SCIENCE-TEACHING IN ENGLISH SCHOOLS. 281 



ment on, for or against variation in the shape of any of tlie brighter 

 portions of the nebula. 



It is hoped that enough has been said to show how much care, 

 skill, and patience, have been spent upon these drawings, and to sliow, 

 too, how important are the conclusions which may be drawn from 

 them. Their careful discussion involves considerations which might 

 be out of place here, but which are Avell worth general attention. A 

 full explanation of diiferent methods has been given in the hope that 

 some of the large telescopes in various parts of the United States 

 in the hands of private gentlemen may be devoted to work of this 

 class, in which it is easy for an amateur, with but a trifling expendi- 

 ture of time and labor, to produce valuable results. Provided only 

 that the work be done conscientiously and faithfully, it will be a 

 definite gain to astronomy ; without such care and fidelity, it will only 

 introduce new confusion. 



SCIEXCE-TEACniXG IX ENGLISH SCHOOLS. ' 



By Kev. W. TUCKWELL. 



THREE times within the last twelve years a royal commission has 

 reported on the science-teaching of our higher schools. In 1864 

 the Public Schools Commission announced that from the largest and 

 most famous schools of all it was practically excluded. In 1868 the 

 Endowed Schools Commission declared that the majority of school- 

 teachers had accepted it as part of their school-work. The Science 

 Commissioners of 1875, in their sixth report, on "Science-Teaching in 

 Schools," testing this statement by inquiry, state that of 128 endowed 

 schools examined by them not one-half has CA'en attempted to intro- 

 duce it, while of these only 13 possess a laborator}^, and only 10 give 

 to the subject as much as four hours a week. And this statement is 

 curiously illustrated by the statistics of the recent Oxford and Cam- 

 bridsce school examination, which show that out of 461 candidates for 

 certificates, from 40 first-class schools, while 438 boys took up Latin, 

 433 Greek, 455 elementary mathematics, 305 history, only 21 took 

 up mechanics, 28 chemistry, 6 botany, 15 physical geography. 



In a volume whose research and condensation make it not only a 

 monument of conscientious toil, but an invaluable hand-book to all 

 who are laboring to work out practically the great problem of which 

 it treats, the commissioners investigate the obstacles which have 

 caused the endowed schools to defy the weighty recommendations 

 of former commissions, the unanimous verdict of educational autliori- 

 ties outside the scholastic profession, and the increasingly urgent 

 demands of English public opinion. They find the school-masters' 

 excuses to be threefold : absence of funds, want of time, and skepti- 



