404 



NATURE 



[August 24, 1893 



the number of pupils under instruction showed the remarkable 

 increase of 32,002, the totals for 1891 and 1892 being respec- 

 tively 148,408 and 180,410. The number of examination 

 papers worked was 203,347, and the number of individual 

 examinees 108,858, so there was an average of nearly two 

 papers for each student. The greatest number of papers, 

 29,057, was «orked in mathematics. In physiography, 21,944 

 papers were written, and in theoretical inorganic chemistry, 

 21,578 papers. The lowest number of candidates were pre- 

 sented in mineralogy and nautical astronomy, the number of 

 papers worked in these subjects being 119 and 141 respectively. 

 With regard to the extent to which local authorities are devoting 

 funds for the purposes of science, art, technical, and manual in- 

 ilruction, it is reported that "Of the forty-nine councils of 

 counties in England (excepting Monmouth), forty-two are now 

 giving the whole of the residue to technical education, while the 

 remaining seven are giving a part of the amount ; and of the 

 sixty-one councils of county Ijoroughs, fifiy are devoting the 

 whole of the residue to the same purpose, and ten are devoting 

 a part of it, no decision having yet been arrived at in the case 

 ol Great Grimsby (which it may be mentioned was only con- 

 sii'uted a county borough on April i, 1891). Of the councils of 

 the sixteen counties and county boroughs of Wales and Mon- 

 mouth, to which the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, 1889, 

 api>lies, fifteen are applying the whole of the residue to the 

 I'liiposes of intermediate and technical education, and one a 

 part of it. Contributions are also made out of the rates under 

 the Technical Instruction Act, 1889, in the case of seven 

 counties and county boroughs in Wales and Monmouth. As 

 regards Scotland, so far as returns have been received, the whole 

 ol the residue fund is being applied to technical education in 

 the case of twenty counties (out of thirty-three) and sixteen 

 buighs and police 1 urghs (out of 187), while six counties and 

 thirty-nine burghs and police burghs are giving part of it to the 

 same purpose. Of the remainder, the majority of the local 

 authorities are devoting the residue to the relief of rates, and a 

 small proportion of them have under consideration the question 

 o( applying the money to technical education." 



Jn conclusion, it is pointed out that "the opportunities 

 afforded to people engaged in all branches of industry for ac- 

 quiring a knowledge of much which is closely connected with 

 their daily work, but which cannot be obtained in the factory 

 or workshop, are constantly increasing. The municipal schools, 

 which are steadily growing in number and efficiency in all parts 

 of the country, must be of great service in this connection. 

 Further, in proportion as local interest is developed, and em- 

 ployers show that they value sound scientific instruction and art 

 teaching, the effectiveness of these schools will be promoted 

 But whether the income of these schools be derived mainly from 

 local or Imperial sources, it is essential that the course of in- 

 struction adopted shall be well adapted to the needs of the town 

 or district. The more fully the educational welfare of the 

 students takes the first place, and the mere earning of Govern- 

 ment grants the second place in the new Municipal schools, the 

 more certainly will they fulfil their object." 



It is clear from this that the Department desires to stamp out 

 the system whereby science classes are " farmed " by teachers. 

 The acquisition of knowledge is rightly regarded as the proper 

 goal, not the mere obtaining of a certificate. The technical 

 instruction committees of some of the county councils would do 

 well to bear this and the following admonition in mind: 

 " Without a sound foundation of general education, the highest 

 scicniific training cannot be imparted ; without a sufficient sup- 

 ply of teachers with adequate salaries, who are not overworked, 

 and who not merely know their subject, but know how to teach 

 it, a considerable part of the money expended on the encourage- 

 ii.ent of new forms of education must be wasted." 



EUROPEAN LABORATORIES OF MARINE 

 BIOLOGY. 



A/TARINE laboratories are now recognised as essential to the 

 progress of biology. The facilities they offer the collector 

 and the investigator cannot be overrated, and it would be an 

 excellent thing if institutions could be conducted on similar 

 lines in every branch of science. Mr. Bashford Dean, in the 

 A nierican Naturalist of July, gives an illustrated description of 

 marine laboratories in Europe, which is so interesting that a 

 large portion of it is here reprinted. The description of the 



Marine Biological Station at Plymouth is omitted owing to the 

 fact that a detailed account has already appeared in these columns 

 (vol. xxxviii. p. 198, 1888). Mr. Dean prefaces his report as 

 follows : — 



" In every country the marine laboratory has become a need 

 of the student of biology. During his winter studies in the 

 university it serves to provide him with well-preserved material, 

 often with living forms which he may himself prepare according 

 to his wants ; in summer it gives him opportuniiy to see and 

 collect his study types, and utilise with profit and without 

 physical discomfort abundant material relating to his studies. 

