i88 3 .] 
On Technical Education . 
543 
caused by students being sent in for examination from colleges 
where very inadequate instruction is given in science. In many 
cases the answers show how imperfeCt the instruction has 
been. Thus throughout whole colleges we find the prevalent 
idea to be that mercury in a centigrade thermometer cannot 
rise above ioo C., or sink below zero . In other colleges all 
the students state that in order to separate a substance dis- 
solved in water from its solvent it is necessary to decompose 
the latter by means of a voltameter. 
Dr. Russell, the Examiner in Inorganic Chemistry, says : 
“ I do not think that either the theoretical or practical exa- 
mination was quite satisfactory. The nature of the answers 
and the way they are stated gave me the impression that 
these subjects are learnt only with the object of passing the 
examination 
Mr. Thiselton Dyer, the Examiner in Botany, says: — “ A 
detailed examination of the successes and failures still, how- 
ever, leaves much room for dissatisfaction . With regard to 
the method of teaching , it is. quite clear that the practice is 
still too largely resorted to of using mere * book-drill ’ instead 
of intelligent oral teaching 
Prof. Huxley and Dr. Michdel Foster, the Examiners in 
Animal Physiology, say : — “ There has apparently been a 
fair amount of diligence bestowed on the matter ; this has 
been rewarded by a large number being allowed to pass. But 
that diligence has been largely misdirected ; the characters of the 
answers clearly show that the candidates prepare themselves 
for this examination, not by attempting to understand physio- 
logy, but by loading their memories with statements which may 
be re-produced in the examination room.”' 
Prof. Guthrie, the Examiner in Sound, Light and Heat, 
and Electricity and Magnetism, says -“ Generally, and in 
respeCt of both subjects, — sound, light, and heat, and mag- 
netism and electricity — the answers have shown an improved, 
but only slightly improved, knowledge of physics ; but in many 
cases the teaching appears to have been mainly theoretical . 
Many of the answers show that the examinee, while under- 
standing the conventional description of a piece of apparatus, 
has probably never seen it , and certainly never used it. This 
won’t do.” 
The above extracts are instructive examples as to the 
present state of science teaching under the Department’s 
system. It is difficult to credit, although stated by the 
Department’s own Examiners, that the instructed in many 
colleges are so ignorant, not simply of science, but of common 
information, that they believe that mercury in a centigrade 
