Abstract
THE Lord Chief Justice, Lord Alverstone, G.C.M.G., P.C., distributed the prizes at the annual prize distribution at the Northampton Polytechnic Institute, London, E.C., on Thursday, December 8. In the course of his address, after the distribution of the prizes, he remarked that one reason why perhaps years ago we had fallen back was that this country and this metropolis had not then been aroused to the necessity of thoroughly good technical education, but that now immense good had been done to all the outlying districts of the metropolis, as well as to the City itself, by the establishment of the great polytechnics and by their capability for doing good work and of leading their students to higher and better grades. With reference to the proposed establishment of a great institution of technical optics in connection with the Northampton Polytechnic, he recalled a visit he paid years ago to the workshops of Messrs. Beck, and was satisfied that with the development of science that was now going forward practical optics would take a very prominent place in the future; he hoped that the polytechnic, with the support of those interested in it and the support of public bodies, would be able to say next year that the building of the new optical school had been commenced. It was always, he considered, a matter of regret when the educational facilities of any branch of technical industry were cribbed, cabin'd, and confined, and he further expressed the opinion that it was of very great importance that any school of practical technology or practical instruction in any expert business should be able to command the best apparatus and the best accommodation, because if it did not it would soon take second place. In these days specialisation is absolutely necessary in every trade, and after the preliminary training in fundamental subjects the time soon comes when specialisation must begin with the students, for in the present day it is no good scratching at a subject, but it must be gone through right to the bottom, so that the higher branches may be developed. Rapid modern developments, for instance, in electricity are constantly calling upon the institution for better apparatus, upon the teachers for greater acquirements, and upon the students for greater application.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
The Work of Polytechnic Institutes . Nature 85, 220–221 (1910). https://doi.org/10.1038/085220b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/085220b0