the directors that the best plan was to limit the lectures to the general principles of those sciences which are of universal application to the arts and not to attempt, as had at first been intended, teaching the principle of the arts in detail."

Here the matter was left. The City and Guilds Institute has been trying during the last seventeen years, with, I hope, some success, to solve the problem which was left unsolved by Dr. Birkbeck, Lord Brougham, Mr. Galbraith, and other pioneers of technical education. At the Edinburgh School of Art it was finally arranged that the lectures should be "strictly confined to such objects of science" as would be "useful to workmen in the exercise of their trade,” and if we adopt this principle we can not go far wrong.

I can not hope, in this short paper, to treat with any attempt at completeness what may be called the methodology of trade teaching. I can only throw out a few suggestions and indicate some of the difficulties it involves. The subject, however, is well worthy of the careful consideration of the educationalist as a problem full of interest and of great importance.

Let us consider, first of all, the extent to which practical work may legitimately enter into trade teaching. Now, there are certain branches of trade and certain circumstances and conditions in which, notwithstanding all that may have been said to the contrary, the apprenticeship school-that is, a school in which the practice of a trade is completely taught-is a useful and almost a necessary institution. In many art industries this is so. An apprentice will learn wood carving far better in a school than in a shop. The art requires no expensive tools, to be obtained only in the shop, and the supervision and suggestions of the school-teacher afford help which the young apprentice can not equally well obtain in the commercial shop. Of engraving and inlaying, of metal chasing and enameling, of china painting, basket making, embroidery, and artificial flower making, and of very many other "arts and crafts," as they are commonly called, the same may be said-that the practice of the trade may properly be taught in school. Then, too, an apprenticeship school often affords a very useful, if not the only, means of introducing a new or of recovering an old industry. In a country like Ireland, where trade has languished, the establishment of such schools for the teaching of carefully selected trades might, and probably would, prove most serviceable. In many rural districts, too, where the villagers earn a very scanty livelihood as agricultural laborers, new industries, requiring few tools and only cheap material, may be taught, thus increasing the prosperity of the district and improving the condition of the workers. In Cambridgeshire basket making is being now so taught, and an improving trade is likely to be localized in that county. In many parts of southern Germany similar trades are extensively taught, and the position of the agriculturist is thereby materially improved. But the instruction in such cases must go beyond the limitation imposed by the act; for unless the pupils are really taught the practice of the trades, so as to be able to produce saleable articles, the teaching would fail of its purpose. There are other cases in which, it seems to me, the practice of a trade may be legitimately taught in school. My attention has recently been drawn to the fact that the tailoring trade has for many years suffered from foreign competition. I mean the competition, not of imported goods but of imported workmen. This complaint does not apply so much to "cutters," who occupy a higher position in the trade, as to the rank and file of the work people who are engaged in sewing and putting together the garments that are cut out for them. There seems to be at present no way of training competent work people for this large industry. The conditions under which the work is done do not admit of anything approaching to the apprenticeship system, nor do the young people who want to learn the trade have any chance of acquiring the necessary proficiency and dexterity in the ordinary shop. The result is that foreigners are largely employed, many of whom have gained the necessary skill in a tailor's school. Now, I am told the want of such schools is much felt in this country, and it is believed that it is only in such schools that lads can be tramed as competent and efficient workmen.

Yet, in accordance with the strict provisions of the act, a school of this kind would be unable to receive any grant in aid from a local authority.

The instances I have quoted are, I admit, of an exceptional character, and might be easily provided for by a clause giving discretionary powers to the central authority in the interpretation of the act-powers which, I am bound to say, have been already wisely stretched in the best interests of technical education by the science and art department.

