548 On Technical Education. [September, 
The time allotted for its execution at the examination is, 
according to the Department’s time table, from 2 p.m. to 
10 p.m., which is not too long ; but if it requires that length 
of time in the examination room to perform it successfully, 
it must require for its proper execution an equal length of 
time in the class room, so that those who commenced to 
make an organic analysis at 6 p.m. in the night class would 
have to continue at their labours until about 2 a.m. the 
following morning. Further, each of the candidates at the 
examination, as they must be started equally, must be pro- 
vided with a balance and a box of chemical weights, and the 
balance, as accuracy must be the test as to the proper 
execution of the analysis, must be so delicate that it will 
turn with the one-thousandth part of a grain. Other costly 
apparatus would also be required by each student, and, as 
has been stated, a large space must be specially fitted up in 
the laboratory for the purpose. 
What science teacher who is paid on the result system 
would undertake to instruct students, even if he were 
capable and had the necessary apparatus, &c., in this diffi- 
cult branch of chemical analysis; for if they gained a second 
class only, he would only receive a third more in money 
than for a first in the theoretical elementary stage, and he 
could cram up 20, 30, or 40 students for examination in the 
latter stage in the time it would take him to teach one or 
two students to make organic analysis, and in the elemen- 
tary stage he could count on a larger percentage of success- 
ful students. 
But how are the laboratories for these night classes fitted 
up, even for the study of practical inorganic chemistry in 
the most elementary stage ; I will give the description of 
one, as it has been given to me, in one of the leading*manu- 
fadturing towns in England. It was sent me by a gentle- 
man who is personally unknown to me. He wrote to ask 
me for advice on educational matters. I advised him to 
study chemistry in a laboratory : the only time he could 
devote to study was the evening. He therefore went to the 
Practical Class under the Department, but he gave up 
attending it after a short - time owing to the disorder pre- 
venting any work being done. This is his description : — 
“The laboratory class I attended for a short time was under 
the Science and Art Department ; it was at the Central 
Board School. The laboratory was originally intended for 
the day scholars. There seemed to be no kind of order kept 
with the day pupils, for when I went in the evening I had 
to hunt for most of the test bottles, and even our private 
