Lord Granville made a noteworthy speech at Manchester on scientific
education. He was distributing the Oxford local exami- nation certificates, and took occasion to show the difference between the tone of Oxford and Manchester. Mediaeval Oxford offers to examine in physics, in chemistry, in geology, in mineralogy, and modern Manchester sends up only nine candidates, of whom only six succeeded. Some letters deploring the English deficiency in scientific education were sent to a number of competent jurors who had attended the Exhibition at Paris. Sixteen of them replied, men of every class, and they all agreed that scientific knowledge was more successfully applied upon the Continent than with us. Lord Granville prayed Manchester to take the lead in scientific education, and to decide that it really wished for an instruction wider than that which a knowledge of Greek plays could give. " I remember," said his Lordship, " two years ago one of the ablest members of the legal profession, whilst advocating classical education, quoted the answer of a Manchester manufac- turer who, being asked what he wished the end of his son's educa- tion to be, answered, " An acquaintance with the Greek plays." The answer was an excellent one as far as it went, but it did not go far enough.
Previous page