To the great majority of industries, however, the rule unquestionably applies that the practice of the trade is best acquired in the factory and shop, and that the instruction of the technical school should be supplementary only to the experience obtained in commercial work. By this principle nearly all our technical classes are regulated. Nevertheless, in many of these classes something that approximates very closely to the teaching of a trade is recognized as necessary. The difference, more or less clearly defined, is, however, sufficiently marked to distinguish the practice of the shop from that of the trade school. Anyone going into a technical class for plumbers, printers, or bookbinders, or into the fitter's shop of a school for engineers, or into one of the well-equipped weaving sheds found in so many of our textile schools in Lancashire or Yorkshire, would be inclined at once to assert that the practice of a trade was being taught in such schools. Nevertheless it is not so, or is not necessarily so. The school is fitted with much of the same machinery and tools as is found in the factory or shop; and so indispensable is such equipment that a large part of the machinery is frequently supplied by local manufacturers, who are themselves interested in the training the school provides. In our weaving schools are found looms of various kinds with all the incidental machinery; in our printers schools we have fonts of type; the best of our boot and shoe class are furnished with the different machines in use by those engaged in one or more of the ten or twelve sections into which the manufacture is split up; our plumbing classes are supplied with furnaces, and with the necessary tools for the joining of pipes and the bossing of lead, and so on with a large number of other trades and industries. To what end, then, are all these tools and appliances employed in the technical school, if the teaching of the practice of the trade or industry is forbidden by the act? The answer is that they are used and are required to show the student how certain processes are performed, and to enable him to perform those processes himself. The difference between the use of such tools in the shop and in the school is that in the shop the apprentice or young artisan acquires slowly, under considerable difficulty, and frequently without any explanation of the why or the wherefore, the knowledge how to use the particular machine or appliance; and once having learned it he is kept working at it, so as to gain skill and rapidity of execution in its use. In the school, on the other hand, he learns leisurely how the tool is used, the principles of its construction, the errors to avoid, and the means of rectifying them when they occur, the nature of the material to be wrought, and the means of distinguishing different qualities of such material; and having learned all this, and having acquired a certain degree of manipulative skill, he is not expected by constant repetition of the same process to aim at that rapidity of execution which is indispensable for trade purposes, but is allowed to pass on to the explanation of the use of some other machine and to the learning of some other process. It will be seen, therefore, that although a technical school may be equipped almost as completely as a trade shop, the equipment serves a very different purpose. Its object is the production of intelligent working people, and not the production of salable commodities. That goods may be produced is an incident only in the production of intelligent artisans. The practice a student obtains in a technical school is not intended to give him that complete mastery and rapidity of execution-the result of constant practice-which can be acquired only in the shop or factory, where work is done on commercial lines, but rather to enable him to understand the appliances of his trade, and to use them with care and judgment. Nor, indeed, can the technical school,

howsoever completely it may be equipped, afford that special training in adapting means to ends, in economic working, and in the appreciation of the commercial importance of detail, and of the true value of time which is acquired in the shop.

We see, therefore, the uses and the limitation of trade practice in technical instruction, and what the technical instruction act really requires is that while the school shall afford, by the completeness of its equipment, every facility, within such limitations, for trade practice, those limitations shall not be transgressed. It is in the apprenticeship school only, where efficient workers are produced-workers who on leaving the school can at once find employment, owing to the skill and dexterity there acquired-that the teaching of practice exceeds the limitations imposed by the act.

It will be seen that the equipment of a technical school for trade teaching is necessarily expensive, even although the object of the instruction is different from the training of workmen in the practice of a trade. A large number of our technical classes are still inadequately provided with the necessary apparatus, and the instruction is consequently too theoretical and the students lack the opportunity of applying in actual practice the principles they learn. Every year some improvement in this direction is noticed, and the requirements of our technological examinations, which are becoming more and more practical, are helping to make the teaching more practical also. In the early developments of trade teaching it was thought that the practice could be acquired in the shop, and that it was sufficient to teach the theory in the school. But it is now recognized that while what we may call trade practice may be best acquired in the shop, the application of the theory must be taught in school, and that a sufficiency of tools and appliances is needed for this purpose. The Germans, whose educational perfections are so frequently referred to, are still in the elementary stage of trade teaching. But they are beginning to recognize the value of practical work and the necessity of furnishing their schools with suitable appliances, and it is only the want of funds available for such purposes that prevents many of the German schools for artisans from being as well equipped as our

own.

