iS65 THE INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE 291 



Huxley gladly gave his support as a step in the right direc- 

 tion. He had long been convinced of the inadequacy of' 

 existing forms of education— survivals from the needs of, a 

 bygone age — to prepare for the new forms into which m- 

 tellectual life was passing. That educators should be con- 

 tent to bring up the young generation in the modes of 

 thought which satisfied their forefathers three centwrics ago, 

 as if no change had passed over the world since then, filled 

 him with mingled amazement and horror. 



The outcome of the scheme was the International Col- 

 lege, at Spring Grove, Isleworth, under the headmastership 

 of Dr. Leonhard Schmitz; one of the chief members of the 

 committee being Dr. (afterwards Sir) William Smith, while 

 at the head of the Society was Richard Cobden, under whose 

 presidency it had been registered some time be.ore. John 

 Stuart Mill, however, refused to join, considerin.? that this 

 was not the most needed reform in education, aild that he 

 could not support a school in which the ordinary theology 

 was taught. 



An article in the Reader for June 17, 1865, sketches the 

 plan. The design was to give a liberal education to boys 

 whether intended for a profession or for commerce. The 

 education for both was the same up to a certain point, cor- 

 responding to that given in our higher schools, together 

 with foreign languages and the elements of physical and 

 social science, after which the courses bifurcated.* Special 

 stress was laid on modern languages, both for themselves 

 and as a preparation and help for classical teaching. Ac- 

 cordingly, the International College was one of three paral- 

 lel institutions in England, France, and Germany, where a 

 boy could in turn acquire a sound knowledge of all three 

 languages while continuing the same course of education. 

 The Franco-Prussian war of 1870, however, proved fatal to 

 the scheme. 



Some letters to his friend Dr. W. K. Parker, f show the 



* For a fuller account of the scientific education see p. 330. 



f A man of whom he wrote (preface to Prof. Jeffery Parlcer's Life 

 of W. K. Parker, 1893), that "in him the genius of an artist struggled 

 with that of a philosopher, and not unfrequently the latter got the 



