Sept. 1st, 18S7.] 



SCIENTIFIC NE^A^S. 



16- 



For some years after these art schools were first estab- 

 lished, the complaint was made that the instruction in draw- 

 ing was too general, that it was not specialised according to 

 the requirements of the trade of the district. It was said, 

 that the student learnt to draw and paint mediocre pictures 

 for the salon instead of useful designs for manufacturers, and 

 that the designs they made were not adapted, owing to the 

 student's ignorance of the tecltnique of the trade, to the 

 machinery employed to product them. For some time this 

 was the case, particularly in the designs for cretonnes and 

 other cotton goods. But now a great improvement has 

 taken place in our industrial art teaching. The artist under- 

 stands the conditions of the industry for which he designs, 

 and I am glad to say tliat we arc no longer dependent to 

 the same extent as we were on the artists of Paris for our 

 trade designs. In the manufacture of lace, carpets, wall- 

 papers, hangings, and furniture, English designers are 

 almost exclusively employed. 



In connection with the facilities for instruction in art 

 oflered by the Department, mention must be made of the 

 fact that the authorities of the South Kensington Museum 

 have organised a system for circulating objects of art and 

 books suitable for exhibition in local museums and art 

 schools. All workmen who are students of the local 

 schools are admitted gratuitously to these museums, and in 

 order that the workmen who are employed in the daytime 

 may partake of the benefits to be derived from the collection, 

 the charge on two evenings a week must not exceed one 

 penny for each person. 



The influence of industrial museums on technical instruc- 

 tion is gradually being more appreciated in England, mainly 

 through the action of the Department of Science and Art. 

 Manufacturers, however, do not yet seem to fully recognise 

 the real value of such collections. They show very little 

 interest in the development of these museums, and are not 

 so willing to cooperate in improvinj? and adding to the 

 collections as are the manufacturers of France and Germany. 

 In many museums both in France and Germany, I have 

 seen collections of all the newest patterns, contributed by 

 the 'manufacturers themselves, which are open to the 

 inspection of the general public. There can be no doubt 

 that in this way each manufacturer benefits by the work of 

 others, and the general industry of the town is advanced by 

 the knowledge gained by workmen and their employers of all 

 that has'reference to the trade in which they are engaged. 

 Eflbrts are being made to induce English manufacturers to 

 assist in the formation of local museums, but from the reserved 

 character of the English people, and from the false notion of 

 manufacturers that it is possible to preserve " trade secrets," 

 English workmen, have not sufficient opportunities of 

 examining the newest patterns and the newest processes of 

 manufacture. 



Attached to the South Kensington Museum there is an 

 art library, with a collection of nearly 60,000 volumes, of 

 more than 24,000 drawings, and 69,000 photographs. 



III. — I have now to speak of the encouragement given to 

 instruction in the technology of different trades, as distin- 

 guished from instruction in the elements of pure and applied 

 science. From what 1 have already said, it will be seen 

 that the schools for instruction in science are supported in 

 part by the inhabitants of the towns in which they are 

 situated, and in part by the subventions of the State ; but 

 this instruction is not specialised in its application to the 

 particular trades. In fact, it is general rather than technical 

 or industrial, and is intended to be so. Now the number of 

 trades is so numerous, that the question of providing speci- 

 fic instruction adapted to the requirements of persons 

 engaged in each particular industry, is full of difficulties ; 

 and considering that the teaching of science and of art 



constitutes the basis, and, indeed, the greater part of all 

 technical education, the Department of the Government in 

 restricting its operations to the encouragement of this kind 

 of teaching, has done nearlj' all that can be expected of the 

 State. The great difficultj' in teaching science to workmen 

 in evening classes, is that the workman has very little time 

 to devote to the study, and is naturally desirous of con- 

 sidering those problems which have reference to the par- 

 ticular branch of industry in which he is engaged. Such 

 students are not attracted to the study of science pure and 

 simple, but are desirous of seeing the connection between 

 the problems of the workshop and the principles of science 

 as taught in the school. Supplementary instruction of this 

 kind, connecting the teaching of pure science with work- 

 shop practice, workmen are now able to obtain in the 

 courses of instruction organised by the City and Guilds of 

 London Institute. 



This Institute was established in the year 1879. It con- 

 sists of an Association of some of the Ancient Trade Corpo- 

 rations of London. These Corporations or Guilds are 

 possessed of very large properties, owing to the rise in the 

 value of the land which centuries ago was bequeathed to 

 them. Established for the protection of their own trades, 

 they have, to some extent, outgrown the purposes for which 

 they were originally founded. A few years since many of 

 them united and formed an Association in conjunction with 

 the City of London in order to promote technical education. 

 In the year 1880 they were incorporated as the City and 

 Guilds of London Institute, and since then they have estab- 

 lished in London a school for engineers and manufacturers 

 (similar in some respects t j the Ecole Centrale of Paris, and to 

 the Polytechnic Schools of Germany), which has been built at 

 a cost of ^100,000, and is supported by a subvention from 

 the Guilds of _;^io,ooo per annum. They have also estab- 

 lished a technical school for the training of foremen, and 

 for the education of boys who leave school at about the age 

 of fifteen, and in this school, known as the " Finsbury 

 Technical College," evening classes in several branches of 

 technology have been established, which are attended by 

 about 700 students. In the south of London the Institute 

 has founded a school of art, in which instruction is 

 given in painting on porcelain, in wood engraving, in 

 sculpture, and in drawing and modelling, in their appli- 

 cation to other industries. Besides establishing these 

 schools in London itself, the Institute aflbrds encouragement 

 to the formation, throughout the country, of evening classes 

 in the technology of various trades. The Institute has 

 adopted from the Science and Art Department the principle 

 of " payment on results." The organisation of these classes 

 in technology is in all respects similar to those in science. 

 The courses of technology under the direction of the Insti- 

 tute are held in the same schools as the courses of science 

 under the direction of the State, and in most of these 

 schools the student is encouraged to learn the elements of 

 science for two years, and afterwards to study the techno- 

 logy of the particular trade in which he is engaged. 

 {To be continued.^ 



Areas of Circles. — The following is a very simple method 

 of finding the diameter of a circle or pipe, whose area 

 shall be equal to that of any other two circles or pipes 

 of known dimensions. No calculation is required, as the 

 whole can be done in the simplest way by measurement on 

 a board. Take a piece of board which has two edges at 

 right angles to one another, or take a carpenter's square, 

 and on one edge mark the diameter of one of the circles or 

 pipe, and on the other edge (at right angles to it) the 

 diameter of the second circle or pipe. Draw a line diagon- 



