Aug. 1st, 1887.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



139 



will be required for S60 persons in all England ; for 170 in 

 London alone. For it will not be possible to say which 

 among the whole number bitten are not in danger of hydro- 

 phobia, and the methods of prevention by cautery, excision, 

 or other treatment, cannot be depended on. 



EVENING TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION IN 

 ENGLAND.* 



FOR the great mass of workmen and other persons en- 

 gaged in industry, the evening is the only time avail- 

 able for technical instruction. This has been found to be 

 the case in every country in Europe. In France, Belgium, 

 Germany, Austria, and Italy I have visited schools and 

 have been present at courses of instruction in different 

 branches of science and technology, and have noted the in- 

 creasing importance which is attached to the influence of 

 these courses of instruction upon the condition of workmen 

 and foremen, by manufacturers, and by those who are in- 

 terested in the question of technical instruction. 



In England, evening instruction has been more sys- 

 tematically developed than perhaps in any other country, 

 and for two reasons : the comparatively young age at 

 which the majority of children leave school has rendered 

 evening teaching more necessary than in Germany, for ex- 

 ample, where boys remain at school till the age of fourteen ; 

 and the shorter hours of labour in England — fifty-six as 

 against seventy-two — have given more opportunity to Eng- 

 lish artisans to avail themselves of regular and systematic 

 instruction after the day's work is over. 



Having regard to the importance of evening teaching, 

 and to the large number of persons in the different towns 

 of France and other countries who profit by it, I have 

 thought that a short notice of the evening courses of 

 science, art, and technology, as organised in England, 

 might be interesting to the members of this section of the 

 Congress. 



There are many fundamental differences between the 

 systems of education in England and in other countries, 

 but in none more than in the absence of a central authority 

 in the direction and administration of our schools. This is 

 true as regards all sorts of schools except the public 

 elementary and the evening schools. These are essen- 

 tially the schools of the people, and are under State 

 control. But middle-class schools, e'colcs moyeimcs, and 

 schools for higher education are free from Government in- 

 spection, and although in some of them, which are par- 

 tially maintained from the proceeds of ancient endowments, 

 the scheme of instruction is prepared by a commission ap- 

 pointed by the State, the intermediate and secondary schools 

 of England are either the private property of individualsorare 

 governed by councils quite free from State inspection or 

 control. Universities and institutions for higher technical 

 instruction are equally independent. The action of the 

 Government, therefore, in educational matters is restricted 

 to the direction of elementary day schools and of evening 

 instruction in elementary subjects, in science, and in art. 



The public elementary schools of England, which are not 

 connected with any religious denomination, are supported 

 partly by rates imposed upon all occupants of houses in the 

 municipality by a council whom they themselves select, and 

 who constitute what is known as the School-board, and 

 partly by the State. But the evening technical schools re- 

 ceive no assistance from the municipality, and the deficit 

 on the subvention granted by the State is provided by 

 voluntary contributions and donations of manufacturers and 

 other friends of education. These schools are under the 



* Translation of a paper by Sir Philip Magnus, read before the In- 

 dustrial Section of the Technical Education Congress held at Bordeaux. 



general direction of local committees, who are responsible 

 for carrying out the regulations in accordance with which 

 alone subventions from the State are made. These sub- 

 ventions are determined, both in the case of elementary 

 as well as of evening schools, by the system peculiar to Eng- 

 land, which does not exist, so far as I know, in any other 

 country, and is known as the system of payments on re- 

 sults. Every year at the close of the session in May the 

 students attending evening classes are examined by persons 

 appointed by the State, and subventions are paid to the 

 committees towards the expenses and the maintenance of 

 the schools according to the number of students who satisfy 

 the examiners. I will explain more fully. The teacher 

 (for it is only the teachers at universities and institutions of 

 higher education who are called professors) has a class of 

 thirty pupils, most of whom are artisans who have 

 been studying under his direction the elements of physics. 

 Of these, about twenty pass the examination, eight being 

 placed in the first division and twelve in the second. For 

 each student who passes in the first division the school 

 committee receives jQ2, and for each pupil who is placed 

 in the second division, _£j . The subvention on the result 

 of the examination of the pupils attending this course 

 amounts therefore to ^,2 x 8 and jQi x 12, or ;£2?>, 

 which sum is either given to the instructor, in addition to a 

 small salary which he receives from local subscriptions, or 

 goes to defray the expenses of the school. I should add 

 that in each subject there is an elementary course, an ad- 

 vanced course, and a course of honours; and that for each 

 student who obtains the distinction of honours and is 

 placed in the first division a subvention of £^4 is paid, and 

 for those who are placed in the second division, ^£2. It 

 was necessary to explain in a few words the method of 

 " payment by results," in order that you might understand 

 the system of organisation of evening classes in England. 



Evening instruction in science, art, and technology is under 

 the direction of two Departments ; the one is a branch of the 

 bureau of education, and is known as the Science and Art 

 Department ; the other, which encourages the teaching of 

 the technology of different trades is a comparatively recent 

 association, in no way connected with the Government, and 

 is knowm as the " City and Guilds of London Institute for 

 the Advancement of Technical Education." 



The Science and Art Department encourages in several 

 different ways the teaching of science and of art, both in 

 London and in all parts of the kingdom. The subvention 

 of evening courses is only one part of its operations. 

 Under its direction are two Normal Schools of Science — one 

 at South Kensington and one at Dublin — the School of 

 Mines, and the School of Decorative Art at South Kensington, 

 and the well-known Industrial Museums of South Ken- 

 sington and Bethnal Green, of which Sir Philip Cunliffe- 

 Owen is director. The secretary of the Department and 

 the director of the science instruction is Colonel Donnelly. 

 The Department was placed under its present direction in 

 the year 1S56, having been originally established in 1853, 

 soon after the first International Exhibition, from which 

 year the commencement of technical education, especially 

 of education in art as applied to industries, may be said to 

 date. 



The Department receives yearly from Parliament a sum 

 of money to defray the expenses of its work. In 1856-57 

 the sum voted was ^64,675, and in 1885-86 it had increased 

 to ;i^39i,573- The money so voted is expended in the 

 payment of teachers on the results of the examination of 

 their pupils in science and in art, in prizes and in bursaries 

 awarded to distinguished students, in assisting in the build- 

 ing of laboratories and the purchase of apparatus, and in 

 the maintenance of the Normal Schools in London and 



