NATURE 



241 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1875 



THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY ON 

 SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION 



THE scientific world is much indebted to the Marquis 

 of Salisbury for the clear and powerful speech on 

 the value of scientific education which he delivered in 

 Manchester on Friday last. It is a satisfactory sign of 

 the times when a statesman of his position and intel- 

 lectual standing acknowledges the claims of science to a 

 place in the higher education of the country equal to that 

 of the older studies. Whilst adverting to the great 

 strides which had been made respecting the elementary 

 education of the country, Lord Salisbury does not forget 

 that " the true key to the education of the lower classes is 

 a love of knowledge on the part of the classes that are 

 above them ;" and he goes on to point out that in the dis- 

 trict in which he was speaking, the secondary, and espe- 

 cially adult education, was well provided for. He passed 

 a well-deserved encomium on the Owens College. Al- 

 though the general instruction of the adult population by 

 means of evening classes does not form the primary work 

 of a College such as Owens, yet, placed as it is in the 

 midst of a dense and busy population, it has found that 

 there is much good work to be done in this direction. 



In this service there can be no rivalry between Owens 

 College and other institutions of a similar character ; 

 each has its own sphere, and, indeed, the truth is that 

 if in large cities evening classes are to be of essential 

 service, they must not be confined to one institution. For 

 not only must the focus of instruction be near the men who 

 are wearied with a hard day's work, but a different style 

 of tuition naturally grows up in the various centres ; one 

 may, by natural selection, adopt one branch, and another 

 another. Such a course is indeed the healthy develop- 

 ment of a living organism which suits its growth to the 

 conditions of its environment ; and whilst it strengthens 

 itself by so doing, it affords at the same time grateful 

 sustenance and solace to those dwelling under its shadow. 

 One of the great problems of the age, upon the successful 

 solution of which much of our social and material pros- 

 perity depends, is indicated by the Marquis when he 

 tells us that the truths of science should permeate the 

 whole mass of the people. Evening classes such as we 

 have referred to form one of the modes by which this 

 may be accomplished. Another means of awakening 

 the scientific interest of the people is by a widespread 

 series of thoroughly trustworthy popular science lectures. 

 Manchester has for some years taken a prominent posi- 

 tion in this latter respect, and has been followed in this 

 direction by the Gilchrist Trustees, who have established 

 similar courses in the metropolis ; whilst Liverpool, 

 Glasgow, and other towns have recently determined to 

 follow the same lead. The main object of such lectures 

 is to interest more than to instruct, and we require, be- 

 sides them, the general establishment of regular classes 

 in which the subjects are thoroughly taught. Such 

 classes are indeed established throughout the length and 

 breadth of the country, thanks to the operations of the 

 South Kensington Staff; and it is difficult to over-estimate 

 the value of the scientific haul which year by year this 

 Vol. XI. — No. 274 



network thrown from the metropolis gathers up. From 

 the satisfactory and rapid growth of this system of 

 science teaching, the time must necessarily arrive when 

 the central agency should not be confined to the metro- 

 polis alone, but should be supplemented by local centres, 

 each of which would probably be more conversant with 

 the special wants of its district than the metropolitan 

 institution could possibly be. 



Good as all such evening and adult science instruction 

 may be, its prosperity must depend on the existence and 

 healthy growth of a higher class of teaching, such as 

 that afforded by the various universities and colleges 

 throughout the country. It is their problem to teach the 

 teachers, and it is in the carrying out of this great task 

 that Governmental assistance is imperatively required. 

 By this assistance, however, we do not mean that insti- 

 tutions are to be at once artificially created ; such a thing 

 is just as impossible as to bring a full-grown man into the 

 world at once, without his passing through all the stages 

 of childhood. Each higher school will naturally select, 

 if properly fostered, its own special direction of develop- 

 ment, and it is absurd to suggest any operation by which 

 such a natural growth should be cut down, like a Dutch 

 garden, in order to improve its form. 



We have left untouched the question of the endowment 

 of research ; but it is obvious that to endow the unremu- 

 nerative manufacture of knowledge is more important 

 than to endow teaching which is always more or less 

 remunerative. 



SOUTH AMERICAN TRAVEL 

 Travels in South America, from the Pacific Ocean to tlie 

 Atlantic Ocean. By Paul Marcoy. Illustrated by 525 

 engravings and ten maps. Two vols, (London : Blackie 

 and Son, 1875.) 

 The Amazon and Madeira Rivers : Sketches ami Descrip- 

 tions from the Note-book of an Explorer. By Franz 

 Keller, Engineer. With sixty-eight illustrations on 

 wood. (London : Chapman and Hall, 1874.) 

 Two Years in Peru, with Exploration of its Antiquities, 

 By T. J. Hutchinson, M.A.I. With map and numerous 

 illustrations. Two vols. (London : Sampson Low, 1 8 73.) 



WE notice these three works together, because to 

 a considerable extent the first-mentioned em- 

 braces the ground gone over by the other two. Like 

 Mr. Hutchinson, M. Marcoy devotes considerable space 

 to the prehistoric anticjuities and native populations of 

 Peru, and, like Mr. Keller, the French traveller has much 

 to say on the hydrography of the Amazon, on its fauna 

 and flora, and on some of the numerous tribes that people 

 the region contained within its vast basin. Of the 

 three writers, M. Marcoy alone can be called a profes- 

 sional traveller, — at least, he appears as such in the 

 present narrative ; while Messrs. Keller and Hutchinson 

 only took advantage of their vocation calling them to 

 South America, to investigate what interested them in the 

 particular .regions which they visited. It is very gratifying 

 to find men who do not profess to devote their lives to the 

 advancement of scientific knowledge, so willing and com- 

 petent as this engineer and this consul are to add to its 

 sum. The number of such unprofessional — if we may so 

 call them — advancers of scientific knowledge has in recent 



