117 



SCHOOLS. 



SCIKXCE. 



Tbe effort* of the legisbture hve not been confined to gnnU of 

 money or to the poor. Without noticing the number of *ch*me* pro- 

 pond, and the debate* upon them, in which the adherent* <>f the 

 voluntary |>rincipl, and those advocating a national superintendence 

 and support, have contrived to neutralise each other'i effort*, we will 

 hoftly notice what ha* bean actually done. In 1842 an act was pmert 

 for facilitating the acquisition of ait* for school-house*, which was 

 repeated, amended, and extended in 1850, 1852, and 1853. In 1843 

 land and building* occupied by societie* for literary and scientific pur- 

 pose* were exempted from the payment of county, borough, parochial, 

 and other local rate* ; and in 1854 further facilities for the institution 

 of *uch aodetie* were afforded by another act. In 1 M 4 , in a Poor- Law 

 Amendment Act, the Poor-Law Commissioner* were empowered to 

 .ne parishes mnl unions into school districts, to form boards for 

 their governance, which boards, subject to the regulations of the com- 

 missioner*, were to appoint, pay, and control its teachers and other 

 officers for the purpose of instructing the children of the poor; but no 

 child was to be compelled to attend any religious service contrary to 

 the principles of, or be instructed in, any religious creed contrary to 

 that professed by. the parents; and in 1848 the provisions of the act 

 were amended, bl extending them to parishes not in union*, and 

 removing the limitation of ex]nsu, previously limited to one-fifth of 

 the aggregate of the poor-law expenditure. The 18 Viet. c. 84, 1855, 

 give* guardians of poor-law unions power to afford relief, go as to 

 enable poor children, between the ages of four and sixteen, to be sent 

 to schools. In 1 847 the law regulating the attendance at school of 

 children employed in print-works was amended.- In 1850 an act was 

 paased empowering town-councils to establish public libraries and 

 museums, by imposing a small rate, such libraries and museums to be 

 open to the public free of expense; extended in 1855 to places not 

 having councils and to parishes ; and similar act* were passed for 

 Scotland and Ireland in 1853. 1854, and 1855. 



In addition to this legislative action, the general public have not 

 been wanting in efforts to diffuse education. In most of the large 

 towns ragged schools have been formed and supported for the 

 instruction of the more destitute children ; and, in conjunction with 

 mere school learning, it has been endeavoured to inculcate habits of 

 industry, by establishing shoe-black brigades and crossing sweepers, by 

 which boys during the day are enabled to earn money, a part being 

 devoted to their support, and the remainder placed to their account, to 

 form a fund for their future advancement, their evenings being spent 

 in school. The results, on the whole, have been very satisfactory. 

 Schools have also been established for teaching girls common things, 

 chiefly in domestic economy. The preparation of teachers has been 

 also more attended to, and few of the paid instructors, either male or 

 female, are now appointed to any of the schools without certificates of 

 capability from recognised examiners. For this purpose the National 

 Society, the British and Foreign School Society, the Congregational 

 Board of Education, and the Voluntary School Society, have established 

 normal and model schools, where instruction is afforded, capability 

 tested, and certificates granted. Inspectors are appointed to visit all 

 the schools by the Board of Education, and also by the above-named 

 societies to visit their own. 



In 1 845 an act was passed for endowing May uooth College for the 

 better education of the Roman Catholic priesthood. In the some year 

 was also passed an act " enabling her Majesty to endow new Colleges," 

 in consequence of which the Queen's Colleges of Belfast, Cork, and 

 Galway have been built and endowed. A sum of 100,000/. was 

 assigned out of the Consolidated Fund for purchasing the sites, and 

 erecting and furnishing the buildings of the three Colleges. Her 

 Majesty and her successors were made visitors, with power to appoint, 

 by sign manual, persons to execute the office. The appointment of 

 the presidents, vice-presidents, and professors, was entrusted to the 

 Crown, until parliament should otherwise determine. The Commis- 

 sioners of the Treasury were empowered to issue annually a sum not 

 exceeding 70001. for the payment of salaries and other expenses in 

 each college ; it being moreover provided that reasonable fees should 

 be exigible from the students. Lecture-rooms were directed to be 

 assigned for religious instruction : and it was enacted that no student 

 should be allowed to attend any of the colleges unless he should reside 

 with his parent or guardian, or some near relation, or with a tutor or 

 master of a boarding-house licensed by the president, or in a hall 

 founded and endowed for the reception of students. 



A president and vice-president for each college were soon after 

 nominated, and the erection of the buildings was begun. Tbe other 

 appointment* were made in August 1849, and the three colleges were 

 opened in the end of October following. An additional sum of 

 12,0001. had shortly before been granted by Parliament for pro- 

 viding them with libraries, philosophical instruments, and some other 

 I. raUii - 



The peculiarity of and the need for such colleges arose from the 

 state of religious feeling in Ireland. The greatest proportion of the 

 people are Itomon Catholics, and there is a large number of Presby- 

 terians; but in Trinity College, Dublin, there ore no arrangements 

 which even recognise the existence of any form of religious belief but 

 that of the Established Church ; not only is the student who may 

 hold any other creed (in so far as such dissenting student* are admitted 

 at all) feft without any spiritual superintendence whatever, but the 



entire system of teaching and discipline is in the hands of members of 

 the Church established by law, and is regulated and administer .1 in 

 all respect* in conformity with the doctrines and ritual of that Church. 

