THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. APRIL, 1868. I. HOW SCIENCE TEACHING IS FOSTERED BY THE STATE. * It is rather more than three years since there appeared in these pages an article upon that department of our executive which supports, or at least professes to support Science tuition in this country. We there briefly reviewed the history of the movement, pointed out the defects in its management, and expressed an opinion as to its future, which it will now be found was not arrived at without proper consideration. As a Committee of the House of Commons is about to be nominated to inquire into the whole system of scientific and industrial training for the artizan classes in England, and as the subject has of late absorbed a large share of public attention, it may be instructive for us to return for a moment to the earlier phases of the movement, and compare them with its present aspect. As we stated in our former article, the scheme of Science teaching was originally set on foot by the Conservatives, Lord Salisbury being President of the Committee of Council on Education. The Government enlisted the services of men of Science as teachers, by offering them small annual payments upon their obtaining certificates of competency at South Kensington (varying from 107. to 201. according to the grade of the certificate for each subject in which they gave instruction); and it further sought and readily obtained the honorary aid of persons throughout the country, who from disinterested motives were willing to act as members of committees to see the Government grants fairly applied. There were other inducements, such as prize-fees, held out to teachers to raise up intelligent men of Science from amongst the artizans of the country; and as to the latter, that is to say the students, they received handsomely bound books called Queen's Prizes, and were invited to compete for gold, silver, and bronze national medals. * "The Science and Art Department,” ‘Quarterly Journal of Science,' No. V. (vol. ii.), July, 1865. VOL. V. M Those liberal measures had the effect of calling into existence a large number of Science schools and classes, which were well attended by intelligent artizans, and were, as a rule, ably presided over by teachers of no mean scientific attainments. A change of Government, however, initiated a new, if not a wiser policy, and when Mr. Lowe took the direction of affairs he extended the system of "payments on results," with which he was, and still appears to be, so well pleased, to the Science teachers of the country; and whilst he effected a considerable reduction in the payments made to those gentlemen who were already engaged in the work, he, or the department under him, made great efforts to establish new classes, and to swell the list of pupils and teachers which is published in each new 'Directory.' It is not very difficult to anticipate what would be the result of such a change. Teachers who had been receiving 100%. or 1507. from the State, soon found their incomes dwindling away to one-half or a fourth of that sum, and when the Government issued a "recommendation," as they did soon afterwards, that the fees of students should be increased to meet the deficit, accompanied by the gentle hint that State aid was liable to be withdrawn altogether, the School Committees had no alternative but to follow their instructions, and to drive away a considerable number of those persons, both pupils and teachers, who had been attracted by the bounty of the State. Between the years 1860 and 1864, with a rapidlyincreasing list of teachers, entailing an amount of work which rendered it necessary to double the sum expended in the management at South Kensington, there was hardly any increase in the estimates. for the payment of teachers, so that practically the Government was "robbing Peter to pay Paul;" and it was at this stage of the movement that the article appeared in which we pointed out the injustice and impolicy of such a proceeding, and predicted that it would have a most injurious effect upon the scientific education of the people. Our remarks concluded with an explanation of the reason why the Science teachers had not protested against the breach of faith on the part of the State, and it simply amounted to this: they had been decoyed into a profession, for which they were willing to make great sacrifices; they were comparatively few in numbers; and any resistance to the heads of the department would only have made its initiators marked men, and might have subjected them to great annoyance. They suffered as long as they could, and many of them were compelled for a time to live upon a pittance which we should consider it an insult to offer to a skilled labourer. One gentleman (one of the best teachers in the three kingdoms), who was at first in receipt of a fair income from the State and from his pupils, many of whom were distinguished by the possession of valuable medals, retired from the profession and now occupies a humble, but at least an honourable appointment in connection with one of the learned societies. Another (a Doctor of Science of London University), recently deceased, who was the ablest teacher the department could boast, and whose certificates were high and numerous, received about 1007. for teaching one large class at the commencement of his career, and by extraordinary industry raised his income to twice or three times that amount; whilst at his death he was giving instruction in three different towns, and as far as our memory serves, his whole remuneration from the State amounted to about 307. or 407. He, too, was seeking gradually to free himself from the connection with South Kensington by practising as an analytical chemist, and, had he survived, would not long have remained a servant of the State. These are by no means isolated examples, not only of what has happened, but, as we shall see presently, of what is still taking place amongst our best teachers and institutions. Then as to the Committees. Finding the support of the State gradually withdrawn, and the number of students rapidly diminishing in consequence of increased fees, perceiving in fact that their vessels would be allowed to run ashore wherever it pleased the tide to drift them, the gentlemen who had acted as pilots either deserted them or became indifferent to their fate. The teachers were allowed to take matters under their own management; secretaries played into their hands; examination papers were opened before the authorized hour, and copies of them sent to the teachers who were waiting outside to put down the answers; these were sent back and surreptitiously delivered to the students, who came off with flying colours and carried away prizes and medals in triumph. Of course this oozed out at length, and then " My Lords" issued an indignant circular, informing committees of those practices, stating that they had cancelled the papers of such and such classes, and rendered the regulations still more stringent and distasteful to gentlemen of honour, who were giving their valuable time gratuitously to the service of the State. Teachers and students were alike disgusted. How did they know for what length of time these practices had been carried on, and how many medals they had lost in consequence? And how did they know whether these transactions might not still be taking place to their prejudice? But it may be objected on the part of those who uphold the present system that the number of schools has largely increased during the last few years notwithstanding all these defects; and we may be told that whilst in 1865, the year following the appearance of our article already referred to, the Directory only noted the existence of 121 Science schools in the three kingdoms, that of 1867 gives us a list of 213 such institutions. Whether this is a fair test of the success of the system, or Brentford Christchurch Dudley Duckenfield whether it is not rather the result of factitious means which have been employed to create a false appearance, we shall now proceed to consider, first from the printed statistics of the department, and secondly from those sources that have been laid open to us by the managers of the various institutions which have been affected by the system. The following schools were in existence in 1865 with the number of students placed opposite their names; those schools are now entirely closed, at least their names do not appear in the 'Directory' of 1867: Educational Institute Village Library .. Exton Boys' School 11 Glossop Working Men's Institute 16 Gulworthy Kidderminster Loughborough London Macclesfield Newcastle-on-Tyne.. Slaithwaite Mechanics' Institute Mechanics' Institute Girls' School Grammar School National School .. St. Leonard's Schoolhouse Mutual Improvement Society 9 20 28 190 29 Athenæum Christian School Christian Brothers' School Thirty schools, therefore, including those at such important centres of industry as Dudley, Glossop, Macclesfield, Marsden, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Staleybridge, and Stourbridge, have already disappeared; and if it had not been for the devotion manifested by teachers, or the repeated appeals of committees to raise the necessary funds for paying those teachers even a small pittance to retain their services, the number of important schools which have been closed would have been largely augmented. And now turning from the Directory' of 1865 to that of 1867, let us supplement the inquiry concerning the schools that |