630 
SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION. 
supporting; while the advantages will be distributed over 
every part of the United Kingdom; and the assistance 
received from Parliament be applied for the general good of 
all.” It is generally believed that the system is not self- 
supporting, but that every associate of the School of Mines 
costs the Government a considerable sum of money. There 
can be no question that the advantages of the system are 
very great, directed as it is, in the several branches, by men 
of the highest possible eminence; but it is urged that they 
are not to any great extent distributed over the whole 
country, but mainly collected for the benefit of the technical 
schools founded by Government, and this tendency to force 
the official plan of education upon the country is regarded 
by many connected with other educational establishments as 
unfair. In fact, there is a threatened crusade against the 
Government professors. 
To such we would remark, that the quantity of Science 
taught is so small, that it is not wise to attempt in any way 
to reduce that quantity; but it is certainly to be wished that 
the Commission should carefully inquire whether this method 
is one calculated to extend a sound Science education over 
the whole country, and whether it is possible to judge of a 
person’s fitness to teach, without practical examination in 
subjects which are eminently practical, and without some 
guarantee that he has received a sound general education. 
The Report further says : “ It is essential that the institu- 
tion should be supported to a considerable extent by the fees 
of pupils.” This, it is urged, is not the case with the 
London Government school (and still less with the sister 
College of Science in Dublin), where the fees are not 
sufficient to pay the working expenses, to say nothing of the 
salaries of professors, and the scholarships of ^50 per annum 
each, which are held by so large a number of students. At 
page 9 of the Report the same important subject is dwelt 
upon : “ My lords concur in the views expressed by the 
Lords of the Committee of Trade, that every means should 
be used to render these institutions as much self-supporting 
as possible, and that, in the plans adopted, that object should 
always be borne in mind. My lords adopt this view, not 
only because they feel it incumbent upon them to confine the 
public expenditure to the lowest limit, but also because they 
entertain a belief that the utility of such institutions is great 
in proportion as they are self-supporting.” It may not be 
generally known that large sums have been expended, and 
further large sums are to be expended, in building and fitting 
up laboratories, lecture-rooms, &c., at South Kensington. 
The present time, then, is a very fitting one for an inquiry 