When we come to consider what we mean by theory in trade teaching we are also met by difficulties. It might have been thought, and indeed was thought, that ordinary instruction in physics, chemistry, and mechanics would form the best preliminary training for artisans engaged in different trades. But experience has shown that this is not so. Artisans require to be taught by special methods those principles of science which are directly applicable to the industry in which they are engaged. This requirement makes the teaching of science to artisans a very difficult problem, and necessitates a special training for those who are to give such instruction. For many years the city and guilds of London Institute have been brought face to face with the difficulty of this problem. They have tried to solve it in various ways. Latterly they have endeavored to induce apprentices or young artisans to take a preliminary course of instruction in which the principles of science are presented to them in relation to the practice of their trade. This experiment in trade teaching has proved fairly successful. Preliminary courses have been arranged in electrical engineering, in which the simpler problems connected with the fitting of electric bells, and with wiring for electric lighting, have been made to give examples illustrating some of the more important principles of electricity and magnetism. Similar courses have been arranged for apprentices engaged in certain branches of the building trade. In plumbing, for example, in which subject instruction, to be of any value in supplementing the practice, must deal with the principles of science applicable to the trade, young apprentices have been found to be particularly deficient in the knowledge of scientific method. The efforts of the institute to improve the instruction given in the numerous classes supported by local authorities and affiliated to the institute have been singularly successful. The preliminary courses of instruction, judging from the attendance of apprentices, appear to have supplied a distinct want, and the teaching has been of such a kind that the experiments illu 3

trating the principles of science with which the young plumber ought to be made familiar have been taken from the plumber's daily practice. It is only a well-trained and well-educated teacher who can give such instruction. In my address at the opening of the Finsbury Technical College, in 1883, I said:

The teacher who is to inspire confidence in his artisan students must address them in the language they understand. Indeed, the technical teacher ought to be so constituted as to be able to keep one eye on the general principles of science and the other on the industry which his pupil intends to follow.

Where the teacher possesses this educational squint, so to speak, the instruction is found to be appreciated by the young apprentice, but teachers trained to give such instruction are not easily found.

The teaching of the theory of any particular trade will be more satisfactory and will be attended with less difficulty when the young apprentice leaves the elementary school with some knowledge of experimental method and some skill in applying it. The way might be much better prepared than it is for technical teaching. The school board for London has been doing excellent work in its science demonstrations, which will facilitate technical teaching in the future. Other school boards are, I believe, doing likewise. But the consideration of this question would take me too far from the immediate subject of my paper. I want to show only as regards the theory that enters into trade teaching that for the purposes of technical instruction in trade subjects the principles of science must be taught in their special application to the trade, and must be illustrated by examples with which the young apprentice is familiar, and by experiments which he would be likely to need in his ordinary work. You will see, therefore, that the teaching of the theory of any trade must be made to illustrate the practice, just as the teaching of the practice must be made to illustrate the theory. For such teaching a sufficient supply of apparatus and appliances is a first requisite, but the machinery and tools employed in a technical school are used with different objects and with a different intention from those of the factory or commercial workshop.

The technical education board of the London county council has appointed a committee of experts to inquire into the existing facilities for technical instruction in connection with the different branches of the building trades, and as these trades are essentially practical, I hope, as one of the results of the inquiry, that some additional light will be thrown on the problem I have been considering.

