Oct. 19, 1876] 



NA TURE 



553 



and Prof. Halubinsky. The former, '" On the Importance 

 of Practical Scientific Institutions " (laboratories, physical 

 cabinets, zoological stations, &c.), insisted on the necessity 

 of such institutions for the successful teaching of natural 

 science, and pointed out how little time is generally 

 allowed in universities for the practical study of science, 

 the greater part of the students' time being occupied by 

 the lectures of the professors. M. Goyer forcibly illus- 

 trated the influence exercised by practical studies on the 

 student, not only by affording him the only possible 

 means of acquiring a profound knowledge of science, but 

 especially by developing the independence of his judg- 

 ment, the critical powers of his mind, and his inventive 

 faculties. 



The lecture of Prof. Halubinsky, " On the Genetic 

 Method in the Teaching of Natural Science," treated a 

 closely allied subject. The professor pointed out the 

 deplorable state to which the teaching of natural science 

 was lately reduced in Russian colleges, and insisted that 

 only a thorough study of the natural sciences can ade- 

 quately develop the analytical faculties of the mind, and 

 that such development cannot be sufficiently attained by 

 the study of languages and mathematics. He insisted 

 further on the urgent necessity of fundamental changes in 

 the arrangement of most of our handbooks of natural 

 sciences, these handbooks beginning mostly with gene- 

 ralisations, instead of simply helping the scholar to arrive 

 at them himself by means of comparison and of the 

 analysis of the properties of objects and phenomena. The 

 lecture provoked a lively discussion, some opposition 

 being manifested by college teachers. 



Prof. Famintzin presented Collections {Sborniki) made 

 from separate copies of all papers published since the last 

 meeting in the Memoirs of the six Societies of Natura- 

 lists annexed of the universities. The societies having 

 agreed to print their journals in one uniform size, 100 

 separate copies of each paper published are sent to the 

 St. Petersburg Society which makes up from them 

 Recueils arranged under the heads of Geology, Botany, 

 and Zoology. Thus those who are interested in only one 

 of these branches can dis, ense with purchasing whole 

 periodicals, the Reaieils being sold at the St. Petersburg 

 Society at a very low price. Here is a fine example for 

 imitation by our various English provincial societies. 



The proposal to request from the Minister of Public 

 Instruction permission to found a Society of Natu- 

 ralists at Warsaw, was met most favourably, as 

 well as the proposal of Prof. Wagner to establish 

 on the Solovetzky Islands a Zoological Station on 

 the same principles as that at Sebastopol ; as also was 

 the proposal of M. Grimm to request the help of the 

 Naval Department for dredgings in the Black Sea. MM. 

 Grimm and Bogdanoff informed the meeting that they 

 had undertaken two publications, a popular periodical, 

 " Herald of Natural Science," for which they begged the 

 co-operation of the naturalists, and a periodical in French 

 or German, which would give to foreign readers brief 

 notices of scientific work in Russia. This last idea was 

 warmly supported by Prof. Mendeldeff, who proposed to 

 request the government for pecuniary help for the publi- 

 cation ; but this proposal having met with some opposi- 

 tion, it was returned for discussion in the sections. 



A few excursions were made by the members, and a 

 visit was paid, among others, to the Warsaw Institute for 

 Deaf-Mutes and the Blind. The director of the Insti- 

 tute, Prof. Poplavsky, delivered on this occasion an in- 

 teresting lecture on the causes of deaf-muteness, tracing 

 them not only to the bad constitution of parents, but also 

 to marriages between near relations. He energetically 

 combated the opinion of Mr. George Darwin, who has 

 endeavoured to prove by statistical evidence the fallacy 

 of the generally accepted opinion as to the importance 

 of the latter cause, and said that Mr. Darwin would pro- 

 bably change his opinions, had he the opportunity of 



examining the registers kept at the Warsaw Institute and 

 elsewhere, as to the parentage of the deat*-and-dumb. The 

 visitors had also an opportunity of witnessing the re- 

 markable educational results arrived at by the Warsaw 

 School. Mimic language being almost totally prohibited, 

 the pupils are taught to understand the motion of the 

 lips and to speak more or less distinctly ; and after a four 

 years' residence in the Institute they generally attain in 

 both a high degree of perfection. The best result of the 

 school is, that pupils who finish their education (tech- 

 nical) in the Institute immediately find employment in 

 trades, the situations offered to them generally exceeding 

 the number of candidates. 



The usual dinner of naturalists was most animated, a 

 very rare occasion now-a-days, as the correspondent of 

 the Golos says, when Poles and Russians meet together 

 in Warsaw. The want of friendship which was observable 

 during the first days of the meeting, gradually disappeared, 

 and all united most heartily in support of the toasts for 

 the international influence of science, for the prosperity 

 of natural science in schools, &c. Of course, a public 

 meeting being now impossible in Russia without manifes- 

 tations in favour of the struggle for independence of the 

 southern Slaves, the usual collections were made, and a 

 telegram was sent to General Tchernaieff with wishes for 

 victory. 



At the closing public meeting Dr. Rothe read a paper 

 " On the Insane, and on Asylums for them." Treating 

 the subject at great length, he concluded by animadverting 

 on the insufficient number of asylums existing now in 

 Russia, and proved by figures that the insane, when 

 submitted to early medical treatment, recover in far 

 larger numbers than is generally supposed ; 70 per cent, if 

 the treatment begins during the first months after the 

 appearance of the disease, while those who enter the 

 asylums vdth the disease about two years old, have hardly 

 any chance of recovery. After the delivery of the lecture, 

 various conclusions and propositions of the sections were 

 discussed. St. Petersburg and Odessa being recommended 

 as the place for the next meeting, a ballot decided in 

 favour of the capital, the time of meeting to be announced 

 during the coming winter. Resolutions were carried to 

 request the Societies of Naturalists annexed to univer- 

 sities (which were organised by the initiative of the first 

 meeting), to present in 1877 reports of their ten years 

 activity ; to change the name of the gathering into 

 "Meeting of Naturalists and Physicians;" to raise a 

 fund for a permanent student's scholarship in honour 

 of Prof. Kessler, to whose initiative and many years' 

 labours the first meeting was due. The proposal of Prof. 

 Dobrzycki as to an inquiry into the causes of diseases, 

 was negatived as involving too many practical difficulties, 

 as were also the proposals of M. Vakoolofsky in reference 

 to an international congress, daily scientific paper, &c. 

 A committee, consisting of representatives of all sections, 

 appointed to discuss the subject of a French-German 

 periodical, warmly advocated the proposal, and the meet- 

 ing coming finally to the conclusion that pecuniary help 

 from the Government would be desirable, intrusted the 

 societies of the St. Petersburg's University (Naturalist, 

 Physical, and Chemical), to draw out rules for the conduct 

 of the periodical. Discussions on subjects relative to 

 the teaching of natural sciences in Governmental schools 

 being totally prohibited in the meetings (in order to avoid 

 opposition to the anti-Natural Science tendencies of the 

 ministry), a pedagogical committee, appointed to discuss 

 the proposals of Prof. Halubinsky, decided that permission 

 should be requested from the ministry to allow the meetings 

 a pedagogical section to discuss at least some of the more 

 special questions relative to the subject. The conclusions 

 of the committee were accepted, as well as those of the 

 Zoological Section, to request from the Naval Department 

 the use of ships for scientific explorations in Russian 

 seas. Finally, the small sum produced by the members' 



