204 



NATURE 



\7uly 15, 1875 



in a social sense occupy the level immediately below them. 

 The moving impulse is from below, and to that we must 

 now more particularly direct our attention. 



From the first the South Kensington estabhshment 

 has acted as an examining body, and the staff ap- 

 pointed for that purpose includes the names of the most 

 eminent professors in natural and physical science. 

 Subject to certain limitations the passes carry with them 

 pecuniary grants to the authorised local teachers ; prizes 

 and medals of honour to the most proficient of the 

 students. The department also makes grants in aid of 

 scholarships and the Royal and local exhibitions, as 

 well as having the administration of those scholarships 

 which were endowed by Sir Joseph Whitworth. Grants 

 are also made in aid of new local schools of science, and 

 towards the cost of the apparatus which they may require. 

 Special classes for the improvement of acting teachers 

 are held by some of the Professors. Lastly, we must not 



omit to mention in our summary the well-known museum 

 under its management, and the too little known educa- 

 tional library Avhich is available to the general public on 

 payment of a very trifling fee. 



The twenty-three branches of study dealt with include 

 Mathematics, Mechanics, Physics, Natural Science, and 

 some of the Applied Sciences. The six most popular 

 among the students are Physical Geography ; Pure 

 Mathematics ; Animal Physiology ; Magnetism and Elec- 

 tricity ; Inorganic Chemistry ; Acoustics, Light, and Heat : 

 some, such as Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, are, 

 from their very nature, little studied except in special 

 localities. The large preponderance of students in 

 Physical Geography, generally nearly double that of the 

 next in rank, is due to girls' schools, in which it forms a 

 leading feature, being included. 



Those who care for statistics will be interested in the 

 following table, for which we are indebted to the courtesy 



of the Secretary of the Science and Art Department. 

 The table shows the actual state of the Science Classes in 

 Great Britain during the last session. 



The students for whom this machinery is designed 

 belong to what may be termed the Industrial Classes, 

 including all those in receipt of weekly wages, small 

 tradesmen whose income 'does not exceed 200/. per 

 annum, the children of any of these, all attendants at 

 Public Elementary Schools, together with the teachers \ 

 and pupil teachers of such, and the students in the | 

 Training Colleges which receive grants from the Educa- '■ 

 tion Department. This list of course includes such as 1 

 constitute our mechanics' institutes and co-operative 

 societies, in the programmes of which science classes 

 now form an important element. In these the practical 

 advantages are of a most direct character ; but we are 

 disposed to ascribe a still higher value to the assistance 

 rendered in the Training Colleges and to the acting 

 and pupil teachers in the Public Elementary Schools. 

 Hitherto one of the difficulties which the department has 

 had to contend against has arisen from the unavoidable 

 circumstance that so many of the local science teachers 

 are themselves self-taught, and their deficiencies have 



often been only too apparent in the character of the 

 examination papers given in by their pupils : time, how- 

 ever, will do much to cure this as these teachers drop 

 into the background and are succeeded by those who 

 have gone through a systematic training. 



The next table will show the rapid extension of 

 the operations of the department during the years 1 867 

 to 1873 inclusive. It will be seen, on comparing the 

 figures, that the relative number of those who now go up 

 for examination is greater than formerly, and that the 

 increase in the number of papers worked is still greater 

 in proportion. 



