622 REPORT — 1888. 



together with the pre-existent Queen's Colleges in Ireland and the Universities of 

 more ancient foundation in the three kingdoms, are for the most part provided with 

 pretty good laboratories and a competent staff. We have also the Normal School 

 of Science and the Institute raised by the City and Guilds of London at South 

 Kensington, and its Associate College at Finsbury. England is therefore at the 

 present time as well provided with 2}l(ices of instruction for the study of chemistry 

 as any country in the world. 



And a very large proportion of the professors or heads of the chemical schools 

 in the colleges and universities of the United Kingdom have shown by their own 

 activity in research that they are qualified to give instruction of the highest kind, 

 and are ready to train young chemists in the art as well as in the theory of their 

 subject. 



It is therefore no longer true that a student desiring to become a scientific 

 chemist must needs choose between a single institution in London and another in 

 Manchester, or must seek the instruction which he cannot get at home in the 

 laboratory of a foreign university. As an element in a liberal education the 

 position of chemistry is also considerably in advance of what it was twenty years 



It is nevertheless true that increased opportunities for study, a considerable 

 supply of capable teachers, and an enormous body of students have not produced 

 such an amount of original investigation, or even of accurate analytical work, as 

 might reasonably be expected. A full and complete explanation of all the influences 

 which contribute to this result would be difficult ; but I think the apparent inactivity 

 of the chemical schools in this country is not generally the fault of the professors, 

 but is chargeable in the main to the ignorance, and partly to the indifference, of 

 the public. There exists as yet no intelligent feeling in favour of learning, nor indeed 

 in favour of any sort of education, unless there is expectation of direct returns in the 

 form of obvious practical results. It is this which animates the present popular 

 movement in favour of so-called ' technical ' education. That part of the attention 

 of the nation which can be spared from the contemplation of Irish affairs is con- 

 centrated upon the problem of how to make every little boy learn the rudiments 

 of chemistry, whether he likes it or not, whilst there are comparatively few people 

 interested in the question of how to provide means and instruction for those who 

 are capable and desirous of attaining to a mastery of the subject. Moreover, the 

 public have not yet grasped this truth, that, so far as chemistry is concerned, it is of 

 very little consequence to the great metallurgical and chemical industries whether 

 the workpeople do or do not know a little chemistry, though it is important that 

 they should be intelligent enough to obey orders. What is wanted is that every 

 manufacturer and manager should himself be an accomplished engineer and 

 chemist, trained to observe, to reason, and to solve problems for himself. 



In tlie case of chemistry this absence of sentiment in favour of concentration 

 and thoroughness, and the demand for superficiality, if only it can be had wholesale, 

 tells in a variety of ways. The governing bodies who control the various colleges 

 and universities, and the public generally, cannot understand that good and useful 

 work is being done unless it can be shown in the form of passes at examinations. 

 Tbouo^h I most firmly believe in the necessity for examinations, serious mischief 

 begins when they are regarded as the end itself, and not as mere incidents in the 

 student's career towards the end, which should be knowledge. 



In respect to chemistry this is the disadvantage which attends the operation of 

 such a system as that of the Science and Art Department or of any system under 

 which certificates in connection with individual subjects are granted on easy terms. 

 Especial objection I also feel to such expressions as ' advanced,' used in reference 

 to a particular stage, so commonly misunderstood as they are by the student and 

 his friends, and operating against his further progress. 



Reflect also upon the fact that there are only two or three colleges in this 

 country which can boast of more than one professor of chemistry. In nearly all 

 cases one man is called upon to discharge the duty of teaching classes both 

 elementary and advanced, in pure and applied chemistry, inorganic and organic, 

 theoretical and practical. This is a kind of thing which kills specialism, and 



