Oct. 27, 1 881] 



NATURE 



621 



that, at the age of sixteen, the lad is expected to enter upon 

 practical life, and it has been held that under these circum- 

 stances at any rate it is be~t to confine the teaching to as many 

 subjects only as can be followed up to a point of efficiency and 

 have reference to future application. It is thus that the distinc- 

 tion between the German Gymnasium or Grammar School and 

 the Real Schule or Technical School has arisen, a distinction 

 which, though sancii jned to some extent in this country also by 

 the institution of the " modern side," I should much like to see 

 abolished. 



But I shall be told that it is impossible to teach everything 

 properly within the time, and shall be reminied of the proverb 

 that say.s, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." I, for 

 one, do not believe in this proverb, which 1 consider erroneous, 

 and mischievous in its application. Referring to myself as an 

 example, I am sorry to stale that I had not the advantage of 

 being taught Greek at school beyond the mere letters of the 

 alphabet — my early education having'indeed been irregular and 

 cut ^hort much too soon — which surely is the minimum of know- 

 ledge that could possibly be possessed of that language. Yet 

 even this amount of knowledge of Greek has stood me in 

 good stead, because it has enabled me at any rate to use 

 those letters in mathematical formulae, and on a push to 

 puzzle out some of those Greek names which are given to 

 .scientific in-truments. In this case, at least, exceedingly little 

 knowledge has proved no danger, but a considerable advantage 

 to me, and it would not be difficult to multiply example? to the 

 same effect. A little knowledge of a modern languige will be 

 best appreciUed by an English person who, speaking no lan- 

 guTge but his own, has occasion to go abroad. Arriving at his 

 destination he finds that he is unable to make the railway porter 

 understand what conveyance he intends to take, and where he 

 intends to go ; his perplexity will be still greater when, on 

 entering a restaurant, say at Paris, he is presented with a bill of 

 fare extending over several pages, from which to select his 

 dinner. In despair he points at random to some of the enume- 

 ration of dishe-;, and finds to his discomfiture that the one is 

 presented to him in the fomi of a pate of snaih, another as 

 a preparation of legs of frog-, and the third as water ice with 

 which to appease an app tite quite equal to roast beef, potatoe-, 

 and cheese. 



In physical science a little knowledge may be a matter of the 

 greatest importance to an artisan when he is called upon to set 

 a machine to work, and is stoppel by some such accidental 

 cause as the accumulation of air below a valve, or unequal 

 expansion due to a local som'ce of heat. The knowledge 

 of a few fundamental laws of physical science will at once 

 enable him to divine the cause of ditficuliy, which has only 

 to be recognised in order to be removed. I should there- 

 fore be di-p-)sed to reverse the proverb, and to say that " a 

 little knowledge is an excellent thing," only it must be understood 

 that this little is fundamental knowledge ; -that it is not the 

 knowledge of the conceited preten'ier who has committed to 

 memory a few scraps of information of a particular subject ; who 

 quotes a Greek author \\ ithout having learned as much of the 

 language as I have ; who speaks of planetary perturbations 

 without having a knov\ ledge of the fundamental law of gravi- 

 tation ; or who pretends to know all about steam-engines 

 without having the least knowledge of the laws of heat, of 

 elasticity, or of dynamics involved in their action. 



On the whole I am inclined to agree with Lord Brougham, 

 who, himself a great law yer and a lover of science, gave origin 

 to the pithy expression, " Try to know something about everj-- 

 thing, and ev^-rything about something." It would be hard, 

 indeed, to realise the latter portion of his saying, but it would 

 be difficult t > know even a good deal about something without 

 knowing at least something about a great many other things. 



The question of education becimes even more difficult when 

 we approach the condition of the artisan who needs to send his 

 IjDy into the mine or factory at the tender age of twelve years. 

 I am of opinion that fourteen years should be the minimum age 

 at which lads should be a Imitted into works, in order that they 

 may have had not less than four years of judicious training at 

 elementary or Board schools, where in addition to the purely 

 elementary subjects, at least so much of general history, easy 

 mathematics, and. natural science should be inculcated as to 

 implant, if possilile, the desire to acquire more of those subjects 

 in after life. School education, whether followed up to one point 

 or another, cin after alt do no more than lay a foundation and 

 implant, if possible, a desire in the mind of the student to 



folUw up the subjects taught in maturer years with the experi- 

 ence of life present to give a practical direction to his studies. 



