NATURE 



41 



THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1873 



EXAMINATIONS IN TECHNOLOGY 



NO subject has been more talked about of late 

 years than Technical Education. No term has 

 been more vaguely or indefinitely used than this, even in 

 education, that region of loose definition ; yet it cannot be 

 doubted that at the present time no subject is of more 

 vital importance to this country, to enable it to maintain 

 its manufacturing position, than a general diffusion of 

 sound technical knowledge — a knowledge, that is, which 

 rests on a thorough apprehension of the scientific prin- 

 ciples which lie at the root of the various arts and manu- 

 facturing processe?. 



Bacon, in the first of his " General Aphorisms for In- 

 terpreting Nature and Extending the Empire of Man 

 over Creation," says : — " Man, who is the servant and 

 interpreter of Nature, can act and understand no further 

 than he has, either in operation or in contemplation, 

 observed of the method and order of Nature." And he 

 proceeds, "neither the hand without instruments, nor the 

 unassisted understanding, can do much ; they both require 

 helps, the understanding no less than the hand, to fit them 



for business The knowledge and power of man are 



coincident ; for whilst ignorant of causes he can produce 

 no effects, nor is Nature to be conquered but by submission. 

 And that which in speculation stands for the cause, is 

 what in practice stands for the rule." The men of science 

 of our day are not open to Bacon's rebuke to the mathe- 

 matician, the physician, and the chemist of his day, that 

 they were concerned in the works of Nature, but all of 

 them superficially and to little purpose. Day by day sees 

 them conquering Nature by submission. Are the thousands 

 engaged in our manufacturing industries capable of taking 

 advantage of their conquests ? How painfully true with re- 

 spect to them still are his words, written some 250 years 

 ago, '' The works hitherto discovered are owing rather to 

 accident and trial thm to the sciences." 



Playfair remarks on this, "One of the considerations 

 which appear to have impressed Bacon's mind most 

 forcibly was the vagueness and uncertainty of all the 

 physical speculations existing in his time, and the 

 entire want of connection between the Sciences and the 

 Arts." The vagueness and uncertainty of physical specu- 

 lation is rapidly clearing away. Is the connection be- 

 tween the Sciences and the Arts as rapidly being 

 cemented ? We fear not. The world has become imbued 

 with the truth of Bacon's saying, that "in works men can 

 do no more than put natural bodies together and take 

 them asunder; all the rest is performed by the internal 

 operations of Nature." But how little is the order of 

 Nature which should regulate this putting together and 

 taking asunder understood in our workshops ! How much 

 is trusted to trial and error ! How little is the store of 

 knowledge accumulated by our men of science drawn 

 upon 1 How great is the waste of our resources I 



We therefore hail with satisfaction a scheme of techno- 

 logical examinations proposed by Captain Donnelly, R.E., 

 which the Society of Arts has adopted on the recommen- 



dation of an able committee of scientific and professional 

 men to whom it was referred, and which it appears, from 

 a paper lately issued, the Society intends to carry out if 

 the requisite support be forthcoming. 



The proposal of Captain Donnelly is briefly that 

 every year the Society of Arts should arrange for the 

 examination in the science and technology of certain arts 

 and manufactures. A committee qualified to advise on 

 the subject is to prepare a syllabus of the examination 

 in each branch of industry. It is an instruction to them 

 " that it is essential that the candidate should possess, on 

 the one hand, such an elementary knowledge, at least of 

 science, as will prove that he understands the scientific 

 principles of which his art is an application ; and, on the 

 other hand, such a knowledge of the application of those 

 principles in his trade, as will show that he is practically 

 conversant with the various processes and manipulations 

 of the factory or workshop. The theoretical knowledge 

 must not be a mere 'cram' of empirical dicta, nor the 

 practical knowledge a mere committal to memory of de- 

 scriptions of manufactures picked up from text-books." 

 This instruction shows that the technology which it is 

 proposed to cultivate by means of these examinations is 

 thoroughly sound. 



The requirements from a candidate fall naturally under 

 three heads. We have first those branches of abstract 

 science which are involved in the special industry under 

 consideration ; secondly, the special applications of those 

 abstract or general sciences to that industry ; and lastly, 

 a practical knowledge of the machinery, processes, and 

 manipulation. 



The examinations of the Science and Art Department, 

 which are now held pretty generally in all parts of the 

 kingdom, and which can be extended to any place which 

 desires to avail ilself of them, by the simple process of 

 forming a local committee of superintendence, provide 

 the ready means of testing the candidates' knowledge of 

 any branches of general science. It is only necessary 

 then to determine what branches of science are the foun- 

 dation of the technology of any industry, and to specify 

 the examination which the candidate shall pass for each 

 grade of certificate. The Society of Arts, working in con- 

 cert with the Science and Art Department, proposes to 

 avail Itself therefore of these examinations to determine 

 the candidate's knowledge of pure science. 



As respects the technology or special applications of 

 general science, the committee will prepare a syllabus 

 for each industry. And the examination in these 

 matters will also be conducted by means of the local 

 committees after the general science examinations, the 

 papers of ciuestions being prepared by special exa- 

 miners, to whom the answers will be submitted- Finally, 

 the candidate's practical knowledge will be ascertained 

 by a return of his employment in the factory or work- 

 shop, giving his rate of wages, &c., certified by his 

 employer, somewhat in the form of the return required 

 from candidates for Whitworth Scholarships. No more 

 reliable criterion of a candidate's practical knowledge 

 could be afforded than this. It is in the workshop, and 

 in the workshop alone, that a true practical education 

 can be obtained. It is a great advantage that this scheme 

 wholly avoids running counter to the just susceptibilities 

 of our manufacturers on this cardinal doctrine, and pro- 



