2^0 



NATURE 



{July 7, 1887 



About 40 members of Parliament were also present. Lord 

 Harlington, in opening the proceedings, said their object was 

 not so much to stimulate public interest in this great question 

 as to consider from a practical point of view the channels into 

 which such interest ought to be directed. He had been struck 

 by the facts relating to technical education at home and abroad 

 which had been presented in very voluminous form to the public 

 m the reports of our Consuls. We had in this country attained 

 to a great industrial and technical supremacy in the world. We 

 had attained this position partly by the possession of great 

 resources in coal and iron and other industrial materials, partly 

 from the character, energy, and industry of our people, and 

 partly — and here he might be trenching upon controversial 

 grounds — from the fact of our having adopted a sound com- 

 mercial policy. At the same time, concurrently with our 

 attainment of this supremacy, wonderful scientific discoveries 

 had been made, and more and more science was being applied 

 to the industrial occupations of the world. Other nations had 

 been quick to perceive this, and were striving to make their 

 position equal to ours by developing at immense cost to the State 

 and public funds that scientific instruction which would enable 

 their manufactories and workmen to compete successfully with 

 ours. If we were passive in the matter — if we were indolent — 

 it was conceivable not only that foreign nations would rival us, 

 but they might also succeed in passing us, with consequences 

 which it would be difficult to contemplate. If we were satisfied 

 to go on as we were, if we were content to rely in the future as 

 we had done in the past on those advantages which had given us 

 our present position, and if we did not think it necessai-y to 

 organize more completely our system of technical instruction 

 than at present, that decision should be the result of deliberate 

 and well-formed con^deration and not the result of apathy or 

 indolence. Sir Lyon Playfair, moved that the Association 

 be formed, that Lord Hartington be invited to become President, 

 and the following gentlemen Vice- President > : — Lord Granville, 

 Lord Ripon, Lord Rosebery, Lord Spencer, the Bishop of 

 London, Mr. Broadhursf, Prof Huxley, Sir John Lubbock, Mr. 

 Mundella, Sir Lyon Playfair, Sir B. Samuelson, Prof. Stuart, Dr. 

 Sullivan, Sir R. Temple, and Prof. Tyndall. Mr. John Morley, in 

 seconding the motion, said the time for further inquiry had gone 

 past, and the time had arrived when they could no longer with 

 wisdom, or even with safety, delay the movement they that day 

 commenced. The resolution was carried unanimously. Sir J. 

 Lubbock moved the appointment of an executive Com- 

 mittee, which was carried ; as was a motion, made by Mr. 

 Mundella and seconded by Lord Rosebery, that those present 

 be invited to join the Council. A discussion ensued on the 

 proposed objects of -the Association, after which Sir B. Samuel- 

 son moved, and Mr. Howell seconded, a resolution inviting 

 the assistance of large towns and the chief, industrial centres. 

 The motion was duly carried, and votes of thanks closed the 

 proceedings. j 



In his statement on Monday about the progress of business in 

 the House of Coiiimons, Mr. W. H. Smith said: "There is a ' 

 measure for pro noting technical education, which we have every ' 

 reason to believe will be accepted unanimously by the House — 

 at all events, we hope that a very slight discussion will be ' 

 sufficient to pass that measure into law. " I 



On July 25, 1837, the first practical essay in telegraph work- ! 

 ing was made by Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone between ' 

 Euston and Camden Town. In the material order of things ' 

 few more magnificent triun.phs have ever been achieved, and it ' 

 has very properly been decided that the fiftieth anniversary of ' 

 the occasion shall be celebrated. Some time ago an influential ' 

 Committee was formed to take the matter into consideration, 

 and the other day there was a well-attended meeting of I he ' 

 memheisal ihe ofiices of the Society of Telegraph-Engineers 



and Electricians. Mr. Preece, F.R.S., was appointed chair- 

 ■ man. In his opening speech he said they had met to make 

 arrangements for a dinner which was to be given in celebra- 

 j tion of the jubilee of the telegraph. It was the success of 

 the essay made by Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone that led 

 to the association of Robert Stephenson, George Parker Bidder, 

 Brunei, and other well-known men in those days, with the tele- 

 graph, and from that little beginning they had seen how the 

 telegraphs had spread all over the face of the earth. In Eng- 

 land, where the first step was taken, they had succeeded in 

 I keeping well in the van, and it was only fitting that such an 

 important event, probably the greatest event that had happened 

 during the long reign of Her Majesty, should be celebrated, and 

 that those who had been instrumental in bringing telegraphy to- 

 its present great position should meet together and talk over old 

 times. It so happened that there were several reasons why the 

 celebration should not take place on July 25, which was really 

 the proper day. In the first place, Mondays were busy days 

 with legislators in their House over the way, and it would be 

 extremely difficult to get many of those whom they hoped to 

 attract if the proposed dinner took place on a Monday ; again, 

 it was quite impossible on a Government night, like Monday, to 

 get the Pojtmaster-General, who, it was thought, should take 

 the chair, to attend ; and, further, on July 23 there was to be a 

 great naval review, and a great many who \\ ould wish to attend 

 the dinner would not be able to get back until late on Monday 

 afternoon. For those reasons it would be difScult to hold the 

 dinner on the 25th, and Wednesday, the 27th, had been suggested 

 as meeting everybody's convenience. He therefore moved that 

 a dinner be held on July 27 to celebrate the jubilee of the tele- 

 graph. Mr. Willoughby Smith seconded the motion, which 

 was unanimously agreed to. Discussion followed respecting 

 matters of detail, and an Executive Committee was elected, 

 consisting of Messrs. W. H. Preece, E. Graves, C. H. B. 

 Patey, C. E. Spagnoletti, A. Siemens, and A. Stroh, with 

 Messrs. H. Alabaster and C. H. W. Biggs as Honorary Secre- 

 taries, and Mr. F. H. Webb, Secretary of the Society of Tele- 

 graph-Engineers and Electricians, as Acting Secretary. The 

 guarantee fund w.is at once opened, and names were soon down 

 for upwards of ;[^ioo. The meeting was adjourned until Tues- 

 day, the I2th inst., when the Executive Committee will report 

 as to the progress of the arrangements. 



A NtiMBER of vacation courses in Natural Science will shortly 

 be started in Edinburgh. During the present summer there 

 will be two courses — one on Practical Botany, conducted at the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh by Mr. G. F. Scott Elliot, 

 an assistant to the Professor of Botany ; another on Practical 

 Zoology, conducted at the Scottish Marine Station, Granton, 

 Edinburgh, by Mr. J. Arthur Thomson, Lecturer on Zoology in 

 the School of Medicine, with the co-operation of Mr. J. T. 

 Cunningham, the Superintendent of the Station. These courses 

 ought to be of great service to teachers and others occupied 

 during the University terms, for whom they are primarily 

 intended. 



Writing to us from Tashkend on June 12, M. Wilkins says 

 that the city of Vernoje was completely ruined by the earth- 

 quake of June 9. More than 800 bodies had been e.Kcavated. 

 " The disaster," he says, "is beyond description. Mud and 

 water are said to flow abundantly from the disturbed mountains 

 to the scene of the catastrophe, and many crevasses are noticed 

 in the ground. The exact time of the tremendous shock is given as 

 4h. 35m. local time. At 4h. i8in. (Tashkend local time) on the 

 same morning, we felt here a flat wave which set in motion 

 suspended objects. Taking into account the difference of long 

 tude between Tashkend and Vernoje and the consequent diffd 

 ence of time, ii appears that the wave travelled in a straight lit 

 more than 400 miles in the short time of 13 '5 minutes, crossir 



