200 REPORT— 1869. 



any remained, would be free for physiology. The author recommended that every 

 school professing lo teach science systematically should have a museum ; in the 

 playground there should be a botanic garden. 



MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 



Address hy C. "NVilliaji Siemens, F.li.S., President of the Section. 



In addressing you from this Chair, I feel that I have accepted a task which, how- 

 ever liatteriug, I should have hesitated to undertake, had I not every reason to 

 rely on j^our forbearance, and upon the friendly support of those senior members 

 of our profession who by their attendance at these annual gatherings give weight 

 and importance to our proceedings. I also greatly depend on the cooperation of 

 those Members of the British Association who, although devoted chiefly to the 

 cultivation of pure science, are nevertheless e^'er ready to assist us in our endea- 

 vours to apply that science to practical ends. 



It is by submitting such subjects as -^^-ill be brought before us to the double 

 touchstone of science and of practical experience that we shall be able to appre- 

 ciate real merit, and at the same time assist the authors of the several papers, b)' a 

 confirmation or rectification of their views; thus redeeming our proceedings from 

 the adherent disadvantage of lack of time to give that fall and patient attention 

 which the authors might meet with in bringing their subjects before the purely 

 professional Institutions of Civil Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, or Naval 

 Architects. 



In prefacing our proceedings with a few remarks on the leading subjects of the 

 day of special interest to om- section, I can scarcely pass over the popular question 

 of technical education. 



The Great International Exhibitions proved that, although England still holds 

 her ground as the leading manufacturing country-, the nations of the Continent have 

 made great strides to dispute her preeminence in several branches, a result which 

 is generally ascribed to their superior system of technical education. Those desi- 

 rous of obtaining a clear insight into that system, and the vast scale upon which it 

 is being carried out under Government supervision, cannot do better than read 

 Mr. John Scott Iiussell's very able volume on this subject : they will no doubt 

 agree with the author in the necessity of energetic steps being taken in this country 

 to promote the work of universal education, although I for one think that objection 

 may fiiirly be made against the plan of merely imitating the example of our 

 neighbours. 



The pol3'technic schools of the Continent, not satisfied to impart to the technical 

 student a good know ledge of mathematics and of natural sciences, pretend also to 

 superadd the practical information necessar}^ to constitute them engineers or manu- 

 facturers. 



This practical information is conveyed to them by professors lacking themselves 

 practical experience, and tends to engender in the students a dogmatical conceit 

 which is likely to stand in the way of originnlity in the adaptation of new means 

 to new ends in their future career. On this account I should prefer to see a sound 

 " fundamental " education, comprising mathematics, dynamics, chemistn-, geology, 

 and physical science, with a sketch onh' of the technical arts, followed up by 

 professional training such as can only be obtained in the workshop, the office, or 

 the field. 



The universal interest evinced throughout the country in the work of education 

 by parliamentary inquiries, by the erection of colleges and professorships, and by 

 the munificence of a leading member of our Section in endowing a hundred scholar- 

 ships, are proofs that England intends to hold her place also in this question of 

 education amongst the civilized nations ; and I am confident that she will accom- 

 plish this object in a manner in unison with her practical tendencies and indepen- 

 dence of character. 



