vi AMERICAN PREFACE.
selects as the most promising candidates for art-masters, and
who, npon finishing the course, are expected to take Charge of art-
schools in different parts of the kingdom. Thus the South Ken-
sington Museum is the great centre of art-instruction for the ^
whole kingdom ; but it is only the centre. The educational influ-
ence of the government is feit everywhere; and, in all important
industrial towns, art-schools for instruction in drawing, model-
ling, aud design have also been established. These schools,
under the supervision of the Science and Art Department, are
sustained in part by the government, in part by the local authori-
ties, in part by fees; it being the prineipal object to improve the
local manufacturos by making them more artistic, and to pro-
mote machine and building construetion. They continue to in-
crease from year to year. According to the offlcial report for
1872, they numbered 122, 1 and were attended by 22,845 students;
to wliom a'dd the 765 students who attended the National Art
Training School at South Kensington. Thus for every 210,000
of the population, there was one well-appointed art-school, wholly ^
devoted to art-instruction, with an average of 190 students.
There was also a large number of Science schools in wliich draw
ing was taught, 69 submitting papers for payments and prizes.
Of night classes for giving instruction in drawing to artisans, and
to youth more than twelve j T ears old, there were 538, with an
attendance amounting to 17,256. Then it is not tobe overlooked,
that drawing forms an important part of the instruction given
in elementary schools, both public and private. Thus, in the
“schools for the poor’’ alone, 194,549 children were instructed
in drawing, the same j-ear, 1872. And so a more or lcss efficient
knowledge of art, as applied to industry, is rapidly spreading
among all the industrial classes of Great Britain.
The advocates of populär instruction in Science as applied to
industiy, seeing the great success which has attended the efforts *
in favor of art, are strenuously urging the government to treat
Science in the same systematic and liberal manner. The vast
things they contemplate are minutely described by E. Twining, in
his book on “Technical Training,” and by J. Scott Russell, in
bis book entitled “ Systematic Technical Education for the Eng-
1 See note, p. 125. *
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