TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 237 



the laws of lieat and the steam-engine. The student wlio has once grasped the fact 

 tliat there is a real connexion between practice and theory will seldom be at a los s 

 how to find or search for that connexion in after life. The student thus prepared 

 knows what he has to learn from practice, and need not lose precious tune in blun- 

 dering over the numberless scientific problems which practice is sure to suggest but 

 can ne-ver solve. The education of the architect, the practical chemist, the manu- 

 facturer, and the merchant must be similar, mutatis midandis, with that of the en- 

 gineer. Assuming then that the education of those who are to follow more or less 

 scientific pursuits must consist in acquiring, first, that theoretical knowledge which 

 practice cannot give, and, secondly, the practical knowledge which schools should 

 not attempt to give, there remains the question whether the theoretical preparation 

 shoidd be given in special colleges or universities such as our own. I have no hesi- 

 tation in preferring the university. Mathematics, physics, chemistry, geology, 

 botany, languages, all form elements required in various combinations in the educa- 

 tion of all our students. There is but one kind of mathematics, one kind of pure 

 physics, and so forth. Surely it is better that we should teach the men belonging 

 to different professions side by side, so long as the matter taught is to be the same. 

 There are many dangers in an opposite course. There are not a sufficient number 

 of competent teachers to allow of much difl'erentiation. Segregation at an early 

 age is apt to foster professional peculiarities and narrow-mindedness. There is great 

 danger, if physics are to be taught specially to engineers, that a special kind of 

 physics, erroneously supposed to be specially useful to them, wiU be invented. 

 Lastly, the contact of students and professors of one faculty Avith the students and 

 professors of other faculties is very beneficial to all. Do not, therefore, cripple old 

 universities by withdra-ndng fi-om them a portion of their students and their pro- 

 fessors, to set up special professional or technical colleges of a novel kind, but rather 

 add by degrees to the power and usefulness of old institutions, and found new col- 

 leges and universities after the model of those which are found to have done good 

 work. As an example of what may be safely done, I consider that in Edinburgh 

 we require a chair of architecture and lectm-eships on navigation and on telegraphy. 

 There is, further, much want of a teacher of mechanical drawing. _ The professors 

 of physics and chemistry require additional accommodation for practical laboratories, 

 and additional assistance. If these additions were made our college would, in mj'- 

 opinion, meet all the requirements for superior technical education in this part of 

 Scotland. For £2000 per annum all these additions might be made. Notwith- 

 standing the acknowledged importance of education, establishments for giving the 

 higher kinds of instruction are never self-supporting, and students must everywhere 

 be bribed to come and learn. Immediate prizes, in the form of bursaries, scholar- 

 ships, and fellowships, are required to induce men to cultivate the older fields of 

 learning ; and similar bribes are needed to promote the tillage of the more recently 

 colonized domains of apphed science. The Whitworth scholarships are a noble 

 example of munificence thus directed, although, in my opinion, the examination 

 requires considerable reform. I hope that further benefits of this kind will be con- 

 ferred on those colleges which give efficient teaching. Local ambition is most ef- 

 fectuallv stirred by local prizes ; and I regret to find a certain apathy among 

 students here with respect to the Whitworth competition. This appears to arise 

 partly from dissatisfaction with the mode of examination, and partly from the fact 

 that the examiners are men not well known in Scotland. Leaving the question of 

 technical training for the upper classes, and the still larger question of scientific 

 teaching in second-grade schools, the consideration of which woidd lead us too far 

 a-field, T propose to say a few words on the technical education of the skilled arti- 

 san. This we must treat on the same principles as have been applied to professional 

 teaching. We must endeavour to prepare the lad in school by teaching him those 

 things which he cannot learn in workshops, but which will enable him to woric with 

 greater intelligence while acquiring and applying his practical knowledge. I shall 

 not now speak of that general education which should make him a good man, and 

 which should open to him those gi'eat sources of rational enjoyment arising from 

 culture ; I will restrict myself entirely to his preparation for becoming an efficient 

 workman. I have in many places said, and I cannot say too often, that the great 

 want of the workman is a knowledge of mechanical drawing. Unfortunately I can 



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