580 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIll. No. 4G2. 



portant changes were anticipated in the educa- 

 tional arrangements of the country during the 

 coming session of Parliament, which unfortunately 

 were put off on account of the debates on the Re- 

 form Bill of 1868. 



The agitation necessarily brought forward the 

 work of the Science Division of the Science and 

 Art Department, and it is not a little remarkable 

 how completely the system which had^been grow- 

 ing up since 1860 seemed to meet all the require- 

 ments of the case, and at the same time how few 

 persons had any idea of its provisions in spite of 

 all that had been done to spread a knowledge of 

 the scheme. 



There can be no doubt, however, but that this 

 six years' work had silently, though materially, 

 effected a change in the general tone of feeling on 

 the subject of scientific education, and had been 

 the means of preparing the country for the 1867 

 agitation. The different feeling among the work- 

 ing-classes on the subject is forcibly shown in the 

 annual report of the Science and Art Department. 

 From this it appears that in 1860 a pupil in one 

 of the science classes in Manchester, a town 

 usually looked upon as in advance of others, could 

 hardly continue his attendance at the class owing 

 to the taunts of, and ill-treatment by, his com- 

 panions. Nevertheless, in the autumn of this year, 

 1867, hardly enough could be said or done to 

 satisfy the desire for science classes being formed 

 for those very persons who, but six years before, 

 had considered attendance at a government sci- 

 ence school as almost against the rules of their 

 trade. 



Such was the account of 1867 given by 

 Mr. G. C. T. Bartley (now Sir G. Hartley, 

 M.P.). The plan adopted by the Science 

 and Art Department for encouraging in- 

 struction in science was perhaps the best 

 that could be devised at the time, though 

 we now know that it was capable of im- 

 provement. It may be mentioned that an 

 improvement in it was made the next year 

 by the introduction of a very large system 

 of scholarships, scholarships which have 

 enabled the possessors in some instances to 

 continue their studies at universities, and 

 several distinguished men owe their posi- 

 tions to this aid. It was in this same year 

 that Mr. Whitworth established his scholar- 

 ships, as before described. 



I have endeavored to give a brief resume 

 of what was done during the first fifteen 

 years of the existence of the Science and 

 Art Department, and it continued to ex- 

 pand its operations after 1868 on the same 

 lines for another ten years. In 1876 your 

 president became connected with the de- 

 partment as a science inspector. I am 

 sure the section will forgive me if I am 

 somewhat personal for a few moments. 

 During the previous eight years I had had 

 the honor of being a teacher of some 

 branches of physical science at the School 

 of Military Engineering, and my own train- 

 ing was such that I had formed a very 

 definite opinion as to how science instruc- 

 tion should be imparted, both to those who 

 had a good general education and also to 

 those who had not. The method was the 

 same in both cases: it should be taught 

 practically. I may say that though I had 

 not myself had the advantage of being 

 taught it at school, I had learned all the 

 science I knew practically, and I entered 

 the department fully impressed with this 

 view. Whenever possible I have until the 

 present time endeavored to impress this 

 view on all who were interested in the work 

 of the department. Much of the science 

 that was taught in state-supported classes 

 was largely book work and cram, and the 

 theoretical instruction as a rule was un- 

 illustrated by experiment. This was un- 

 doubtedly dite to the system of payments 

 being based on success at the examinations. 

 I must here say that there were honorable 

 exceptions to this procedure. There were 

 teachers, then as now, who knew the sub- 

 jects they taught, and who were inspired 

 by a genuine love of their calling. I can 

 in my mind's eye recall many such, some 

 of whom have joined the majority and 

 others who are still at work and as success- 

 ful now as then in rousing the enthusiasm 

 of their students. 



I am not one of those who think, as some 