 Notwithi-tanding considerable opposition the experiment has succeeded. 

 The colleges are altriidrd by students of all religious creeds; but 

 while thus free to all, the morals and the peculiar faith of the student 

 are sedulously attended to. 



Neither in England have the efforts to promote education Ix . 

 fined to the poor. At Durham the bishop and dean and chapter 

 obtained an act of Parliament in 1832, authorising the institution and 

 endowment of a university, which was opened for students in October 

 1833. In 1837 a royal charter of incorporation was obtained by v hi< It 

 the style and title of "the Warden, Masters, and Scholars i :!, 

 University of Durham" was given to the institution. The charter 

 gave the power of conferring degrees, and confirmed the rights and 

 privileges assured to it by act of Parliament, usually enjoyed by 

 chartered universities. The bishop is appointed visitor ; the dean of 

 Durham is constituted warden. To the professorships of divinity and 

 ecclesiastical history and of Greek and classical literature, which are 

 both in the patronage of the bishop, canonries in the cathedral aro 

 annexed. The professor of mathematics and astronomy, the readers 

 in law, Hebrew, history and polite literature, and natural philosophy, 

 the lecturer on chemistry and mineralogy, and other officers of the 

 university, are appointed by the dean and chapter. Of University 

 College the warden of the university is master. Bishop Hatfield's 

 Hall, instituted in 1846, is for divinity students. It has four tutors, 

 one of whom is principal, a censor, and a chaplain. The academical 

 year consists of three terms of not less than eight weeks each, which 

 are called Michaelmas, Epiphany, and Easter Terms. The age of 

 admission to She academical course is from 16 to 21 ; and for the 

 divinity course, between 21 and 26 ; beyond this age students must be 

 admitted by special leave. Care has been taken that the necessary 

 expenses of students shall be as moderate as is consistent with 

 comfort, and any approach to extravagance is sedulously guarded 

 against. 



In 1854 an act of Parliament extended the right enjoyed by the 

 graduates of Oxford and Cambridge to practise physic without farther 

 examination, to the graduates in medicine of the University of 

 London. In the same year by another act, a commission was 

 appointed to draw up regulations for the improvement of Oxford 

 University, and in 1857 a similar one was passed for Cambridge. 

 Under these commissions many valuable improvements have been 

 effected, and more may be confidently expected. Among those 

 effected are the breaking up of the close scholarships (especially those 

 of Winchester school), and throwing them open to general competi- 

 tion ; the dispensation from the taking of a number of unnecessary 

 oaths ; the establishment of private halls ; and the abolishing of the 

 oath on matriculation and on taking the degree of B.A. ; by which 

 last regulation Dissenters are admitted to the whole advantages of a 

 university education. In Scotland also an agitation is being made for 

 some improvement in the universities. 



SCHOONER. [SHIP.] 



SCHWEINFURTH GREEN. [Coppj-R.] 



SCIATICA is a name often applied to all rheumatic affections about 

 the hip-joint and the back of the thigh, but which is more properly 

 adapted to a disease of the sciatic nerve, either inflammatory, or similar 

 in its nature to those which in other parts are designated Neuralgia, 

 or Tic doloureux. The pain in sciatica commonly follows, or is 

 situated in some part of, the course of the sciatic nerve, extending 

 from the inner portion of the buttock along the back of the thigh to 

 the ham, and is sometimes continued to the foot along the track of the 

 nerves of the leg. It occurs specially in adults and in old persons, and 

 more particularly in those that have been subject to rheumatism ; the 

 pain is generally remittent, and seldom ceases altogether; but is 

 commonly aggravated in the evening. For the treatment and other 

 circumstances connected with sciatica, we must refer to the articles 

 NEURALGIA and RHEUMATISM. 



SCIENCE. The word scientia, in real Latin, simply means know- 

 ledge, and we must attribute the subsequent application of the word 

 to particular kinds of knowledge, to causes similar to those which have 

 influenced the use of the equally general terra MATHEMATICS. It does 

 not appear that iu the earlier parts of the middle ages science had any 

 distinct meaning as opposed either to literature or to art. Almost at 

 the earliest establishment of universities, the great preliminary branches 

 of knowledge were separated from the rest under the name of liberal 

 arts : that is to say, the Trivium, containing grammar, logic, and 

 rhetoric ; and the Quadriviuin, containing arithmetic, geometry, astro- 

 nomy, and music. If theology, law, and medicine were called sciences, 

 it was not in any distinctive sense, and we ore inclined to think that 

 scientia must then have been rather a term subaltern to art, than 

 opposed to it. We find Roger Bacon (' Op. Maj.,' cap. xv.) speaking of 

 the nine mathematical sciences, and the six great natural sciences, 

 which contain under them many other sciences : and his contemporary 

 Robert of Lincoln (' Tract, de Art. Lib.'), after laying it down tliat the 

 arts (not sciences), of which it is the office " opcratioues hurnanas 

 corrigendo ad perfectionem ducere," are seven iu number, proceeds to 

 describe them without a single use of the word science. How the word 

 grew it is not our business to inquire closely ; but by the middle of 



