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ts of this city, who had gathered together to do honour to the memory of their famous townsman, Joseph Priestley; [1] and, if an

ry or posthumous fame with the highest good; and Priestley's life leaves no doubt that he, at any rate, set a much higher value upon the adv

ery. The kindly heart would be moved, the high sense of social duty would be satisfied, by the spectacle of well-earned wealth, neither squandered in tawdry luxury and vainglorious show, nor scattered with the care

had learned, the value of scientific training in fields of inquiry apparently far remote from physical science; in order to appreciate, a

from any which it could have possessed a hundred years ago. It appears to be an indication that we are reaching the crisis of the battle, or rather of the lon

and those of modern literature on the other; but, some thirty years [2] ago, the contest bec

of whom fights pretty much for his own hand. But the impressions of a full private, who has seen a good deal of service in the ranks, respecting the present position of affairs a

*

t with opposition of two kinds. On the one hand, they have been pooh-poohed by the men of business who pride themselves on being the representatives of practicality; while,

the future welfare of the arts and manufactures. They were of opinion that science is speculative rubbish; that theory and practice have not

d. But I have remarked that your typical practical man has an unexpected resemblance to one of Milton's angels. His spiritual wounds, such as are inflicted by logical weapons, may be as deep as a well and as wide as a church door, but beyond shedding a few drops of ichor, celestial or otherwise, he is n

cturing population. He seems to have had a hard fight, inasmuch as, by the time he was thirty years of age, his total disposable funds amounted to twenty pounds. Nevert

troops of friends," the hero of my story bethought himself of those who were m

etter than to provide them with the means of obtaining "sound, extensive, and practical scientific

of the Scientific College assures us, is no fable, nor can anything which I c

*

ucation is an absolutely essential condition of industrial progress; and that the College which has been opened to-day will con

er which the work of the College is to be carried out, are such as

o commit the administration of the College, so that they may be able to adjust its arrangements in accordance with the changing cond

e is concerned; theology is as stonily banished from its precincts; and finally, it is especiall

full conviction of their wisdom. But the third prohibition brings us face to face with those other opponents of scien

ge which, nevertheless, professes to give a high and efficient education, sharply criticised. Certainly the time wa

lief in the applicability of scientific methods to the search after truth of all kinds? How frequently one has reason to observe that no reply to a troublesome argument tells so well as calling its author a "mere scientific specialist." And, as I am afraid it is no

d is the case, he refers to the ordinary classical course of our schools and universities by the name of "me

such direct value to the student of physical science as to justify the expenditure of valuable time upon either; and the second is, that fo

ly by a liberal education; and a liberal education is synonymous, not merely with education and instruction in literature, but in one particular form of literature, namely, that of Greek and Roman antiquity. They hold that the man who has learned Latin and

writings of our chief apostle of culture to identify him with these opinions; and yet one may cull from one and another of tho

ederation, bound to a joint action and working to a common result; and whose members have, for their common outfit, a knowledge of Greek, Roman, and Eastern antiquity, and of one another. Special, local, and temporary advantages being put out of account, that mode

ticism of life is the essence of culture; the second, that literature cont

kill. It implies the possession of an ideal, and the habit of critically estimating the value of things by comparison with a theoretic stand

After having learnt all that Greek, Roman, and Eastern antiquity have thought and said, and all that modern literatures have to tell us,

that either nations or individuals will really advance, if their common outfit draws nothing from the stores of physical science. I should say that an army, without weapons of precision and with no p

*

o the study of development to clear it up. The rationale of cont

ago, deeds of foundation expressed or implied conditions as nearly as possible contrary to those which have been thought expedient by Sir Josiah Mason. That is to say,

of men alike animated by a strong and disinterested desire t

r knowledge of the western world was contained in works written in that language. Hence, Latin grammar, with logic and rhetoric, studied through Latin, were the fundamentals of education. With respect to the substa

from the data furnished by the theologians, conclusions in accordance with ecclesiastical decrees. They were allowed the high privilege of showing, by logical process, how and why that which the Churc

ses, the play-ground of the devil; they learned that the earth is the centre of the visible universe, and that man is the cynosure of things terrestrial; and more especially was it inculcated that the course of nature had no fixed order, but that it could be, and constantly was, altered by the agency of innumerable

tion, as in all other matters. Culture meant saintliness--after the fashion of the saints of those days;

