Added  as  a Monthly  Supplement  to  the  “ TROPICAL  AGRIC ULTU RJ ST. 
The  magazine 
of 
TF>6  WF>00L  OH  AGRICULTURE, 
COLOMBO. 
Yol.  IV.] 
SEPTEMBER,  1892. 
TNo.  3, 
TECH NICAL  ED UCATION. 
[An  Address  delivered  at  the  School  of  Agri- 
culture on  the  3rd  of  August  189:1,  bv  George 
Waet.,  Esq.,  f.t,..s.,  in  inaugurating  “ The  Marsh 
Lectures  ” : The  Hon.  Sir  Samuel  Grenier,  1 
Attorney-General,  in  the  Chair.] 
Is  these  days,  every  one  needs 
a certain  amount  of  education  j 
to  enable  him  to  pursue  his 
ordinary  avocations,  and  to  main- 
tain intercourse  with  his  fellow- 
men.  The  measure  of  education  each  requires 
depends  upon  the  position  he  occupies  in  the 
social  scale.  For  a working  man,  the  mere  rudi- 
ments would  he  sufficient,  if  he  were  content 
with  so  little.  That,  however,  is  seldom  the 
case,  as  men  of  that  class  generally  see  two 
ways  of  advancement  before  them  ; one  by  means 
of  wealth,  which  is  often  hard  to  obtain,  and  the 
other  by  means  of  education,  for  which  there 
are  great  facilities— and  they  choose  the  latter. 
For  a man  in  the  higher  ranks  of  society  a 
liberal  education  is  indispensable.  He  must  have 
a fair  knowledge  of  classics,  mathematics,  and 
now-a-days,  of  the  rudiments  of  science  also,  if 
only  to  enable  him  to  read  the  literature  of  the 
day  and  to  converse  on  equal  terms  with  the 
people  of  his  acquaintance. 
The  technical  student  needs  the  same  equip- 
ment as  others  of  his  social  status ; but  he 
makes  a special  study  of  science,  not  for  mere 
literary  purposes,  or  to  talk  about  it,  but  for  the 
purpose  of  applying  its  principles  to  practical 
use  in  the  arts  and  manufactures. 
The  function  of  technical  training  may  be 
defined  as  the  application  of  the  principles  of 
science  in  general  to  practical  use  in  arts  and 
industry.  That  is  the  sense  in  which  the  term 
is  to  he  understood  in  the  present  lecture. 
I can  imagine  students  present  asking  how  it 
happens  that  technical  institutions  are  of  such 
recent  origin,  seeing  that  arts  and  manufactures 
Uave  flourished  for  ages  past,  The  question 
is  natural  and  reasonable,  and  may  with  advan- 
tage be  answered  at  this  stage,  before  proceeding 
further.  Briefly  then,  science,  properly  so  called, 
is  itself  modern.  What  passed  for  science  in 
former  times  would  not  now  be  deemed  worthy 
of  the  name.  Chemistry,  for  example,  was,  in 
those  times,  the  pursuit  of  mere  figments  of  the 
imagination,  such  as  the  elixir  of  life,  a thing 
that  had  no  real  existence,  and  the  philosopher’s 
stone,  a substance  which,  if  discovered  would,  it 
was  supposed,  transmute  baser  materials  into  gold. 
No  one  knows  whence  came  the  ideas  of  these 
chimteras,  but  nevertheless  they  were  pursued  with 
an  ardour  and  perseverance  worthy  of  a better 
object.  In  the  course  of  these  vain  researches 
some  facts  were  learned,  but  they  were  desultory, 
unconnected,  and  of  little  value.  Astronomy  had 
the  advantage  over  chemistry  in  having  some- 
thing to  look  at,  something  real  to  observe  and 
to  speculate  upon.  The  motions  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  were  even  then,  in  fact,  made  subservient  to 
some  use  in  navigation,  but  where  observation 
ceased  and  speculation  came  into  question,  the 
ancient  ideas  were  fanciful  and  wild.  The  stars 
were  supposed  to  be  fixed  in  a solid  crystalline 
sphere,  because  they  always  maintained  the 
same  positions  with  regard  to  each  other.  We 
now  know  how  very  far  that  is  from  their 
actual  condition,  and  the  ancient  theories  of 
the  universe  were  so  unreal  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  conceive  of  any  rational  origiu 
for  them.  It  will  be  plain  now  to  any  ques- 
tioner that  such  science  as  just  described  would 
have  been  of  no  use  to  arts  and  manufactures, 
and  he  will  see  why  technical  institutions  would 
have  had  no  place  in  those  circumstances. 
Perhaps  another  student  might  ask  how  the 
arts  and  manufactures  of  those  former  times 
got  on  without  science. 
The  answer  is  that  they  proceeded  very  slowly, 
very  uncertainly  and  blunderingly.  Processes 
were  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation, 
and  were  pursued  with  a slavish  persistence, 
everyone  following  in  the  footsteps  of  his  grand- 
father. Trades  and  manufactures  were  conducted 
with  all  practicable  secrecy.  Some  were  confined 
to  families  and  guarded  most  jealously.  Others 
were  carried  on  by  guilds  and  societies,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  were  bound  under  penalties  to  keep 
the  secrets  of  the  craft  inviolate.  Fnder  that  sys- 
tem there  was  no  variety  of  style  or  method  in  the 
products.  The  articles  produced  were  ajl  of  0119 
