October 26, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



633 



encourage the boys to carry them out at 

 home, and afterwards he himself would 

 examine the substances they had made. 



From this small beginning the teaching 

 of chemistry in the City of London School 

 rapidly developed, and this school now pos- 

 sesses laboratories which compare favorably 

 with those of any school in the country. 



The Manchester Grammar School appears 

 to have been one of the first to teach prac- 

 tical chemistry. In connection with this 

 school a small laboratory was built in 1868 : 

 this was replaced by a larger one in 1872, 

 and the present large laboratories, under 

 the charge of Mr. Francis Jones were 

 opened in 1880. 



Dr. Marshall Watts, v^ho was the first 

 science master in this school, taught prac- 

 tical chemistry along with the theoretical 

 work from the commencement in 1868. 



As laboratories were gradually multiplied 

 it might be supposed that boys were given 

 the opportunity to carry out experiments 

 which had a close connection with their 

 lecture-room courses. But the program 

 of laboratory work which became all but 

 universal was the preparation of a few gases, 

 followed by the practice of qualitative anal- 

 ysis. The course adopted seems to have 

 been largely built up on the best books of 

 practical chemistry in use in the colleges at 

 that time ; but it was also, no doubt, largely 

 influenced by the requirements of the syl- 

 labus of the Science and Art Department, 

 which contained a scheme for teaching 

 practical chemistry.* Even down to quite 

 recent times it was in many schools still not 

 considered essential that Loj's should have 

 practical instruction in connection with 

 lectures in chemistry. 



A Eeport issued in 1897 by a special 



* I find, on inquiry, that examinations in the Ad- 

 vanced Stage and Honors of Practical Chemistry were 

 first held by the Science and Art Department in 1878, 

 the practical examination being extended to the Ele- 

 mentary Stage in 1882. 



Committee appointed by the Technical Edn" 

 cation Board of the London County Coun- 

 cil adduces evidence of this from twenty- 

 five secondary schools in London, in which 

 there were 3,960 boys learning chemistry. 

 Of these 1,698 boys, or 34 per cent., did no 

 practical work whatever ; 955 boys, or 24 

 per cent., did practical work, consisting of 

 a certain amount of preparation of gases, 

 together with qualitative analysis ; but of 

 these latter 743, or 77 per cent., had not 

 reached the study of the metals in their 

 theoretical work, so that their testing work 

 can have been of little educational value. 

 It was also found that in the case of 655, 

 or 68 per cent, of the total number of boys 

 taking practical work, the first introduction 

 to practical chemistry was through quali- 

 tative analysis. 



But some years before this Eeport was 

 issued a movement had begun which was 

 destined to have far-reaching eifect. A 

 Report 'on the best means for promoting 

 scientific education in schools ' having 

 been presented to the Dundee Meeting of 

 this Association in 1867, and published in 

 1868, a Committee of the British Associa- 

 tion was appointed in 1887; ' for the purpose 

 of inquiring and reporting upon the pi'esent 

 methods of teaching chemistry.' The well- 

 known Report which this Committee pre- 

 sented to the Newcastle meeting in 1889 

 insisted that it was worth while to teach 

 chemistry in schools, not so much for the 

 usefulness of the information imparted 

 as for the special mental discipline it af- 

 forded if the scientific method of investiga- 

 ting nature were employed. It was argued 

 that ' learners should be put in the attitude 

 of discoverers, and led to make observations, 

 experiments, and inferences for themselves.' 

 And since there can be little progress 

 without measurement, it was pointed out 

 that the experimental work would neces- 

 sariljr be largely of a quantitative char- 

 acter. 



