.....

the constitution and management of the School of Design." This Committee, after examining the school, and gathering the evidence of manufacturers and artists, submitted a report, in which the Committee conclude:-"From a general review of the evidence, it is clear that the schools, though far from having attained the degree of perfection of which they appear capable, are producing beneficial effects, and may in due time be expected, with energetic support and under judicious management, to realize the anticipations with which they have been founded. . . Large as the field of usefulness appeared when these schools were established, it has been found by experience to be very much larger than was anticipated. As the managers of the schools have proceeded, they have found the work grow under their hands. For the teaching of ornamental art necessarily presupposed the students having attained to a certain degree of proficiency in elementary studies; and this proficiency few if any were found to have acquired; so that it has been necessary to impart it at the beginning of each man's education. The demand for such teaching has been so great in proportion to the means which the schools possess of supplying it, that they have of necessity assumed more of the character of elementary institutions than was originally expected. The importance of this sound elementary grounding has not always been comprehended, and too great anxiety has been shown in some cases to reap premature fruits from the schools; but the Committee believe that what has been done was both necessary and important, and that, under the circumstances of the case, the managers have been right in endeavoring to raise the taste of the great mass of artisans, rather than by special efforts to force on a few eminent designers."

These views are sustained by the evidence of manufacturers and practical designers, published with the Report. Over 15,000 students, up to 1849, had attended the schools, and a large proportion of them were connected with existing establishments, and have had a marked effect on the taste of the country, both in directly training designers, improving the skill of under-drawers and fillers-up, and creating a demand for an improved domestic fabric, over the foreign. An indirect advantage accrued from the visits made by the masters and teachers to the schools and manufactories of Paris, in consequence of which the superior training and workmanship of the latter was seen and felt, and a higher standard of possible attainment set up. The methods of instruction, although open to criticism, were found in the main to be in harmony with similar schools abroad-and the shortcomings of the schools were to be attributed to the narrow field which they occupied, to the low appreciation in which the culture which they afford is held by the public in general, and by manufacturers in particular-and that the public interests required an extension of the special means of instruction, and the rapid and universal improvement of the popular taste of art and artistic production.

At the close of this period (which ushered in the first International Exhibition at London in 1851 under the auspices of the Society of Arts and on the suggestion of Prince Albert), there were nineteen Schools of Art in the provinces which received direct parliamentary grants for their support, which, after 1848, were placed in the hands of local committees, and which, by the action of the government in 1852, were placed under the supervision of the Department of Practical Art, and in 1853, of the Department of Science and Art.

DEPARTMENT OF PRACTICAL ART.

On the 29th of January, 1852, the Lords Committee of the Privy Council for Trade, by whom the Schools of Design were administered, addressed a note to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, to this effect: "That while in many respects there was reason to be satisfied with the progress of the schools, and the influence they had exerted on ornamental art in the kingdom, they believed there were serious defects in the present management, which greatly impair their efficiency, and tend to result in their disorganization. With this view they proposed to create a Department in the Board of Trade to be called the Department of Practical Art, and to consist of two officers to be intrusted with the management of the Schools of Design, under their present direction, and to be assisted by the present Secretary of the Schools of Design. They proposed that one of these officers should give his whole time to the business of the Department, and be responsible for its proper management, and that the other officer should be an artist of high professional character, whose advice and assistance would be indispensable, but who could not give up his whole time to the business." On this general plan of administration the new Department was organized in 1852, and made a Report in 1853, when a new organization was instituted.

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE.

The science schools and classes, which now exist in more than five hundred places in the United Kingdom, have been brought into existence chiefly by the agency of the Science and Art Department, a branch of the Education Department of the Committee of Council, under the direction of the Lord President of the Council, assisted by the Vice-President of the Committee on Education.

The origin of the science division of this department may be said to date from the year 1852, when the subject of giving encouragement to the advancement of practical science was mentioned in the following words, by her Majesty, in her speech from the throne, on the 10th November, 1852, in opening the session of Parliament:-"The advancement of the fine arts and of practical science will be readily recognized by you as worthy of the attention of a great and enlightened nation. I have directed that a comprehensive scheme shall be laid before you, having in view the promotion of these objects, towards which I invite your aid and coöperation."