Many interesting facts and conclusious have been derived from a similar inquiry, undertaken by the same body, into the best methods of teaching chemistry for trade purposes. There is, indeed, a wide field still open for inquiry and investigation by educational authorities; and while it is evident that the preparation of schemes of instruction must be left to such authorities, or, to quote again Lord Brougham, while "it is conceived that persons of education are better able to determine what course of instruction is best fitted to attain the objects in view," valuable help may be obtained from those engaged in the trade in solving some of the problems that are still full of difficulty in trade teaching.

SOME LIMITATIONS TO TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION.

By Sir JOSHUA FITCH, LL. D.

In an assembly composed mainly of those who are firmly convinced of the importance of technical instruction, and who are met to concert measures with a view to make such instruction more accessible and more efficient, it may not, it is hoped, seem irrelevant to invite attention briefly to one or two considerations bearing on the relation of such special training to the larger subject of general education, of which, of course, technical instruction forms a part. We can never form a true estimate of the worth of any kind of instruction-manual or intellectual-unless we

see it in true perspective and proportion, and know the place it should occupy in a scheme of education which regards man in his totality, and not merely on his industrial or practical side.

We are all agreed that our schools have been for centuries too much absorbed in book-work, in verbal studies which sought to train memory and reasoning only, but ̧ which failed altogether to give adequate discipline for the eye and the hand, or to fit the scholar for skilled labor and for practical life. Parliament and public opinion have concurred in desiring to correct and supply this grave defect; and the technical instruction act and the local taxation (customs and excise) act are the national expression of a determination to do so. And these measures have already, as we all know, borne abundant fruit. No one can read, for example, the admirable and comprehensive report just presented to the London county council by its technical education board without seeing how completely the higher trades and the whole work of the skilled artisan in London will be transformed ere long by the well-devised efforts of that board to give a more scientific character to the instruction of apprentices and workmen, and so to improve the quality of the work done by them. "In the building, engineering, printing, furniture, silver working, and leather trades in particular, the London artisan has now within easy reach, at nominal fees, opportunities for thoroughly perfecting himself in his trade. Drawing, modeling, and design, which are in many respects the most valuable form of technical instruction for all crafts, are taught in 47 centers, besides many day schools and evening continuation schools." And then in detail the report enumerates the various classes and the forms of trade work:

(a) Building, with special instruction in bricklaying, brick-cutting, carpentry and joinery, masonry and stone carving, plumbing, and plastering, besides practical and theoretical teaching in architecture and design for those who are aiming at the higher branches of the profession.

(b) The metal trades, including engineering, electrical fitting, lighting, and plating, the work of goldsmiths, jewelers, and workers in silver, iron and steel.

(c) Book and printing trades, including engraving, book-binding, lithography, classes for artistic design, photography, and the application of the several arts concerned in the production of books and illustrated papers.

(d) The leather trades, with the arts of tanning, dyeing, and dressing leather. (e) Furniture and carriage building.

(f) Clothing and upholstery, which offer a very wide scope for skill, taste, and inventiveness.

The descriptions of the various classes engaged in these occupations, and the details of the various processes employed are full of suggestion and of interest, and inspire all of us with great hope. But every one of these manual employments has at its root some department of science. The nature of the material has to be studied, the laws of the various forces-chemical, mechanical, or biological-need to be investigated, and it is an essential part of an intelligent system of technical training that it should be from the first scientific in its character, and not empirical. In all these trades every rule employed which is worth adopting is founded on some principle or natural law which is worth investigating. But I cannot find in such experience as I have gained in technical institutions that attention enough is given to the scientific truths and principles which underlie the various forms of handicraft, and the knowledge of which makes all the difference between the mere mechanic and the intelligent artisan. I should not like to advocate the too early teaching of the science connected with a skilled trade. Still less does it seem to me

to be well to encourage the desire on the part of the young student to accumulate certificates in a certain number of sciences-chemistry, electricity, sound, light and heat, and so forth. This practice has, unfortunately, been much encouraged in former times by the regulations of the science and art department. It has led to the result that the young scholar measures his success by the number of sciences in