278 



NATURE 



{_Aug. 5, 1875 



science has recently been introduced by the appointment 

 of skilled teachers, by the building of laboratories and the 

 establishment of museums, and by the regulations of the 

 commission of public schools as to the time to be allotted 

 to such studies. Among our provincial grammar schools 

 Manchester has provided laboratories and the means of 

 highly skilled scientific instruction. At Burnley, also, 

 laboratories have been built, and the head master, Mr. 

 Hough, is distinguished by his scientific knowledge and 

 practical skill. He, doubtless, will diligently employ the 

 means at his command. The Commission on Scientific 

 Instruction has carefully collected the experience of the 

 schools which have introduced practical scientific teach- 

 ing. They strongly recommend that such instruction 

 should take its place at the side of that which is literary 

 throughout the whole school course. We had practically 

 anticipated this suggestion at Giggleswick. I do not 

 prominently put forward the adaptation of such studies to 

 the wants of the great manufacturing districts of York- 

 shire, Lancashire and Cumberland, which are contiguous 

 to us, or of the Durham and Northumberland coalfield. 

 Yet many of the sons of wealthy men in these districts, 

 as well as of those engaged in scientific professions, will 

 complete their education at school. In these trades and 

 professions the practical commencement of a scientific 

 training is often of great value. As I have already said, 

 it forms the scientific habit of mind ; it familiarises the 

 youth with the phenomena of the operation of natural 

 laws, and with the manipulation of instruments. It deve- 

 lopes the faculty of observation and the power of inductive 

 and deductive reasoning. Moreover the facts of physical 

 science learned in the laboratory are an invaluable posses- 

 sion to the engineer, the chemist, the miner, the physiolo- 

 gist, and to every professional man who has to use these facts, 

 principles, and processes as a part of his daily occupation. 

 This school is intended to offer, in the first place, a sound 

 preparation in elementary knowledge in the English lan- 

 guage, its grammar, composition, and some acquaintance 

 with English history and literature. Within the range of 

 its studies are the ancient classical literature and modern 

 languages. It would fail in its purpose if the humble 

 elements of arithmetic were not faithfully cultivated as 

 the basis of mathematical knowledge and scientific calcu- 

 lation. It is on this broad basis that we wish and hope 

 to rear the structure of a sound and scientific culture. 



"The questions which the governors of this school hive 

 attempted, through years of patient labour, to solve, are 

 also awaitmg solution in all similar schools. What are 

 in future to be the relative positions of the hterary and 

 scientific education of our youth ? How, as in this 

 school, can the financial resources be developed so as to 

 provide laboratories, and a larger skilled staff of teachers, 

 in order to ensure a sound literary culture, together with 

 scientific instruction ? Inseparable from these questions 

 is the formidable one, Whence are the skilled teachers of 

 science, capable of giving practical instruction in labora- 

 tories to be provided, if science in this sense is to form 

 part of the curriculum of all schools ? Where the income 

 of the school is small, that difficulty is at present insur- 

 mountable, for a separate science master cannot be 

 afforded in such schools. Nor will it be removed until 

 some means be devised for the training of teachers by 

 which they v ill be enabled to add practical skill in scien- 

 tific instruction to a sound basis of Uterary culture. Then 

 a single master may fulfil the double function in a school. 

 The commission on scientific instruction points to this, 

 among many other reasons, for the establishment, within 

 the universities and elsewhere, of a system of training for 

 masters of schools above the elementary in the art and 

 practice of teaching, and in a practical knowledge of 

 science. The governors of this school of King Edward 

 the Sixth of Giggleswick have not been negligent of the 

 ■bearing of their labours on these wide general questions. 

 So far as they have proceeded, they are satisfied that a 



sound literary culture may not only subsist with practical 

 instruction in science, but that, under earnest and thought- 

 ful guidance, these departments of instruction may each 

 contribute to the intellectual activity and to the success 

 of every form of teaching in the school." 



THE INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL 

 CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION 



THIS Congress, which has been looked forward to 

 with considerable expectation, was opened in the 

 Salle des Etats of the Tuileries, on Sunday last, in pre- 

 sence of the President of the French Republic, many of 

 the dignitaries of State, foreign ambassadors, and other 

 eminent persons. There was a large attendance of the 

 general public, and addresses were given by the Presi- 

 dent of the Congress, Admiral de la Ronci^re le Noury, 

 Baron von Richthofen, Sir Henry Rawlinson, and other 

 delegates of the various nations represented at the 

 Congress. 



The regular work of the Congress commenced on Mon- 

 day, and the sittings will be continued till the iithinst., 

 when a distribution of medals will take place. We 

 believe a few prizes will be awarded to England, but not 

 many, as our country has contributed but scantily to the 

 exhibition. To-day a visit will be made to the Paris 

 Observatory, and to-morrow one to the Historical Mu, 

 seum of National Antiquities (mostly pre -historic) at St. 

 Germain. 



Juries have been appointed to decide on the awards in 

 the various sections of the Exhibition, and a notable fea- 

 ture of these is that not a single Frenchman has been 

 appointed a president ; this, we believe, is the result 01 

 characteristic delicacy on the part of the French authori- 

 ties. Col. Montgomerie and Major Wilson are the Eng- 

 lish representatives. 



The Exhibition continues to be well attended, and we 

 hope the receipts will be sufficient to reimburse the Com- 

 mittee, who have become responsible for a large sum, the 

 French Government and Geographical Society having 

 contributed a very small amount. 



In the English Section the books of photographs illus- 

 trating the people of India and China and the Chinese 

 have proved very attractive. The photographs exhibited 

 in the Russian annexe are very numerous, and relate to 

 people of every tribe and condition inhabiting the empire, 

 Austria h;dS also been very successful in this respect, 

 having exhibited photographs and drawings illustrating 

 thefchief incidents of the Te i(e thoff FoldiX Expedition. 



A special room has been set apart lor the several Alpine 

 clubs, which have been created in imitation of the English 

 Alpine Club. The publications of the parental associa- 

 tion, and the scientific and other apparatus used in 

 Alpine climbing by the English, French, and Italian clubs, 

 are exhibited, and are inspected with evident interest. 



The French Government exhibits the results of the 

 missions sent out by the Ministry of Public Instruction. 

 These have been numerous and successful. Independently 

 of the Transit of Venus Expedition, we must mention a 

 series of pictures showing the Bay of Santorin, in the 

 several successive stages of creation of the new volcanic 

 island. These illustrate happily how continents come 

 into existence. 



The Hall of National Antiquities (Pre-historic) is a 

 compendium of the Saint Germain Museum, which will 

 be visited by the Congress. A number of highly instruc- 

 tive maps, showing the distribution of relics of the Stone 

 Age, Iron Age, &c., have been pubhshed, and are ex- 

 hibited by the Historical Commission on the Gauls, which 

 was created by Napoleon III. while writing his "Life of 

 Caesar," and will be continued for a lengthened period. 



Amongst the real curiosities of the Exhibition, we must 

 mention a microscopic photograph of the French map by 

 the staff. This photograph was executed by M. Dagron, 



