THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 103 



porations have discovered the propriety of following 

 suit. 



Technical education, in the strict sense, has become 

 a necessity for two reasons. The old apprenticeship 

 system has broken down, partly by reason of the changed 

 conditions of industrial life, and partly because trades 

 have ceased to be "crafts," the traditional secrets where- 

 of the master handed down to his apprentices. Inven- 

 tion is constantly changing the face of our industries, 

 so that "use and wont," "rule of thumb," and the like, 

 are gradually losing their importance, while that knowl- 

 edge of principles which alone can deal successfully with 

 changed conditions is becoming more and more valuable. 

 Socially, the "master" of four or five apprentices is dis- 

 appearing in favour of the "employer" of forty, or four 

 hundred, or four thousands, "hands," and the odds and 

 ends of technical knowledge, formerly picked up in a 

 shop, are not, and cannot be, supplied in the factory. 

 The instruction formerly given by the master must there- 

 fore be more than replaced by the systematic teaching 

 of the technical school. 



Institutions of this kind on varying scales of magni- 

 tude and completeness, from the splendid edifice set up 

 by the City and Guilds Institute 25 to the smallest local 

 technical school, to say nothing of classes, such as those 

 in technology instituted by the Society of Arts 26 (sub- 

 sequently taken over by the City Guilds), have been 



25 The City and Guilds of London Institute exists "for the 

 establishment of, or for the assistance to, trade schools, for the 

 conduct of examinations, and for subsidizing other institutions, 

 in London or in the provinces, having cognate subjects." The 

 Institute provides instruction in lower technical and trade sub- 

 jects, in engineering, and in pure science. Much of its work is 

 carried on by evening classes and "extension" lectures. 



26 The Society of Arts, founded in 1754, has for its object 

 education of various kinds, especially in pure and applied arts. 