ned. Indeed, as nature had been cursed for man's sake, it was an obvious conclusion that those who meddled with nature were likely to come into pretty close contact with Sat

development of Moorish civilisation in Spain and the great movement of the Crusades had introduced the leaven which, from that day to this, has never ceased to work. At first, through the intermediation of Arabic trans

ng possession of the rich inheritance left by the dead civilisations of Greece and Rome. Marvellously aided by the invention of printing, classica

of antiquity; there was no art to compete with their sculpture; there was no physical science but that which Greece had created. Above all, there was n

n a new foundation. Moreover, Latin itself ceased to afford the sole key to knowledge. The student who sought the highest thought of antiquity, found only a second-hand reflection of it in Roman literature, and turned his face to the

ervice to mankind. But the Nemesis of all reformers is finality; and the reformers of education, like those of relig

intellectual relations of the modern and the ancient worlds are profoundly different from those which obtained three centuries ago. Leaving aside the existence of a great and characteristically modern literature, of mod

is our daily life shaped by it, not only does the prosperity of millions of men depend upon it, but our whole theory of life has long bee

c investigation shows us that they offer a broad and striking contradic

a definite order with which nothing interferes, and that the chief business of mankind is to learn that order and govern themselves accordingly. Moreover this scientific "criticism of life" presents itself to us with different credentials from any other. It appeals not to authority, nor to what any

llectual fermentation than Erasmus did. Scholarly and pious persons, worthy of all respect, favour us with allocutions upon the sadness of the antagonism of science to their mediaeval way of thinking, which betray an ignora

earned specialists, but that they possess no such sound foundation for a criticism of life as deserves the name of culture. And, indeed, if we were disposed to be cruel

bear upon the mind of Western Europe had been wholly exhausted in the field of literature. I think it is very commonl

ell laid by them, that our children learn their geometry from a book written for the schools of Alexandria two thousand years ago. Modern astronomy is the natural continuation and development of the work of Hi

ess we understand the extent to which that criticism was affected by scientific conceptions. We falsely pretend to be the inheritors of their culture, unless we are penetrated

on, as it might be and as it sometimes is. The native capacities of mankind vary no less than their opportunities; and while culture is one, the road by which one man may best reach it is widely different from that which is most advantageous to another. Again, while scientific education is yet inchoate and tentative, classical education is thorough

life; for all these, in my opinion, classical education is a mistake; and it is for this reason that I am glad to see "mere literary education and instruction" shut

ithout it. An exclusively scientific training will bring about a mental twist as surely as an exclusively literary training. The value of the cargo do

ction in English, French, and German is provided, and thus the three gre

is not more than sufficient for purely scientific purposes, every Englishman has, in his native tongue, an almost perfect instrument of literary expression; and, in his own literature, models of every kind of litera

as for scientific education, and since artistic instruction is also contemplated, it seems t

n Institution, the object of which is defined to be "to promote the prosperity of the manufactures and the industry of the country." He may

ich is termed "pure science." But there is no more complete fallacy than this. What people call applied science is nothing but the application of pure science to particular classes of problems. It consists of deductions from those general principles, established by reaso

eally understanding them, unless he has obtained that mastery of principles and that habit of dealing with facts, which is given by long-continued and well-directed purely scientific training in the physical and

turing processes is only one of the conditions which contribute to the prosperity of industry. Industry is a means and not an end; and mank

hy desires, if the increasing perfection of manufacturing processes is to be accompanied by an i

efinite extent, modify the practical manifestation of the characters of men in their actions, by supplying them with motives unknown to the ignorant. A pleasure-loving character will have pleasure of some sort; but, if you give him the choice, he may prefer pleasures which do n

through it. No child born in Birmingham, henceforward, if he have the capacity to profit by the opportunities offered to him, first in the primary and other sc

ovement of manufacturing processes, not merely upon the ennobling of the individual character, but upon a third condition, namely, a clear understanding of the conditions of social life, on the part of both the capitalist and the operative, and their agreement upon common principles of social action. The

in the instruction of the College; yet in this country, practically governed as it is now by universal suffrage, every man who does his duty must exercise political functions. And, if the evils which are inseparable from the good of political liberty are to be checked, if the perpetual oscillation of nations between anarchy and despotism is to be replaced by the steady march of self-restraining freedom; it will be beca

ch now commences its beneficent career, our congratulations on the completion of his work; and in expressing the conviction, that the

tno

st essay in

n by George Combe and others commenced a good deal earlier; but the moveme

Criticis