This scheme was presented in the Second Report of the Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851, composed of thirty members eminent in science, art, and public affairs in the kingdom, with Prince Albert as chairman. This remarkable document, in the light which the Great Exhibition had thrown on the strong and the weak points of the industry of Great Britain, as compared with the same condition in other countries, especially in France and Germany, after setting forth the efforts made by individuals, societies, and the government, for the promotion of Science and Art, as the surest tests of the advancement of a nation in the scale of civilization and general prosperity, pointed out at the same time, the want of system in the application of these forces to produce the beneficial effects which ought to be realized, especially in the field of artistic design and perfected skill in her manufactures. To this end the Commissioners recommended a union of all the institutions chartered and aided by the gov ernment for the promotion of Science and Art, under one official administration, so far as productive industry was concerned.

In order to carry out this proposal, the Board of Trade, in a letter addressed to the Treasury, and signed by Mr. Cardwell, on the 16th March, 1853, suggested the formation of a Department of Science, similar to the one already existing under that Board for the encouragement of practical art.

These two branches were to be formed into one, the motive power to be local and voluntary, and mainly self-supporting. This letter further advised the formation of a metropolitan establishment for the collection of illustrations, models, &c., of both science and art, and of a science school of a very high class, where pupils should complete their training, and from which information

might be circulated to the provincial schools. The Government School of Mines and of Science applied to the Arts was to discharge the functions of this Metropolitan School of Science, and accordingly, with several other institutions, namely, the Museum of Practical Geology, the Geological Survey, the Museum of Irish Industry, the Royal Dublin Society, and, later, the Science and Art Museum, Edinburgh, was proposed to be placed under this new department.

Her Majesty's Treasury approved of this proposal, laying particular stress on the idea that the best method of encouraging local institutions would be attained by the creation of a metropolitan school for science; and, accordingly, the Board of Trade Department of Science and Art, as it was to be called, came into existence.

During the first six years, that is, from 1853 to 1859, very little was done for the promotion of science, the title of Science and Art Department being almost a misnomer. A few experiments were tried, and offers held out to localities to take up the subject of science instruction, but only eleven places in the United Kingdom responded. These were, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle, Poplar (Green's Sailors' Home), Stoke, St. Thomas' Charterhouse, Truro, Wigan, and Wandsworth. The attempts at Leeds, Newcastle, Stoke, Truro, and Wandsworth were, however, soon given up, and the want of success of the plans pursued may be judged of from the fact that the aid from the Department to all the science classes, for the six years, amounted to but £898, the great difficulty in all cases being to obtain any fair amount of local interest and pecuniary support, without which, at that time, it was not considered desirable to grant State aid.

In the year 1857, a Treasury Commission, composed of Lord Granville, Sir S. Northcote, and Sir C. Trevelyan, recommended that the Department of Science and Art should be transferred from the Board of Trade, and placed under the Lord President of the Council, assisted by a vice-president of the Committee of Council on Education, as a branch, though distinct from the Department for Primary Education.

It may, therefore, be said that, up to the year 1859, there existed no general system of aid to science instruction which might be taken advantage of by any locality for its artisan population. In that year the minute of the 2d June was passed by Lord Salisbury and Mr. C. B. Adderley, to give aid in obtaining instruction in the following subjects, viz.:

1. Practical and descriptive geometry, with mechanical and machine drawing, and building construction. 2. Physics. 3. Chemistry. 4. Geology, mineralogy (applied to mining). 5. Natural history.

By this minute, payments were to be made to teachers on certificate allowance, and also on results, but in all cases the local managers were to guarantee for the support of the school, from fees or local funds, a sum at least equal to the government grants.

This last condition would have rendered the spread of science schools very slow, if not altogether impossible, but it was never imposed. It was argued, and no doubt with great truth, that, when persons desire a thing, they are willing to pay for it, and the amount of their liberality will be in proportion to the desire they have for attaining the object; thus, if a locality could not meet the State half-way in the cost of a science school, no doubt the demand for the school and the desire to create it were not very great. It is, however, clear that the more the school is really required, the greater is the apathy frequently displayed concerning it, and that consequently this is a reason, not for withdrawing, but for increasing the State aid.

