September 12, 1912] 



NATURE 



00 



to develop this notion so that he can use the methods 

 of the calculus in his reasoning and computation. 

 The subject was first recognised by the Science and 

 Art Department in 1899 ; the number of students has 

 increased year by year by the compound interest law, 

 and it is now the most important science subject of 

 the Board of Education. 



When I was appointed professor of mathematics and 

 mechanics, seventeen years ago, at the Royal College 

 of Science, it was known that I would adopt that 

 experimental method of teaching mechanics and ap- 

 plied mechanics and engineering science with which 

 mv name had become identified at the Finsbury Col- 

 lege of the Citv Guilds. It is the method now in 

 use in nearlv all polytechnics and engineering colleges. 

 It went hand in hand with the practical mathematics 

 which it was also understood that I should establish 

 at Kensington. Mv books describing these methods 

 have been translated into many languages, and the 

 methods have been largely adopted in America, Ger- 

 many, and other foreign countries. Much of my time 

 has been spent in showing foreign visitors how my 

 methods of teaching were carried out in practice. 



I feel sure that few of the men listening to Sir W'm. 

 White, even of the foreigners, were ignorant of these 

 facts. It is known that the most elementary class 

 at the college, attendance at which is compulsory 

 on all students of the Royal School of Mines and the 

 chemical and other students, was taught on the lines 

 laid down for all evening classes in practical mathe- 

 matics, the work being made interesting for the 

 average student, and including the elementary 

 methods of the calculus. Not only here, but in the 

 very highest mathematical work of the college, a com- 

 petent person will see that the study is exceedingly 

 different from what used to be the study of the mere 

 mathematician on the same subjects. All our sylla- 

 buses and methods of teaching hav'e been highly 

 praised by most eminent judges, like the late Lord 

 Kelvin, and they are now in no way different from 

 what thev were seventeen years ago. 



According to the report in The Times. Sir 

 Wm. White said that in the teaching of engineer- 

 ing students, some authorities now favoured 

 special courses in practical mathematics ; others be- 

 lieved that engineers should be taught by professional 

 mathematicians because this method must lead to 

 broader views and greater capacity for original inves- 

 tigation. His experience led him to rank himself with 

 the supporters of the latter, and he said that this 

 view is now adopted at the Imperial College of Science 

 and Technology. 



I know that Sir William contemplates great changes 

 at the Imperial College, and no doubt great changes 

 will rapidly take place, as I have been asked to retire, 

 and Prof. Henrici has already retired. An attempt 

 will, no doubt, be made to give up those methods to 

 which I gave the misleading name practical mathe- 

 matics, and in all probability the places of Prof. 

 Henrici and myself will be taken by more orthodox 

 persons. It is also probable that a "professional 

 mathematician " will be put in charge of the teach- 

 ing of mechanics. As I am still on the staff of the 

 college I do not think that I can criticise the actions 

 of the governing body. It is, however, my duty to 

 deny a hurtful statement about my own department, 

 and to oppose what I consider to be a wrong opinion, 

 expressed at a public meeting by one of the forty 

 members of the governing body. 



I wish to observe that no change has vet been made. 

 The syllabus and methods of teaching are exactly as 

 they have been for seventeen 3'ears, and when .Sir 

 ^A'illiam savs that his view is now adopted at the 

 Imperial College he really means that he himself has 

 adopted this view. 



NO. 2237, VOL. go] 



This is a most important matter. Sir William 

 White's remarks may influence the action of the 

 governing bodies of the other engineering colleges of 

 the country. In England, if a man is a great lawyer 

 it is assumed that his views about Tibet must be 

 right ; if he is a great chemist it is held that his views 

 about women's suffrage must not be disputed; and 

 if he is a great designer of ships it is assumed that 

 he is an authority on technical education. 



It used to be that colleges were governed by a 

 council of the professors, but now the opinions of 

 the professors are of no account, and the staff dare 

 not even suggest to the governors that it is possible 

 for honest, sensible, diligent, self-sacrificing shop- 

 keepers, merchants, and manufacturers to be so mis- 

 led that they may ruin technical education for the 

 next ten years. Such ruin will only be temporary, 

 it is true, but when I think of our competition with 

 the foreigner I look with great dismay on the pos- 

 sibility tiiat Sir William White's opinions may have 

 too niuch weight with the persons who have charge 

 of technical education. 



The old engineering college did not compel its 

 students to have more than the most elementary 

 mathematical knowledge, because only civil engineer- 

 ing was taught, and the average civil engineer needs 

 no mathematics. When mechanical engineering and 

 shipbuilding students began to be taught, the mathe- 

 matics standard was only slightly raised. But modern 

 high-speed machinery has made it necessary for 

 mechanical engineers to understand the effects oi 

 vibration, critical speeds of shafts, &c., and to pursue 

 numerous studies which require a knowledge of higher 

 mathematics even in the average student. And 

 nowadays we have the electrical engineer requiring 

 a knowledge of the methods of very advanced mathe- 

 matics. Sir \\'m. White thinks of the requirements 

 of the civil engineer or shipbuilder of his youth ; we 

 teachers have to think of the requirements of the 

 student of to-dav. Now I affirm that the average 

 student cannot be taught this necessary advanced 

 work unless bv the reformed methods. He cannot 

 be carried bevond the most elementary things, and 

 these he does not understand. 



I have now expressed my opinion in regard to Sir 

 William's remark about practical mathematics. In 

 weighing our opinions it must be remembered that 

 Sir William's practical experience as an engineer has 

 been in naval architecture only, and as a teacher it 

 lay also in naval architecture only, and a considerable 

 time ago. 



Sir William savs that all the mathematical teachmg 

 of engineers should be by what he calls professional 

 mathematicians, and he evidently means by this that 

 these teachers shall not be engineers or men acquainted 

 with engineering science. He means that they shall 

 be mere mathematicians. Well, this has been tried 

 often enough, and it has always been found that the 

 one or two good students take a distaste to practical 

 engineering, and the average student is never brought 

 beyond the driest elementary work, and he hates the 

 appearance of a mathematical symbol all his life 

 after. The average student cannot understand 

 abstract reasoning ; his teacher has no knowledge of 

 him, and pursues his serenely ignorant wav, wonder- 

 ing how it is that so many students are stupid, or else 

 he wonders that he and 'a few other men should be 

 so supremely clever. He never studies his pupil. 

 There are men who can train almost any animal ; they 

 study its habits of thought; thev are kind and sym- 

 pathetic. The poor average English boy is never 

 studied bv the professional mathematician. 



John Pf.rry. 

 Imperial College of Science and Technology, 

 September 2. 



