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NATURE 



{June 5, 1879 



accompanied by a box of apparatus, simple and cheap, 

 to enable the object-lessons to be properly illustrated. 

 Loan collections of models illustrative of mechanics, 

 physiology, and botany, will also be provided ; but as far 

 as possible the children are to be encouraged to bring 

 familiar objects, and to make their own models and 

 apparatus. After giving very full directions for the 

 teaching of the infants and the first standard children, 

 which we need not insert in detail, the course prescribed 

 for the upper classes is as follows : — 



Standards II. and III. 



As the aim in these standards is to lead up to the 

 specific subjects of the Code, the teaching must be more 

 advanced, and should make a larger demand on the 

 thinking powers of the children. 



The objects contained in the previous groups should 

 be again employed, but fresh ones should be occasionally 

 introduced, especially for the purpose of comparison. 



In the animal group children should be led to compare 

 and classify the different animals, and to notice the chief 

 diflferences and resemblances between the leading divisions 

 of the animal kingdom. The children should also have 

 explained to them the preparation, qualities, and uses of 

 animal substances employed in the arts, such as leather, 

 silk, wool, and horn. 



In the vegetable group such distinctions as that of 

 endogen and exogen should be made clear ; the gradual 

 growth of plants such as beans and wheat should be 

 traced ; the uses of vegetable substances, such as cotton, 

 linen, starch, sugar, coffee, tea, and india-rubber, with 

 the processes of manufacture, should be explained. 



In the mineral group attention should be called to the 

 general properties of metals, iron, copper, silver, gold, 

 lead, tin, zinc, mercury, &c., and the qualities peculiar to 

 each. The iron and steel manufactures, and the making 

 of bricks, pottery, earthenware, &c., may be explained ; 

 and the distillation of coal and manufacture of gas, may 

 be experimentally illustrated. 



The knowledge of the points of the compass, and form 

 and motions of the earth, which is required by the Code, 

 will naturally be imparted by means of object lessons. 



This object teaching may be connected, as occasion 

 offers, with the lessons in geography, and may often be 

 made to illustrate the reading and dictation lessons. 



The teacher is not expected to attempt to teach all the 

 subjects mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, nor to 

 limit himself to them, but the Inspector will inquire what 

 particular course the object lessons have taken, and will 

 frame his examination accordingly, taking care that the 

 fundamental facts connected with matter and force are 

 not overlooked. 



Standards IV. to VI. 



Though in the higher standards one or more of the 

 scientific specific subjects of the Code is expected to be 

 taken, it will be generally found necessary to continue 

 some of the training just described. Thus, in the Fourth 

 Standard, lessons on the principles which are at the 

 foundation of all physical, mechanical, and chemical 

 science should be given ; during which clear ideas should 

 be imparted as to size, weight, and specific gravity, as to 

 the laws of motion of solids, liquids, and gaseous bodies, 

 as to the production, radiation, conduction, and absorp- 



tion of heat, and as to the difference between chemical 

 combination and the mere mixture of the constituents. 

 Occasional lessons also on the atmosphere and its com- 

 position, and the ordinary meteorological changes should 

 be given, and local phenomena of springs, streams, hills, 

 ponds, excavations of the soil, &c., should be observed. 

 Boys as well as girls should be taught something of the 

 laws of health. Domestic economy should not be taught 

 empirically, but the scientific principles involved in the 

 lighting of a fire, in cooking, in the choice of clothing 

 material, in washing, and in ventilation, should be experi- 

 mentally explained. 



The foundations of a "knowledge of common things," 

 as Dr. Lyon Playfair happily called it, will thus be well 

 laid ; and the children of the London schools will at an 

 early age acquire the habit of correct observation — no 

 mean advantage whatever may be their future occupation 

 In life. This additional course of instruction will not 

 occupy more than about two hours a week, and will in- 

 volve scarcely any extra expense, while it will sharpen the 

 wits of the children and freshen their minds for their more 

 literary studies. 



NO AD'S "ELECTRICITY" 



The Student's Text-Book 0/ Electricity. By H. M. Noad ? 

 Ph.D., &c. A new edition, carefully revised, with an 

 Introduction and Additional Chapters by W. H. Preece, 

 M.I.C.E., &c. (London : Crosby Lockwood and Co., 

 1879.) 



IN his introductory note to this new edition of the 

 "Student's Text-Book of Electricity," Mr. Preece 

 informs us that the revision is only partially his own, 

 having been begun by Dr. Noad shortly before his 

 lamented decease. In fact a large portion of the work 

 appears to be reprinted from former stereotyped plates. 



In addition to a large number of illustrative cuts, the 

 work possesses a very valuable feature, too rare in ele- 

 mentary books, namely, frequent references to important 

 original memoirs. A judicious use is made of extracts, 

 as, for example, from the lectures of Prof. Fleeming 

 Jenkin on submarine telegraphy, and from those of Sir 

 W. Thomson on atmospheric electricity and terrestrial 

 magnetism. New chapters on telephones, duplex and 

 quadruplex telegraphy, and on the electric light, bring up 

 the scientific information to the present year. As an 

 elementary treatise on the purely phenomenal side of the 

 science of electricity, it is probably the fullest text-book 

 in the language. 



Having said this, our commendations must end. Mr. 

 Preece' s opening paragraph bears the stamp of being an 

 excuse for the shortcomings of the work ; and we must 

 regard it as his misfortune, rather than his fault, if a book 

 which he has had to revise fall far short of what it might 

 have been had it been produced under his sole responsi- 

 bility. It is unfortunately — in science, at least — the re- 

 viewer's duty to be candid on the shortcomings of the 

 work under his notice ; and the only way to prevent the 

 repetition of erroneous statements, and to secure their 

 effective correction, is to point them out fearlessly. We 

 are bound, therefore, to undertake the ungracious task 

 of indicating sundry blemishes which it is to be hoped 

 will not be perpetuated in another edition. 



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