The "elementary" physics education in Cambridge university was reformed in mid-1880s. It was the result of an interaction between institutional changes and educational views of teaching staff of the Cavendish laboratory. This paper examines this interaction. What was the method and content of the "elementary" laboratory education that emerged as a result of this interaction? In 1881, the Natural Science Tripos was divided into two parts : the elementary part (NST-I), and the advanced part (NST-II). This change in the NST produced a great effect upon the teaching of physics. The lecture and the experiment in Cavendish laboratory were divided in the same way. The instruction in experimental work was not systematized to the extent necessary for the preparation of NST-I, and students were left a good deal to themselves to cope with their difficulties unaided. Cavendish laboratory was the first to be responsible for this kind of "elementary" education. With the change in examination subjects, number of lectures and demonstrations in experimental physics were steadily increased. These were mainly due to the increase in students who chose the subjects. This changed condition must have become burdens to the Cavendish teaching staff, but it acted as an imperative for improving the teaching method itself. During the period of 1883-1885, R. T. Glazebrook and W. N. Shaw actively participated in this reform as "demonstrators". They carefully analyzed the situation, and finally chose the method devised by E. C. Pickering, an MIT professor at the time. When the class entered the laboratory, each member went to see the instructions, and after seeing what experiment was assigned to him, went to the table where he found the necessary instruments, and performed the experiment with the aid of the experimental manual—Practical Physics. Practical Physics covered the ground of the elementary portion of the work required for the NST-I. To some degree, this method resulted in a success in elementary education for physicists. At the turn of the century, some great physicists in Britain were Cambridge graduates who were trained in this new method. They included C. T. R. Wilson, C. W. Richardson, and R. J. Strutt. Lord Kelvin, J. C. Maxwell, and J. J. Thomson were also great stars in physics and were Cambridge graduates. Although both of these two groups were all Cambridge graduates, the former were basically different from the latter in the method and the content of the "elementary" laboratory education they had received in experimental physics.