 To the investigator the marine laboratory has become, in the 

 broadest sense, a university. He may there meet the repre- 

 sentative students of far and wide, fellow-workers, perhaps, in 

 the very line of his own research, and must himself, unknow- 

 ingly, teach and learn. He finds out gradually of recent work, 

 of technical methods which often happen most pertinent to his 

 present needs. He may carry on nis work quie:ly and thorough- 

 ly ; his works of relerence are at hand ; he has the most 

 necessary comfort in working— the feeling of physical rest, un- 

 troubled by the rigid hours of demonstrations and lectures. 



" The importance of the work of the marine laboratory has 

 been keenly appreciated in foreign countries, and it is note- 

 worthy how large a number of the original researches is at 

 present conducted at, or upon material from, these distributing 

 centres of biology. At the present day the entire coast I ne of 

 Europe has become dotted with zoological stations greav and 

 small, grown out of the resources granted by societies, private 

 individuals, or governments — perhaps by the combined efforts of 

 all. It is a matter of great interest to note how thoroughly the 

 marine laboratory system abroad had become a part of every 

 grade of biological work. The student in a small university in 

 the interior of France receives his first lessons from material 

 sent regularly from Roscoff or Banyuls. He examines living 

 sponges, hydroids, lucernarians, pennatulids, heroes, Loxcsoma, 

 Coviatula, ani Amfhioxus. In Munich, hundreds of miles from 

 the sea, is another example. Prof. Richard Hertwig, by the 

 aid of material from Naples, demonstrates the larval character 

 of ascidians, or the fertilisation of the egg of the sea urchin. 

 Every group of European universities seems to have centralised 

 its marine biological work in a convenient locality, ani this 

 branch of their needs is supported — and is well supported — even 

 in countries whose financial resources are most limited. The 

 importance of this work is felt to such a degree that it is not 

 from reasons unselfish that universities have united in their sup- 

 port of a station like that of Naples. This has become literally 

 an emporium cosmopolitan, bringing together side by side, 

 perhaps not unnaturally, the best workers of many universities 

 whose observations upon the best material, sharpened by dis- 

 cussion and criticism, are certainly tending to become the most 

 accurate and the most fruitful in their direction and resulls. _ 



" It is most singular that foreign countries are unquestioo- 

 ingly liberal in the support of pure biology, and in the work of 

 marine stations the tendency is becoming less and less on the 

 part of money- givers to ask how many fish will be hatched to 

 become food material. Public interest has been gradually com- 

 ing to be directed to the general laws and the problems of life 

 and heredity. This has well been a hopeful sign, and the 

 European biologists are not backward in emphasisitg the im- 

 portance of their studies. Prof, de Lacaze-Duthiers does not 

 hesitate even to propitiate the practical Cerberus, reminding 

 him how often 'facts have been found at every step of science 

 which were valueless at their discovery, but which, little by little, 

 fell into line and led to applications of the highest importance— 

 how the observation of the tarnishing of silver, or the twitching 

 leg of the frog, was the origin of photography and telegraphy- 

 how the purely abstract problem of spontaneous generation gave 

 rise to the antiseptics of surgery.'" 



Beginning with the marine laboratories of France, Mr. Dean 

 says : — 



" The extended sea coast has ever been of the greatest aid lo 

 the French student— along the entire northern coast the channel 

 is not unlike the Bay of Fundy in the way it sweeps the waters 

 out at the lunar tides. The rocks on the coast of Brittany, 

 massive boulders, swept and rounded by the rushing waters, 

 will, at these times become exposed to a depth as great as 40 

 feet. This is the harvest-time of the collector ; he is enabled 

 to secure the animals of the deep with his own hand, to take 

 them carefully from the rocky crevices where they would ever 

 have avoided the collecting dredge. From eailiest times this 



NO. 1243, VOL. 48] 



