Abstract
THE three courses of Lectures to Working Men given at the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, during the present session, by the staff of the Normal School of Science and the Royal School of Mines, came to an end last Monday, and, as on former occasions, it gave rise to regret that more cannot be done in this direction, both with regard to the number of courses given, and the number of persons accommodated in each case. The theatre at Jermyn Street restricts the audience to something over 600, while of late years the applications for tickets have never been less than 2,000. The tickets for each course— for which sixpence is charged as a registration fee—are given only to bonâ fide working-men, who must bring with them a paper on which is stated their name and occupation. Some of the lectures of the last course—that given by Mr. Norman Lockyer, on “The Earth and its Movements”—were listened to by the Japanese Minister, and an official connected with the Education Department of Japan. At their request a list was drawn up showing the trades of the audience. This list, in the case of 500 who attended the last course, we are permitted to give, and we think our readers will find it an interesting one. Seeing that there is this anxiety on the part of working men to learn, and that less than one in three of those so desirous of learning can have an opportunity of doing so, we trust that in future years the Lecture Theatre at South Kensington will be utilised in this direction, as well as that at Jermyn Street. There is little doubt, of course, that a Liberal Government, represented by the Treasury officials, naturally anxious in all ways to protect the public purse against all claims, whether good or bad, might object to this being done at the public cost, but seeing that the lectures are given as a labour of love by the various professors such an objection would scarcely be urged, and we confess too that we should not only like to see the theatre at South Kensington utilised in this way, but the theatres at University College, King's College, and other institutions that might be named. We do not believe that the professors at these institutions are less anxious for the progress of knowledge among the working classes than those who are connected with the Government School, and this being so, we may hope to see at some future time a united effort to supply what is at present a great want, and a gap in our educational programme.
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Lectures to Working Men . Nature 28, 33 (1883). https://doi.org/10.1038/028033a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/028033a0