III.] TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 67 



the question is a very proper one, and unless I were 

 prepared to answer it, I hope satisfactorily, I should 

 have chosen some other theme. 



The fact is, I am, and have been, any time these 

 thirty years, a man who works with his hands a 

 handicraftsman. I do not say this in the broadly 

 metaphorical sense in which fine gentlemen, with all 

 the delicacy of Agag about them, trip to the hustings 

 about election time, and protest that they too are 

 working men. I really mean my words to be taken 

 in their direct, literal, and straightforward sense. In 

 fact, if the most nimble-fingered watchmaker among 

 you will come to my workshop, he may set me to put 

 a watch together, and I will set him to dissect, say, a 

 blackbeetle's nerves. I do not wish to vaunt, but I 

 am inclined to think that I shall manage my job to his 

 satisfaction sooner than he will do his piece of work 

 to mine. 



In truth, anatomy, which is my handicraft, is one 

 of the most difficult kinds of mechanical labour, in- 

 volving, as it does, not only lightness and dexterity 

 of hand, but sharp eyes and endless patience. And 

 you must not suppose that my particular branch of 

 science is especially distinguished for the demand it 

 makes upon skill in manipulation. A similar require- 

 ment is made upon all students of physical science. 

 The astronomer, the electrician, the chemist, the miner- 

 alogist, the botanist, are constantly called upon to per- 

 form manual operations of exceeding delicacy. The 

 progress of all branches of physical science depends 

 upon observation, or on that artificial observation 