In order to aid hiin in these endeavours, such bodies as the Mid- 

 land Institute must prove to be of great service, with its science 

 classes and lectures open to all who thirst after knowledge and 

 who want to understand mire particularly the scientific principles 

 involved in their occupaUons. Technical education such as this is 

 indeed indispensable if this country is to maintain the supremacy 

 won for it by men of exceptional genius, enterprise, and persever- 

 ance, but which without it can hardly be expected to withstand in 

 the 1 ing run the competition of foreign nations, with cheaper 

 labour and a higher standard of general education in their favour. 

 '1 he English system of technical education has this advantage over 

 the sy^-tem e-tabli-hed elsewhere, (hat it is not governmental but 

 essentially spontaneous and self-supporting, and will therefore 

 .shape it-elf int j the mould best suited to the free and vigorous 

 development of trade itself. 



The system of pupilla je or apprenticeship will still be necessary, 

 but instead of involving the sacrifice of seven of the most important 

 years of a young man's life, half that time, or say three years, 

 will be found amply sufficient to give to the lad imbued with first 

 principles the practical knowledge necessary for his trade. The 

 employer would be amply compensated for the shorter time of 

 gratuitous service by a corresponding improvement in its quality. 

 He should be expected to see to it that during the term of his 

 authority the pupil attended Saturday and evening classes, where, 

 in addition to general subjects, the principles underlying the 

 operations of his business of spinning, dyeing, paper-making, 

 or metal-working are taught by competent persons. 



It is important that the teacher himself should not be a mere 

 specialist, but a man ca. able of generalising and of calling to his 

 aid other branches of science and general knowledge, tliat he 

 should be, in short, a well-educated person. It is difficult, I 

 bebeve, as yet to find a .sufficient number of teachers equal to 

 such a stand.ard, and in order to supply this deficiency normal 

 schools will have to be established upon a much larger scale than 

 has hitherto been the case. It is satisfactory to learn that South 

 Kensington is coming to the rescue in converting its science 

 teaching into a normal school for the eJucalion of science 

 teachers ; only it is to be hoped that literary subjects will be 

 added to their curriculum. 



The importance of a higher education of the working classes 

 will be appreciated by all who have watched the rapid strides 

 with which one branch of industry after another undergoes fun- 

 damentil change, by which the mere craft-skill acquired yester- 

 day becomes obsole'e to-day, when a new process, involving 

 entirely new modes of operation, takes the place of a previous 

 one. Nor is there any promise of stability in the process of 

 to-day, which may be again superseded to-morrow by something 

 more nearly approaching ultimate perfection. 



To th ise who still have some confidence in the stability of 

 things as they exist in arts and manufactures, I would strongly 

 recom nend a trip to Paris, where they will still be in time to 

 visit the In'ernational Exhibition of Electricity. That form of 

 energy known as the electric current was nothing more than the 

 philosopher's delight forty years ago. Its first practical applica- 

 tion may be traced to this good town of Birmingham, where Mr. 

 George Elkington, utilising the discoveries of Davy, Faraday, 

 and Jacnbi, had established a practical process of electroplating 

 in 1S42. 



It affords me great satisfaction to be able to state that I had 

 something to do with that first practical application of electricity ; 

 for in March of the following year, 1S43, I presented myself 

 before Mr. Elkington with an improvement on his processes, 

 which he adopted, and in so doing gave me my first start in 

 practical life. Considering the moral lesson involved, it may 

 interest you, perhaps, if I divert for a few minutes from my sub- 

 ject in order to relate a personal incident connected with this my 

 first appearance amongst you. 



When the electrotype process first became known, it excited a 

 very general interest, and although I was only a young student 

 of Gdttingen under twenty years of age, who h.ad just entered 

 upon his practical career with a mechanical engineer, I joined 

 my brother Werner Siemens, then a young lieutenant of artillery 

 in the Prussian service, in his endeavours to accomplish electro- 

 gilding, the first impulse in this direction having been given by 

 Prof. C. Himly, then of Gb'tingen. After attaining some 

 promising results, a spirit of enterprise came over me so strong 

 that I tore myself away from the nan'ow circumstances sur- 

 rounding me, and landed at the East End of London with only 



