March 9, 1876] 



NATURE 



371 



transfer of its antiquarian collections commonly known 



as its Museum, to the Government upon the conditions — 



I a. That the arrangement of the Museum, as well as the 



I purchase of additions, shall continue to be conducted by 



I the Academy ; and that adequate provision shall be made 



for the continued acquisition of Irish antiquities which 



may hereafter be discovered or offered for sale. 



b. That the Museum of the Academy, together with 

 such other Irish antiquities as may' be added to it, shall 

 be for ever kept apart from other collections, and be per- 

 manently maintained as a Museum of our National Anti- 



[ quities, no portion of its contents being ever removed 

 ^ from the City of Dublin, unless by permission given under 

 the seal of the Academy. 



c. That the Academy shall be accountable, as at 

 present, to her Majesty's Treasury, through the Irish 

 Government, for all sums voted by Parliament, and shall 

 not be subject, in the conduct of its affairs or the expen- 

 diture of its grants, to any control on the part of the 

 Science and Art Department, or any of its officers. 



2. That, considermg the position which the Academy 

 has long held, and will continue to hold, as the first 

 scientific, literary, and antiquarian Society of the country, 

 the proportional representation proposed to be given to it 

 on the Board of Visitors (sect. 12 of Lord Sandon's letter), 

 is altogether inadequate ; and the Academy further think 

 that no paid official of the Science and Art Department 

 should be eligible to act as a representative on the 

 Board. 



3. That there should be provided in the yearly esti- 

 mates, as laid before Parliament, instead of the several 

 sums now annually voted, a sum at least equal to what is 

 at present voted, to enable the Academy to discharge 

 more completely its functions as a scientific, literary, and 

 antiquarian body, by making grants in aid of original 

 research, by publishing the results of such research, by 

 maintaining a library specially adapted to assist learned 

 investigation, and by editing and printing ancient Irish 

 texts, &c. 



SCIENTIFIC INSTRUCTION AND THE 

 ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



ON Wednesday and Thursday last week two separate 

 deputations from the Council of the British Associa- 

 tion waited respectively on Mr. Cross and the Lord Pre- 

 sident of the Council, the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, 

 both introduced by Dr. Lyon Playfair, and headed by 

 the president of the Association, Sir John Hawkshaw. 

 The object of the deputations was to induce the Govern- 

 ment to adopt certain recommendations of the Royal 

 Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advance- 

 ment of Science. 



Dr. Playfair said there were three points in the Reports 

 of the Science Commission to which they desire to direct 

 attention — namely, the recommendations as (i) the study 

 of science in elementary and endowed schools, (2) the en- 

 dowment of research, (3) the administration by a Minister 

 of Science and Art. 



Sir John Hawkshaw said that the matters which they that 

 day desired to mention were chiefly treated in the Fifth and 

 Eighth Reports. He read a memorandum on these points 

 approved by those he represented. This document set 

 forth that the Government possessed, through the elemen- 

 tary schools and through the authorities charged with 

 framing schemes for endowed schools, the machinery for 

 insuring scientific teaching. The public schools will 

 follow the Universities ; the Universities in England and 

 Scotland are about to be the subjects of inquiry' by Com- 

 missions, and science ought to be adequately represented 

 on these Commissions. University College and King's 

 College, London, Owens College, Manchester, and 

 Trinity, Dublin, would require special consideration, and 

 if furUier pecuniary assistance were granted them by 



GJovemment, guarantees should be taken for the further 

 encouragement of scientific teaching. Direct endow- 

 ments of research must be approached with caution. 

 There would be no objection to the course of liberally en- 

 dowing professorships in the several Universities, com- 

 bining the duty of original research with a moderate 

 amount of teaching to be attached to the professorship ; 

 an extension of the principle involved in the grant to the 

 Royal Society might be advantageously resorted to, and 

 the grant might be gradually increased. The Lord Pre- 

 sident of the Council was practically entrusted with the 

 functions of a Minister of Education, responsible to 

 Parliament ; and it therefore seemed to follow that he 

 should be made the responsible administrative head of 

 the business connected with scientific institutions which 

 receive their support from public grants, with the alloca- 

 tion of funds for scientific purposes, as well as of the busi- 

 ness relating to the promotion of scientific instruction, as 

 these matters all form an essential part of public educa- 

 tion in science. Sir John Hawkshaw would only add to 

 the document that it would be of great advantage if the 

 Slate would establish, say, a laboratory for chemical 

 science, and an observatory for physical investigations. 



Prof. A. W. Williamson, Prof. Roscoe, Mr. Spottiswoode, 

 Dr. De La Rue, and others spoke in support of the 

 deputation's object, with which ?*Ir. Cross said he sympa- 

 thised very much indeed. 



The Duke of Richmond and Gordon said the Govern- 

 ment were well aware of the great importance of scientific 

 education. With regard to the Reports of the Science 

 Commission, he thought Lord Salisbury was now acting 

 upon the Third Report, in respect to Oxford and Cam- 

 bridge. It seemed to him that the endowment of pro- 

 fessorships had not been altogether satisfactory so far 

 as it had been tried. With regard to the Government 

 grant to the Royal Society, that was a grant, not an 

 endowment for those who work, but, as he understood 

 it, a provision of apparatus. The sum of money was 

 so expended. It was not an endowment of research. 

 With regard to establishing physical observatories, the 

 Government had taken action in the work connected 

 with astronomical physics which Mr. Norman Lockyer 

 was now carrying on, or beginning to carry on at 

 South Kensington. With regard to the laboratories 

 for chemistry and physics which Mr. De La Rue 

 alluded to, it seemed to him they could not very well do 

 more in that direction till they had the report of the Com- 

 mission which was to inquire into the Universities' scheme 

 proposed by Lord Salisbury. He concluded by assuring 

 the deputation that the Government were quite alive to 

 the great importance of the subject. 



PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS 



I CONFESS I did not understand Dr. Watts's letter 

 quite as Prof. Roscoe has done. But that is of little 

 importance. Prof. Roscoe has opened wider questions as 

 regards the position of Physical Science at Schools, and I 

 should be glad of the opportunity, if you can spare me the 

 space, of writing a little more at length on this mattery 

 and, if possible, of thereby arriving at a distinct under- 

 standing what it is that the thorough-going advocates of 

 science, like Prof. Roscoe, want. His letter is a good 

 hearty grumble at things in general, and a good grumble 

 from him wakes people up, and does us all good ; but we 

 want to know what specific changes he wants, and who is 

 to make them. " Regulations ' and " Examinations " and 

 the " position accorded to science in schools," and the 

 " discouragement to the teaching of science," want of 

 " efficient means of teaching science," " difficulty of 

 obtaining masters," are all in turn mentioned as obsta- 

 cles. Some of these arise from one cause, some from 

 another, and before any improvement can be effected, w^e 

 must analyse the position of science at schools, see what 



