578 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. Xo. 402. 



efforts in the cause of scientific instruction. 

 I shall not attempt to do more than show 

 that whatever its defect may have been in 

 tact, whatever its shortcomings in method, 

 that department still deserved well of the 

 country for the work that it did in regard 

 to the fostering of scientific instruction in 

 the country at large. 



As far back as 1852 the government of 

 the day, influenced very largely by the 

 Prince Consort, realized that it had an 

 educational duty to perform to the indus- 

 trial classes. Whether it was influenced 

 by philanthropic motives or from the evi- 

 dence befoi'e it that if Great Britain was to 

 maintain its commercial and industrial 

 supremacy scientific instruction was a ne- 

 cessity, it matters little. The fact remains 

 that it determined that the industrial 

 classes should have an opportunity of ac- 

 quiring that particular kind of knowledge 

 which would be of service to them as crafts- 

 men. In this year 1852 the Speech from 

 the Throne contained these words: "The 

 advancement of fine arts and practical sci- 

 ence will be readily recognized by you as 

 worthy of a great and enlightened nation. 

 I have directed that a comprehensive 

 scheme shall be laid before you, having in 

 view the promotion of those objects to- 

 wards which I invite your aid and coopera- 

 tion. ' ' 



It is somewhat remarkable that the then 

 ministry, of which Lord Derby was the 

 chief and Mr. Disraeli the chancellor 

 of the exchequer, did not survive to 

 promulgate the scheme, which proposed 

 theoretical rather than practical science, 

 but that their successors, under Lord Aber- 

 deen, issued it and commenced to carry it 

 into effect. In 1853 the Department of 

 Science and Art was established under the 

 direction of Mr. Cole. Since 1835 so- 

 called schools of design had been in being. 

 These came under the new department, 

 and it was determined to establish science 



classes for instruction in science. Dr. Lyon 

 Playfair, the well-known chemist, being 

 charged with the duty. Playfair resigned 

 in 1858, and in 1859 Mr. Cole induced a 

 young engineer officer, Lieut. Donnelly, to 

 undertake the inspection and organization 

 of science instruction throughout the coun- 

 try. It was through this officer's untiring 

 energy and zeal that the classes in science 

 flourished and were added to at this early 

 stage of the new department's history. 

 The same energy was displayed by Don- 

 nelly during the whole of his long career 

 in the service of the state, and I feel that 

 -it was fortunate for myself to have served 

 so many years as I did under one to whom 

 the country at large owes a deep debt of 

 gratitude. 



Not long ago he passed away from us, 

 and there will be no more lasting memorial 

 to him than that which he himself erected 

 during his lifetime in the fostering of that 

 form of education which is of such vital 

 importance to the national well-being. 



To revert to history, I may record that 

 the first science examinations conducted by 

 the state took place in May, 1861, and, the 

 system of grants being made on the results 

 of examination having been authorized, the 

 magnificent sum of 1,300L was spent on this 

 occasion on the instruction of 650 candi- 

 dates, that number having been examined. 

 Thus early was the system of examination 

 commenced in the department's career, and 

 the method of payments on the results of 

 these examinations stereotyped for many 

 years to come. There is reason to believe 

 that the educational experts of that day 

 considered that both were essential and of 

 educational value, a value which has since 

 been seriously discounted. Employers of 

 labor in this country were not too quick 

 in discerning the advantages that must 

 ultimately ensue from this class of educa- 

 tion if properly carried out and en- 

 couraged. Theoretically they gave en- 



