10 C. O. BURGE. 



who once spoke of a proposition in Euclid, as a happy end- 

 ing to a mildly exciting plot. At the same time, it must 

 not be forgotten that technical education is for the selected 

 few, not for all, and the selection is a matter of great 

 importance. For the average child's skull is not, as some 

 educationalists seem to think, constructed of india rubber, 

 into which unlimited quantities of knowledge can be thrust. 

 The Japanese understand this, in selecting boys from the 

 lower schools, for the higher, and then again from the 

 higher for special attention, either by sending them abroad 

 at Government expense, or otherwise, and leaving the dull 

 ones to be the hewers of wood and drawers of water. 



One of the most curious features of scientific history is 

 the fact that the Anglo Saxon race, in the Empire and in 

 the United States, has been always preeminent in original 

 invention, while, latterly, the Germans have been more 

 assiduous and painstaking in that education, which brings 

 out the value of the scientific progress, which the inventions 

 of others produce, and the same is due of other branches 

 of human thought. It was the English Francis Bacon that 

 said '" knowledge is power," but it is the German of to-day 

 who most realizes and profits by that weighty and now 

 obvious aphorism. It was the English Shakespeare who 

 wrote the mightiest plays; it is at Berlin where they are 

 chiefly acted and appreciated. When I was there recently, 

 two of his plays were running, and at the same time in 

 London, which is nearly three times as populous, there was 

 not one. 



Notwithstanding the neglect, until latterly, of science 

 in engineering, great strides have been taken, perhaps the 

 greatest, in recent times, have been in connexion with 

 light; mechanical contrivances and energy, through the 

 medium of electricity; and the disposal of the refuse of 

 cities. As to light, there is a question which is more one 



