February 2, 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
579 
LORD DERBY ON TECHNICAL 
EDUCATION. 
The annual meeting and distribution of awiirns 
of the Liverpool School of Science and Technolot.y , 
took place on September 25th in St, George’s- li all, 
under the presidency of the Mayor (Mr. Thomas 
Hughes). There was a large attendance. 
The Chairman mentioned that Lord Derby had 
given further evidence of his interest in the school 
by giving £200 to provide two more special prizes. 
Lord Derby, who handed the awards to the 
successful students previously, delivered an address 
on technical education. He said — Gentlemen,— 
You have asked me to attend this meeting and 
to deliver the prizes earni d within the year. That 
is a duty which I undertake with pleasure, because, 
having watched from the I eginning this School of 
Science, and I may add, having been one of the 
earliest contributors lo it, 1 am saliffied it has 
done good and useful work in the past, and that 
it is capable of doing much more if only adequate 
support be afforded. It has lived as yet less than 
30 years since ils foundation, in 1801. Its progress 
has been steady and not slow. From 28 students 
in 1865 the numbers have steadily increased to 305 
at the present date. In all since the opening it 
has been attended by 12 916 students, and the total 
cost has been £26,760, being an average of £920 
yearly. I am told that cur students have been 
mostly, though not exclusively, taken from the 
artisan class. Of the practical results of the school 
we have no cause to he ashamed. It is never 
possible to state them in an entirely satisfactory 
way, because the exceptional success of an individual 
here and there proves less in favour of Ihe training 
which he has receis-ed tl.an a high average of 
attainment which does not so easily admit of evidence 
in a statistical form I am told that very many of 
our students are employed in all parts of the wi rld 
as marine and civil enginfcrs and builders; that 
the winners of the prize which you have been kind 
enough to call by my name are nearly all in 
responsible and important, positions. One is a 
manager of the Mersey Forge. One is nu expert in 
the Patent Office. One is an architect and surveyor 
to the Board of Works in London, and others are 
in various capacities wrliieh I do not state lo you 
in detail, because the list would be too long. 'The 
school has suffered, like most institutions, from 
“ that eternal want of pence which vexes public men. ” 
I am told that its space is utterly inadequate, an 1 
that increased accommodation is urgently required. 
But there is seme comfort, on the other hand, to 
be found in ihe prospect that when the Technical 
Instruction Act is in operation, as it is expected 
to be, the oorporatii-n will come to ii.s assistance, 
tnd meet what is no doubt an increasing and urgent 
popular demand. (Hear, hear.) Of the practical 
utility of a school of this kind you have hear 1 
enough, and it is need! ss to prove what nobody 
doubts. The nee ssity cf tpchnic<al in'‘(ruotion, if 
our Workmen are to hold their own against foreign 
rivals, is a oommnn place of the platform ; but we 
must not forg*t that there are other objects to be 
Served, less pressing- some wiaiUl say less practical 
—yet in their ult.inate results surely not less 
impoitant. I . 'll will not expect from me, who can 
caum no relalion to soiei cc, ixcept that of a 
rispecUul admirer and in eomo very humble degree 
a student, a disquisition on the- use and value of 
scimlilic training ; but some facts arc clear, and 
med to special gift of observation to detect them. 
Ours will be remembered as prr-i niinonlly tlio aga 
of scitii'je, I might say llironchnut the civilised 
world, but more especially in England. In literature 
our age has done well, but we can soarooly, perhaps 
claim to rival the generation that gave us Shakespeare 
end Bacon. In politics we cannot judge the 
work of our time. We are too near it, and 
W9 have not seen the end ; but the changes 
of our day, many and important as they 
are, can scarcely be set alongside the Refor- 
mation of the 16th century, cr the civil wars 
and revolutions of the 17th. I speak here not 
as judging any of these movements, but only as 
weighing their relative magnitude and importance. 
In regard oJ wars and of conquests, happily we 
have little in the last 50 years to look back upon. 
But the triumphs of applied science in our day 
are the veriest commonplace. To dwell upon them 
would be absurd, aud in such matters one success 
leads to another. More than that, spread as 
civilisetiou is over the whole earth, there is no 
fear of such a reaction of barbarism and ignorance 
as that which followed the decadence of the Roman 
Empire, Whoever wishes to see an admirable 
summary, at once concise and comprehensive, of 
scientific progress in the last halt century will 
find it in a little volume by Sir Johu Lubbock, 
published Ibis year, which has no fault except 
the rare one of too great brevity. In this one 
respect I think we^ may praise ourselves without 
fear of Seeming ridiculous to the naxt generation. 
Our Eucoessets may excel us as writers, as poli- 
ticians, as soldiers ; they may surpass even the 
industrial energies of the present time, but it is 
not likely— it is scarcely possible — that in the 
region of science, the 20.h century should witness 
advances greater than, or as great as those of the 
19-h. (Heir, hear.) The general experience of 
the world hitherto has been that brilliant but 
brief epochs of advance have been followed by long 
intervals of stagnation, and sometimes even of 
retrogressicn. Retrogression is not likely, ss I 
said just now, but stagnalion is quite possible. 
There is one phrase much employed when people 
talk on these subjects, which, to my mind,- contains 
a fallacy. I mean the common phrase of 
popularising science. Now, to popularise science is 
simply impossible. You may give everybody an 
opportunity of learning, but not everybody will or 
can take advantage of it. You may popularise 
the results of science, but that is quite a different 
ma ter. As an o'd saying runs, there is no royal 
road to matliematics. Anybody could cram up, 
with the help cf an average memory and of 
eas'ly-acquirtd handbooks, a summary of what has 
been done in astronomy, in chemistry or other 
science, but when that result is aceompiished ha 
will bffl very little nearer to any real gain which 
science could bring to him. It is only labour and 
perseverance, addtd to natural capacity that can 
give a Bcientifii mind. Fortunately, not everybody 
is required lo have it. I have no doubt a man 
may be a good workman, a good clerk, a good 
man of business, and discharge all the duties of 
life in a satiefaciory way, although he believes 
that the sun gots round the earth and that the 
moon and stars are lighted up at night to enable 
mankind to see their way. We cannot all be 
whai the hideous slang of the day describes as 
“ soif-niists, ” any more than we can all be poets; 
but I think the answer was a good one Vfhioh was 
girei) long ago to the objection, “You want to 
make your pupil Jack of all trades, aud master 
of ii'-ne. ’’ “No.” was the reply, “1 want him to 
be Jack of all trades, and master of one.’’ Nobody 
is requiicd, nor, indeed, is it usually possible to 
make a serious study of more than one profession; 
but, just as it is good to have a taste for books, 
though W 0 may not wish lo become authors, and 
to have a Ijvo of pictures, though wo may never 
intend to paint, so it is desirable to have a 
