112 SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION : v 



tion, and have even thrown out timid and faltering 

 suggestions as to what should be done ; while at 

 the opposite pole of society, committees of working 

 men have expressed their conviction that scientific 

 training is the one thing needful for their advance- 

 ment, whether as men, or as workmen. Only the 

 other day, it was my duty to take part in the 

 reception of a deputation of London working men, 

 who desired to learn from Sir Roderick Murchison, 

 the Director of the Eoyal School of Mines, whether 

 the organisation of the Institution in Jermyn Street 

 could be made available for the supply of that 

 scientific instruction the need of which could not 

 have been apprehended, or stated, more clearly than 

 it was by them. 



The heads of colleges in our great universities 

 (who have not the reputation of being the most 

 mobile of persons) have, in several cases, thought 

 it well that, out of the great number of honours 

 and rewards at their disposal, a few should here- 

 after be given to the cultivators of the physical 

 sciences. Nay, I hear that some colleges have even 

 gone so far as to appoint one, or, maybe, two special 

 tutors for the purpose of putting the facts and 

 principles of physical science before the under- 

 graduate mind. And I say it with gratitude and 

 great respect for those eminent persons, that the 

 head masters of our public schools, Eton, Harrow, 

 Winchester, have addressed themselves to the 

 problem of introducing instruction in physical 



