NATURE 
42te 

THURSDAY, MARCH 39, 1871 


FIRST REPORT OF THE ROVAL COMMISSION 
ON SCIENTIFIC INSTRUCTION AND THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 
TO THE QUEEN’S Most EXCELLENT MAJESTY. 
May it please your Majesty — 
E, the Commissioners appointed by Your Majesty 
to make Inquiry with regard to Scientific Instruc- 
tion and the Advancement of Science, humbly beg leave 
to present to Your Majesty the following First Report :— 
1. We have heard the evidence of witnesses in reference 
to the following subjects, forming part of our inquiry, viz., 
the Royal School of Mines, the Geological Survey of 
Great Britain and Ireland, the Mining Record Office, and 
the Museum of Practical Geology, at present located in 
Jermyn Street ; and also concerning the Royal College of 
Chemistry, at present lodged in a building in Oxford 
Street ; which institutions are under one head, entitled 
Director-General of the Geological Survey of Great 
Britain and Ireland and Director of the Royal School of 
Mines. : 
2. There is no necessary connection between the direc- 
tion of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and Ireland 
and the government of the Royal School of Mines. 
3. The Royal School of Mines and the Royal College 
of Chemistry, which practically constitute one School of 
Pure and Applied Science, are not organised in such a 
manner as to enable them to perform efficiently the work 
for which they were originally, or are, at present, intended. 
We base this conclusion upon three grounds, (a) The 
absence of a chair of Mathematics, (4) The absence of 
Physical or Biological Laboratories in which students can 
receive practical instruction, (c) the insufficiency of 
accommodation in the Royal College of Chemistry. 
4. The officers of the Geological Survey are greatly 
hindered in their work by want of accommodation ; for 
although their number has been quintupled during the 
last twenty years, the space originally allotted to them has 
not been increased. 
5. The space allotted to the Mining Record Office is 
already insufficient for the proper reception and arrange- 
ment of the valuable series of documents accumulated 
there ; and for the accommodation of the public who 
desire to consult them. 
6. The collections in the Museum of Practical Geology 
require greater space for their proper display than is at 
present afforded. 
7. In order to provide a remedy for the inconveniences 
which have been enumerated, we recommend: (a) That 
the building in Jermyn Street be given up to the Survey 
and to the Museum, with the reservation that the Lectures 
to Working Men be delivered as heretofore in the Theatre ; 
(6) That the building in Oxford Street be vacated by the 
Royal College of Chemistry ; and (c) That the Mining 
Record Office be lodged with the Statistical Department 
of the Board of Trade ; or, failing accommodation there, 
in the building now occupied by the Royal College of 
Chemistry. 
8. Without expressing any opinion, at present, as to the 
policy of Government Schools of Science, your Commis- 
VOL. III. 
sioners, having to deal with the Royal School of Mines 
and the Royal College of Chemistry as Institutions which 
have existed for 20 years, and which, during that period, 
have turned out a large number of well-instructed Students, 
consider that such steps should be taken as may be neces- 
sary to render their Teaching thoroughly efficient. 
g. With this object we recommend that the two Insti- 
tutions be consolidated ; that Mathematics be added to 
the Courses of Instruction now given ; and that sufficient 
Laboratories and Assistance for giving Practical Instruc- 
tion in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, be provided. 
10. The Institution thus formed (hereinafter called the 
“Science School”) may be conveniently and efficiently 
governed by a Council of Professors, one of that body 
acting as Dean. 
11. We have further heard evidence concerning the 
Buildings at South Kensington, now nearly completed, and 
intended for the reception of a projected School of Naval 
Architecture and Science ; and we recommend that the 
Science School should be accommodated in these build- 
ings. We have given careful attention to the considera- 
tions in favour of the retention in Jermyn Street of the 
Technical Instruction in certain branches, but we are of 
opinion that these considerations are outweighed by the 
great advantages to be derived from concentration. 
12. We have further heard evidence concerning the 
Royal School of Naval Architecture and Marine En- 
gineering, now conducted at South Kensington ; and we 
recommend that the theoretical instruction of that school 
should in future be given in the Science School, the 
general instruction in Mathematics, Physical Science, and 
Mechanical Drawing thus becoming common to both 
schools. We also recommend that no additional buildings, 
and no reconstruction of the temporary buildings at 
present occupied by the Royal School of Naval Archi- 
tecture and Marine Engineering, should be undertaken, 
until a further Report has been received from this Com- 
mission. 
13. We have further heard evidence concerning the 
system of teaching Elemementary Science under the 
Science and Art Department ; and we are of opinion that 
the quality of the Instruction given under this Depart- 
ment would be greatly improved if the teachers received 
Practical Instruction in Elementary Science. Such in- 
struction has, indeed, already been given with marked 
advantage, although only to a limited extent. The Science 
School will be available for the instruction of many 
Science Teachers throughout the country ; but we reserve 
for a Further Report any expression of opinion as to the 
precise character of such Instruction, and as to the con- 
ditions under which it shall be accessible. 
14. The organisation of, and accommodation required 
by, the Science School (including its Technical Branches) 
and the Royal School of Naval Architecture, will be dealt 
with in detail in a further Report. 
All which we humbly submit for Your Majesty’s gracious 
consideration. 
(Signed) DEVONSHIRE 
LANSDOWNE, JOHN LUBBOCK, J. P. KAY SHUTTLE- 
WORTH, B. SAMUELSON, W. SHARPEY, THOMAS H, 
Hux LEY, G. G. STOKES, HENRY J. S. SMITH, 
J. NoRMAN LOCKYER, Secretary 
March 9, 1871 
