CHAPTER II. 



pbilantbropic Enterprises. 



"The generous spirit, who, when brought 

 Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought 

 Upon the plan that pleased his childish thought." 



To a man so eminently fitted for the work of instruction 

 and so deeply impressed with the national importance of 

 technical education, it is not surprising that the backward- 

 ness of the country in this respect should have been a matter 

 for much anxious thought. He foresaw with prophetic 

 certainty the approaching struggles of trade the incoming 

 tide of foreign competition, and he knew that the best safe- 

 guard against a rapid decline of national prosperity would be 

 the encouragement of technical training. Convinced of the 

 extreme urgency of the case, he could not rest until practical 

 steps were taken to provide such instruction in Glasgow. 



In conjunction with the Lord Provost, and leading 

 promoters of the temperance movement in Glasgow, he 

 organized in 1854 an Industrial Museum and Hall of Science 

 and Art, the first institution of the kind in Scotland. The 

 museum contained specimens of natural produce and 



