chairs 

 of technical or applied chemistry, and although there has 

 been no practical outcome of this movement as yet, it is 



NO. 1765, VOL. 68] 



an instructive illustration of the spirit which is abroad in 

 that country. 



There is very much misapprehension here concerning the 

 nature and functions of the German technical high schools. 

 They are not glorified polytechnics of our own type for 

 teaching handicrafts to artisans or smatterings of science 

 to ill-prepared students. They are institutions of university 

 rank — their education is of university standard, and their 

 professors stand on a level with the professors of the uni- 

 versities. Their students are not admitted until they have 

 reached a high standard of general secondary education. 

 Their courses of instruction are as purely scientific as the 

 university courses, and the only difference between the two 

 kinds of education is that the technical high school is all 

 scientific, and the various sciences are taught both theo- 

 retically and practically with a view to their ultimate in- 

 dustrial applications. It is a " technical education " in the 

 highest and best sense, and not in the narrow — I may even 

 say degraded — sense in which the term is so frequently 

 used in this country. 



The question of the hour which the old universities have 

 now to face is whether they are willing to take part in 

 the newer education required by our industrial leaders, 

 whether they are prepared to strengthen and develop the 

 teaching of those physical sciences which underlie productive 

 industry, and to recognise the claims of the applied sciences 

 as subjects worthy of inclusion in their curricula. There 

 will, of course, be a divergence of opinion with regard to 

 this question. There will be the old, old conflict between 

 the advocates of the " humanising " influence of the ancient 

 classical studies and the supporters of modern scientific 

 education. So far as my opinions are worth anything, I 

 cannot see, and I never could see, why a study of nature 

 at first hand should be less " humanising " than the study 

 of those classical subjects which have so long held the field. 

 I admit that the teaching of the physical sciences as they 

 should be taught at the present time in any institution of 

 university rank is more costly — that the equipment consists 

 of something more than a library, and that their teachers, 

 to 6e effective, should be themselves active investigators, 

 inspiring originality and a desire for creating new know- 

 ledge in their students. I can understand that a subject 

 which to the classical don wears the aspect of a financial 

 ogre should be kept down as long as he has a preponder- 

 ating influence in regulating the affairs of his university. 

 But this is a matter of expediency, and not a real conflict 

 between fundamental principles. I cannot find that the 

 classical teaching of the American or Gerrrian universities 

 has been impaired by the splendid development of their 

 scientific faculties ; neither does it appear that the human 

 products of their scientific activities are in the least degree 

 inferior as men to their classical scholars. Of course, I 

 am a special pleader, and I am making the best use of 

 niv opportunities, and I repeat that I never could see where 

 anv antagonism existed between the older and the newer 

 studies excepting in the struggle for financial means. 

 There are many educational authorities here and abroad 

 who will tell you that the scientific development of the 

 German universities has reacted upon and improved the 

 classical teaching by an infusion of scientific method into 

 the latter. Moreover, it must be remembered that we who 

 are advocates for the new education are not clamouring, 

 as many people think, for the abolition of the old studies. 

 I for one should deplore any falling off in the prestige 

 of the old universities as seats of classical learning. Neither 

 is it suggested that our future leaders of industry would 

 never at any period of their studies derive benefit from that 

 particular kind of culture which the ancient literature is 

 capable of imparting. I firmly believe they would ; but 

 the question as to when and how would open up the whole 

 field of education, elementary, secondary, and university, 

 both pre- and post-graduate, and I should find myself 

 floundering among shoals and quicksands in no time. The 

 ideal university is one that offers facilities for both the 

 older and the newer education ; they are not mutually ex- 

 clusive — they can, and do, thrive side by side elsewhere, 

 and there is no reason, at any rate no theoretical reason, 

 why they should not do so here. 



The form in which the question may be put is therefore 

 whether, given the means, the older universities should 



