216 On Practical Scientific Instruction. [April, 



ing ; we must not, therefore, trust to genius only, and the " rule of 

 thumb," as we have hitherto done, but judiciously impart scientific 

 instruction to minds of ordinary capacity as well as to others. 



The education necessary for a workman cannot be completely 

 supplied either in a school alone or in a workshop alone. The 

 duties and pursuits of a school are incompatible with those of a 

 manufactory, and it is not possible that a workshop should also be 

 a school of science. In an ordinary school, boys should be taught 

 the general scientific facts and principles upon which trades and 

 manufactures are based ; and in the manufactory they should learn 

 the practical directions for working in their trades, and acquire 

 experience in manipulation. 



It is manifest that no scientific education, whether technical or 

 otherwise, can be imparted except upon the basis of a sufficiently 

 good elementary secular education ; and as long as the elementary 

 education in this country remains in its present extremely imper- 

 fect state, it is impossible for this nation adequately to advance in 

 scientific knowledge, or keep pace with the progress of foreign 

 intellect. 



It may be asked, — At what point is the school education to stop 

 and the workshop education to begin ? This admits of a sufficient 

 although not a precise answer : in a general way school education 

 would cease where manufacturing manipulations commence, but this 

 would vary with the kind of school. The relations of science to 

 trade would be carried to a farther stage of development in a " trade 

 school : ' than in a school of a different kind ; and in courses of les- 

 sons or lectures on technology, than in ordinary scientific instruc- 

 tion ; they would also usually receive farther development in schools 

 in a manufacturing district than in those of other places. In 

 a usual way the technical portion of ordinary school education would 

 include illustrations of the principles and facts of science by descrip- 

 tions of manufacturing processes, by models and diagrams of appa- 

 ratus used in manufactures, and by specimens of manufactured pro- 

 ducts in their different stages of development. It would also, in 

 some schools, include a limited amount of practice in chemical 

 analysis, but would not include actual manipulations by the pupils 

 in ma-nufacturing arts. In "trade schools" technical education 

 might be carried to a greater extent : the pupils would be taught 

 some of the practical working directions of various trades, the 

 handling of ordinary tools, and the modes of manipulation of various 

 substances, and thus such schools would form an intermediate stage 

 between ordinary schools and the workshop. Experience in the 

 production of manufactured articles for sale will probably always be 

 obtained in a manufactory alone. 



As I shall have occasion to use the words " science" and " art," 

 I will first state what I mean by them : — A science consists of laws, 



