TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION 51 



degrees will lead to much public confusion. I can see no 

 objection to giving a qualified student of applied science a degree 

 in science without further modification of the title. But the 

 matter is, perhaps, of no very great importance. 



With regard to curricula, the introduction of applied 

 science creates some difficulty, owing to the number of contri- 

 butory studies which claim a place, and the reluctance which 

 every teacher naturally feels to see his own subject either 

 excluded or reduced in range. It is, however, an inevitable 

 consequence of the growth of knowledge and the rise of new 

 studies of all kinds, that some sacrifice of the old must be 

 made, that the range of preparatory studies must be restricted, 

 and that they must be reduced more to their philosophical 

 essentials. It is, however, a great mistake to suppose that 

 the disciplinary element and intellectual depth of scientific 

 knowledge are reduced when we pass from pure to applied 

 science, or that a curriculum which extends over three or four 

 years and includes a large measure of applied science, stands 

 in any but the most pedantic sense ' below ' any other uni- 

 versity curriculum of equal length, 



It is no doubt justly held that the besetting danger of 

 specialized education of all kinds is the neglect of preparatory 

 studies and fundamental sciences, without which, technical 

 knowledge, however elaborate, is inanimate and sterile. It is 

 here that what may be called the academic weight of a uni- 

 versity affords a safeguard that can hardly be overvalued. 



There are many other questions of importance which arise 

 in connexion with the subject of this paper, and I am well 

 aware that my treatment of it has been meagre and incom- 

 plete : but I have been intent mainly upon the advocacy of 

 a general policy, and I have no doubt that those who follow 

 me in the discussion will bring forward questions which I have 

 omitted, and on which, from their own special experience, 

 they can speak with much greater authority. 



