March 23, 1 8 76 J 



NA TURE 



4f, 



ments therein stated, as applying to the extension of my 

 especial subject — Biology — may be found to suit the case 

 and claims of science teaching at large. And it may not 

 be inappropriate to conclude by re-echoing the remark 

 with which I started, namely, that if we can succeed in 

 creating a demand for science teaching, by showing the 

 honest claims and true value of scientific instruction in 

 an ordinary educational curriculum, we shall have paved 

 the way for a harmonious and natural after-adjustment of 

 .•■juch questions as have very ably been ventilated in 

 Nature during the past few weeks. 

 Edinburgh Medical School Andrew Wilsox 



I have read with considerable interest what may be 

 styled the evidence of your correspondents as to the state 

 of scientific instruction in schools, and I think possibly if 

 your space will permit me, that I shall be able to confirm 

 some of the statements of previous writers. I have reason 

 to believe that in some large schools where science is 

 demanded as a branch of education it is practically sup- 

 pressed, some of the clever lads are removed from the 

 science classes in order to be " crammed " in classics, 

 sometimes against their own desires, for the purpose, if 

 possible, of making a show in school-lists as having 

 obtained scholarships at Oxford. I am acquainted with 

 facts which cannot be otherwise explained. Sometimes I 

 have learned these from the boys themselves, sometimes 

 from science-masters in different establishments. At one 

 large school in connection with a College there are about 

 600 boys ; formerly very nearly 100 attended chemistry lec- 

 tures once a week, and about 25 attended the chemical 

 laboratory of the College for \\ hour. The subject was 

 a voluntary one, and the undoubted interest shown by the 

 scholars was very striking ; one could see that they were 

 being taught to think, it was something so entirely dif- 

 ferent from their ordinary school work. For the last year 

 or two the number of boys attending these science classes 

 has been limited almost entirely to those who intend ma- 

 triculating at the London University, those whose parents 

 expressly wish their sons to receive such education, or 

 others " the most stupid and ignorant," who are so un- 

 likely to hold their own in any other competition that it is 

 considered they may be better fit for distinction in science. 

 I need hardly say that one fails to m&ke anything of the 

 latter class, although, on the other hand, 1 have seen such 

 lads display unusual mechanical skill. The number of 

 boys from the school now attending the laboratory is only 

 eight, and those who hear lectures about thirty-six. In a 

 school with unusual facilities for scientific instruction at a 

 small cost, since the teachers, the laboratories, the lecture- 

 rooms, and the very costly scientific apparatus, all belong 

 to the College, there is this small result simply because the 

 pupils are prohibited attending the lectures on science lest, 

 as it is said, " they should shirk their other work." This is 

 certainly not equalising the various branches of human 

 knowledge. In some schools the science masters are ap- 

 pointed not from among those who have made the teaching 

 of science a study, but from that peculiar body who are 

 willing to combine instruction in science (which includes, 

 of course. Physics, Chemistry, Natural History, and 

 Botany), with Mathematics, Classics, and Foreign Lan- 

 guages, and whose views as to the suitable remuneration 

 for their services suggests a limited expenditure of 

 thought, time, and money, on their own acquirements. 

 From the present low estimation in which scientific know- 

 ledge is held, 1 should be exceedingly sorry to see the 

 number of efficient science teachers increased. The 

 capital expended on a classical education gives a far 

 better, a more certain, and a quicker return than that 

 invested in science. Hence the lamentations about the 

 state of science in this country'. Until the Head Masters 

 and College dons have been so liberally educated as to 

 understand that besides Classics and Mathematics there 

 are other branches of knowledge which ennoble and enrich 



the understanding, and further, until a legal status has 

 been secured for professional scientific men, such things 

 must continue. W. N. Hartley 



NOTES 



The John Hopkins University, some account of the organi- 

 sation of which we recently published, was formally instituted 

 at Baltimore, U.S., on February 22. Prof. Oilman in his ad- 

 dress hinted that elementary instruction in all branches of 

 science is not contemplated at the new University. There wll 

 be no stated curriculum of four years. Great freedom is to be 

 allowed both to teachers and to scholars ; the former must be 

 * * free and competent to make original researches in the library 

 and the laboratory ; " the latter will be encouraged to "make 

 special attainments on the foundation of a broad and liberal 

 culture," and to make them through a "combination of lecture?, 

 recitations, laboratory practice, field work, and private instruc" 

 tion," Pending the filling of the several professorial chairs, the 

 trustees will ask the most eminent men, both in Europe and 

 America, to come to Baltimore during a term of years, and 

 reside there an appointed time, "and be accessible, /«i?/zV« <?/ 

 privatim, both in the lecture-room and in the study." One most 

 important appointment has already been made, by which England 

 will lose, for a time at least, one of her most distinguished 

 mathematicians ; Dr. J. S. Sylvester has been appointed to the 

 Chair of Advanced Mathematics, at a handsome salary. Prof. 

 Sylvester will probably enter upon his duties in October next. 



There is great activity at present at South Kensington ; the 

 preparations for the opening of the Scientific Loan Exhibition 

 are in a forward state. A large number of contributions have 

 been already received from France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, 

 and Italy. 



Contrary to the assertion of a contemporary, who appa- 

 rently desires to mislead, the men of science of this country are 

 giving the greatest help in the organisation of the Conferences 

 and Conversazioni in connection with the Loan Exhibition ; 

 these will be held between May 16 and 31. 



H.M. S. Challenger zxxiv&d at Monte Video on Feb. 15, and 

 was to sail on Feb. 23 for Ascension and St. Vincent. The 

 ship is expected to arrive in England about the end of May. 



A CAREFULLY prepared and well classified and indexed Cata- 

 logue of Maps, &c., of India, and other parts of Asia, has been 

 prepared by the Geographical Department of the India Office, 

 and published by order of H, M. Secretary of State for India in 

 Council. The Catalogue is accompanied with an Index- Map 

 showing the different sheets which are published or which are 

 being prepared by the engraver for publication. 



M. J. Capello, director of the Observatory at Lisbon, has 

 selected Lisbon, Campo-Maior, Angra in the Azores, and Fun- 

 chal in Madeira, as the stations from which meteorological 

 observations will be furnished for international objects. Their 

 situation, and the fact of their observations being made four times 

 daily, have determined the selection of these four stationSj The 

 hours are well suited for piurposes of international meteorology. 



The Belgian Academy of Sciences offers prizes for papers on 

 the following subjects, to be sent to the Secretary, M. J. Liagre, 

 at the Museum, Brussels, before Aug. i, 1877 : — i. To give a 

 resume of works which have appeared on the theory of continued 

 fractions, and to improve it in some important point. 2. To 

 examine and discuss, on the ba'-is of new experiments, the per- 

 turbing causes which bear on determination of the electro-motive 

 force, and on the internal resistance of an element of the electric 

 pile ; to exhibit in numl^ers these two quantities for some of the 



