MONUMENT TO THE LATE DR. BIRKBECK.
Da. BIRKBECK was one of the rare men whose merits may be tried by the hazardous test of what they have done. Good intentions are plentiful as blackberries; plausible speakers abound; but the men who have judgment to adapt their means to their ends, and perseverance to toil on till something is accomplished, are compa- ratively few in number. They who possess such qualities may justly be considered as animated by an. intenser vitality than the common herd—as more real existences than the sounds and shadows which usually pass muster for men. Others, even earlier than Dr. Ihax.nEcE, had imagined the pos- sibility of extending scientific education to the working classes, and made some attempt to carry their views into effect : the ame- lioration of all classes by education was the predominant idea, the passion of his day. But while others were wishing,, and talking about, and making desultory attempts, he to a considerable extent accomplished what was the general wish. So, in the age which preceded his, there were multitudes to talk sentimentalism with Rousseau; but there was only one HOWARD, and only two or three gathered together with GRANVILIJ3 SHARPE and CLeaEson. So, at the time of BERKILECK'S activity, there were many advocates of elementary education; but there was only one JOSEPH LANCASTER. The controversy as to the comparative originality of BELL and Lasicasrita leaves the grand merit of the Quaker untouched : he was the first who practically demonstrated at how little cost a large number of poor children may be instructed, and thus brought all grades of society within the pale of elementary education. Dr. BIRK- BECK is entitled to rank with the HOWARDS and LANCASTERS—With the impassioned, persevering, practical philanthropists ; a class less dazzling than the men of imaginative endowments, less awfully great than the philosophers, but endowed with. an intense power for good, which it becomes us to reverence. Dr. BIRKBECK was appointed Professor of Mechanical Science in the Andersouian University of Glasgow, an institution founded for the purpose of extending a knowledge of science to the non-scholas- tic merchants and malaufacturers of that busy emporium. He had frequent occasion to employ workmen in the construction of machines and models ; and it was necessary to watch closely the progress of tasks with which the artificers he employed were not familiar. The frequent intercourse with the operatives, thus brought about, impressed him not only with friendly feelings towards them, but with a respect for their shrewdness and abilities. In common with many of his contemporaries, he had often reflected upon the in- creased power of perfecting his manufacture, and of benefiting himself, which would be possessed by the workman if familiar with the theory in addition to the mechanical exercise of his art. His conversations with the workmen convinced him that it was possible to instruct them in the theory of mechanics, and suggested the means of doing it. He formed a class of artisans for teaching them those principles of science which explain the rationale of the mechanical arts.
This was only his first step. The class was formed in con- nexion with the Andersonian University, an institution entirely under the control of persons in easy circumstances ; and one of the great impediments in the way of extending scientific education to the working men soon showed itself. Well. conditioned rich people have a spirit of philanthropy that inclines them to do good to those in poorer circumstances, but it is rarely that they understand how to effect their benevolent intentions. They are rarely satisfied with helping the poor man to be happy in his own way ; they insist upon making him enjoy a happiness which they have imagined for him. This drilling, pedagogue tendency, is above all mischievous where the object is to extend to the industrious poor the benefits of knowledge. A man's instruction must be mainly his own work ; you can only assist his spontaneous efforts. The beat guarantee that the operatives are in a condition to receive instruction, is given by their selecting the points upon which they wish to have inforraa- tion, and exerting themselves to procure it. The business of their opulent educated friends ought to be to encourage and enlighten these efforts ; but instead of doing so, they too often take upon themselves to say, " This is the kind of instruction you must have ; this is the manner in which you must receive it." The pragmatical interference of the Directors of the Andersonian University with the artisans class led to its secession from that institution, and its erection into a Mechanics Institute in the management of which the artisans had a voice along with their wealthier friends and as- sistants. Dr. Bfiturieca had the discernment to see that this was the true course, and he lent his powerful aid to this new institution. When removed to another sphere of action, he devoted much of his time and income to promote the establishment of similar insti- tutions in the Metropolis, and wherever a disposition to establish them manifested itself throughout the country. Mechanics Insti- tutes are still few in number compared with the wants of the country ; and in too many instances they are Mechanics Institutes in name only ; but the possibility of their existence, and the be- nefit to be derived from them, have been experimentally established. It has been alleged against them, that they seek only to cultivate man's intellectual faculties, to the neglect of his moral being. The very men who are loudest in urging this complaint have in a great measure been the cause of it. The battle to be fought against pre- judices in obtaining the sanction of the holders of political power for institutions intended to convey a modicum of scientific in- struction to artisans has been hard enough ; what would it have been had their founders asked to interfere with the monopoly claimed by the clergy in bestowing moral instruction ? Mechanics Institutes have been allowed to grow up on the condition that they did not meddle with morals and religion. It is an exaggeration even to call them institutions for cultivating the intellectual fa- culties of the working classes. At first they aspired no higher than to communicate such a knowledge of the principles of me- chanics and chemistry, as would enable artisans to exercise their callings with more intelligence and success. In few instances has more been attempted, and that generally with very doubtful utility. The classes in mechanical and chemical science, or in branches of instruction subordinate to them, are the only ones that have in any instance been steadily supported for a length of time. The only arrangements for communicating general knowledge that have pros- pered have been those which connected reading-rooms or libraries with the Institutes. What Mechanics Institutes, even where most successful, have been able to accomplish, is barely the communica- tion of a small portion of knowledge which may be of direct prac- tical use to the artisan in his calling. It is impossible that any mind can receive such tuition without being led to thirst for more, or without having its faculties insensibly strengthened and sharp- ened for the further pursuit of knowledge : but that is an indirect derivative benefit, not the immediate object of those institutions.
Dr. BIRKBECK'S views were not limited to this, but he knew that a beginning must be made. His merit consisted irt discover- ing the means by which the labouring classes might most easily be taught to feel the practical benefits of knowledge—in seeing the necessity of allowing them to do a great deal thr themselves—in not attempting to accomplish too much at once. He knew that one accession of knowledge awakens the desire for another ; and he assisted in making preparations for the increased appetite for instruction, which grows by what it feeds upon. Ho took a warm interest and active part in the efforts of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge to prepare libraries less per- haps for the present than for future generations of readers. He promoted with all his power the foundation of a new University, which might promote that higher education without which all elementary tuition must become a parrot-like repetition of empty forms of words. He has been both a prominent and an influential agent in promoting that extension of the quantity and improve- ment in the quality of education which have been experienced i our day. In this retrospective outline, we have been anxious to sp guardedly—to avoid expressions of vague eulogy, which ix.. convey an erroneous impression of the kind of qualities possessea. by Dr. BIRILBECK. It was not in their kind that they were rare or wonderful, but in their intensity. He was in the scientific world what men of great common sense are in practical life. He was not a man of genius, but he was animated by a spirit of enlight- ened practical benevolence so active and so untiring as to be of more rare occurrence than even genius. The universal recognition of his merits establishes the justice of a public tribute to his me- mory. The reputation of a man whose memory commands the homage of BROUGHAM LYNDHURST, and BASIL MONTAGUE, Rus- SELL and GRAHAM, 'WYLDE and PoLLocic, Hume, Roenucir, and MoNcErosi MiLses, stands upon a broad basis. And no more appropriate monument can well be imagined than that which has been resolved upon—the foundation, in University College, which be helped to establish, of a Professorship which may rear up teachers for those institutions which owe their existence mainly to him,
Previous page