In March, 1860, the first Science Directory, containing all the regulations on which aid to science instruction was to be granted, was issued, and the condition concerning local subscriptions was withdrawn, though the importance of all students paying fees, and as large fees as can be possibly obtained, has since been strongly urged. The real cause of the great success of the present plan, which, with various modifications in detail, has been in operation since 1860, is that, without irksome conditions, offers have been held out to enterprising teachers to form classes. The plans, from 1853 to 1860, all seemed intended, as it were, to awaken the locality to a sense of its duties and responsibilities to perform the task of educating its artisan classes, not only without profit to itself, but at a sacrifice of both time and money. The new plan held out offers

to teachers. It said, "If you will qualify yourselves to teach, passing such and such an examination, the State will remunerate you for every artisan you can manage to get hold of, and induce to be taught; the amount of the remuneration to be in proportion to the amount of instruction imparted; or, if the teaching is deficient, and brings forth no fruit at the annual examination, no payment is to be made." No arrangement could be more satisfactory from a tax-payer's point of view. The country desired science instruction to its artisans, and it obtained it at a first cost, without any costly machinery or establishment. All the risk of success, the chief work of organizing the schools and getting the pupils together, fell mainly upon the teachers, whose pecuniary interest it was to make them answer. Consequently the scheme became a sound commercial undertaking, in which the community, under every condition, was a gainer.

It must be considered also that this system provided a means of educating teachers, somewhat slow at first, though probably as fast as was then required, and that, too, at no cost to the State, such as an outlay on science-training colleges would have involved. Pupils of superior ability, after prosecuting their studies for several years in a science class, have become most successful teachers. As might be supposed, in the early years, this system grew but slowly, owing to the apathy of districts and the scarcity of teachers. A uniform and steady increase, however, was manifested from the first, and of late the development of the scheme has been most rapid, as may be judged from the following table:

In the year 1862, eight (afterwards increased to nine) exhibitions to the Royal School of Mines were established; and, in 1865, ten (afterwards reduced to nine) more to the newly-created Royal College of Science in Dublin.

Total expenditure in 1869-70, for general management, 9,4724; for South Kensington, 86,7287.; for Schools in connection, 82,7937., including 10,6921. for London School of Mines; for Edinburgh Museum, 7,2501.; for Royal Dublin Society, 8,564.; for Dublin Royal College of Science, 6,6927.; Geological Survey, 18,7911.; other objects, 8001. Total, 220,3441.

Total Expenditures from 1853 to 1870 for Science and Art. Schools-Science and Art,. . . . .

.£373,075

51,884

26,289

38,763

231,740

93,991

19,792

57,611

30,276

116,736

Fires and Gas,

Police Attendance,..

Salaries,...

SCIENCE AND ART DEPARTMENT,

AND THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.

WE propose to present the design and development of the Sci-. ence and Art Department in copious extracts from a series of Introductory Addresses, prepared and delivered in the autumn of 1857, for the express purpose of commending the special object of each portion of this great national movement and institution to the atten tion and coöperation of the people of Great Britain.

FUNCTIONS OF THE SCIENCE AND ART DEPARTMENT.*

The Science and Art Department is rather a consolidation of institutions, most of which have been long established, than the creation of any new ones. The oldest institution connected with the Department is the Royal Dublin Society, which as early as 1800 received an annual public grant of 15,500, a sum it disbursed without being subject to much parliamentary control. The School of Mines, Geological Museum in Jermyn Street, and Geological Survey, were in process of organization from 1837 to 1851, and were placed under the Chief Commissioner of Public Works. The Industrial Museum of Ireland owes its origin to Sir Robert Peel in 1845, and was also subject to the Chief Commissioner of Works, whilst the School of Design, which is the parent of the present Schools of Art located in all parts of the United Kingdom, and supported mainly by local authority and action, was founded in 1837 by Mr. Poulett Thompson, afterwards Lord Sydenham, and was subject to the authority of the Board of Trade.

All these institutions had in view the promotion of scientific and artistic knowledge of an industrial tendency at the expense of the State, but they acted in different ways, independently of each other, and were subject to different kinds of ministerial responsibility.

After the Exhibition of 1851, public opinion unanimously demanded that the State should give more systematic assistance to the scientific and artistic education of the people than it had hitherto done; and it was an obvious process, and in accordance with the working of institutions in this country, rather to improve and consolidate what existed already than to create a new institution. Accordingly, in 1852, whilst Mr. Cardwell was President of the Board of Trade, the Royal Dublin Society, the Mining Museum and School in Jermyn Street, the Industrial Museums of Ireland and Scotland, with the Department of Practical Art, were united to form the Department of Science and Art under a single parliamentary authority, and were required to publish an annual statement of the results of their working.

The Science and Art Department now constitutes the division of the Committee of Council on Education, charged with the duty of offering to the public increased means for promoting secondary or adult education. All the functions attaching to primary education remain as a separate division of the Committee of Council, and are carried on at Whitehall. The recent transfer of the Science

• An Address on the Functions of the Science and Art Department. By Henry Cole, Secretary and Superintendent. Delivered Nov. 16, 1857.