August i 







NATURE 



347 



of the sixty subjects are divided into different sections, 

 corresponding to the separate branches of the same 

 trade, or to the practice of the trade in separate 

 localities. 



In the new Programme we notice many important 

 additions. A practical test, which is the surest preventive 

 of cram, and excludes those who are not engaged in the 

 trade from presenting themselves for examination, has 

 been added to the syllabus of nearly all the subjects. 

 Thus, next year, for the first time, there will be practical 

 examinations in such widely different subjects as photo- 

 graphy and boot and shoe manufacture. In many sub- 

 jects dealing largely with the practical applications of 

 science the syllabus has been entirely re-written. This 

 is the case with " Electrical Engineering," which is now 

 divided into two main subjects — " Telegraphy " and " The 

 Transmission of Power" — the former being again sub- 

 divided, in the honours grade, into "Telegraphy" and 

 " Telephony," and the latter into " Electrical Instru- 

 ments," " Electric Lighting," and " Dynamos, Motors, 

 &c." The subject of " Mechanical Engineering " is simi- 

 larly divided into different sections. The Programme 

 has been increased by the addition of a syllabus of in- 

 struction in " Goldsmiths' Work," in which subject a large 

 class has been already established in Birmingham, and 

 of a syllabus in " Ship Carpentry and Joinery," which is 

 intended to meet the requirements of artisans engaged in 

 the different shipbuilding yards throughout the country. 



The continuous increase in the number of candidates 

 for these examinations, and in the number of students 

 receiving instruction in the different centres throughout 

 the country, shows that there is a genuine demand among 

 artisans for practical and concrete instruction dealing, in 

 the first place, with the facts with which they are familiar 

 in their every-day work, and, afterwards, with the scientific 

 principles explanatory of those facts. From the table 

 found on p. 17 of the Programme, it appears that this 

 year 7322 candidates presented themselves, as against 

 6667 in the previous year, and that the number of 

 students under instruction increased from 12,022 to 

 13,202. 



The memorandum issued to County Councils, to which 

 we have already referred in these columns, is re published 

 in the Programme. It draws the attention of County and 

 Borough Councils to the fact that, after the examination 

 in May 1892, the grants hitherto paid on the results 

 of the examination will be withdrawn, and that a sub- 

 stantial portion of the funds thus set free will be 

 devoted to the improvement of the machinery of the 

 examinations. Indications of the direction in which 

 these improvements will be made will be found in the 

 new Programme. It is important that the managers of 

 technical classes should fully understand that, in future, 

 the maintenance of such classes will depend entirely on 

 local support. The large sums placed at the disposal of 

 County Councils clearly render it no longer necessary 

 that the City (Guilds Institute should continue to make 

 grants on results, which, although amounting in the 

 aggregate to a large sum of money, proved to be quite 

 inadequate to properly support the classes. It is, how- 

 ever, to be feared that the grant-earning tendency of the 

 teachers and managers of local schools may cause the 

 distinctly technological subjects of instruction to be neg- 

 lected for the sake of science subjects by which grants 

 may still be obtained from South Kensington. To prevent 

 this, it is necessary that County Councils should realize 

 the full importance of the work which Parliament has 

 thrown upon them, and should recognize that in future 

 they will be the authorities responsible for the conduct of 

 the technical and, indeed, the secondary education also 

 of the county. In the competition for money grants, I 

 technical subjects will be placed at a distinct disadvantage 

 as compared with ordinary science subjects, and it is the 

 more necessary, therefore, that the teaching of these 



NO. I 137, VOL. 44] 



subjects should receive adequate support from local 

 authorities. 



In order that the teaching in different localities may be 

 duly adapted to the trades practised in those localities, 

 and may be regulated by these requirements, and not by 

 the grant-earning capacity of the subjects of instruction, 

 it is very desirable that County Councils should organize, 

 independently, or in connection with the City Guilds 

 Institute, a system of inspection of local classes. The 

 value of examinations is iinmeasurably increased when 

 they are supplemented by inspection by competent ex- 

 perts, and it is to be hoped that some system of inspec- 

 tion of technical schools, which shall include the methods 

 of instruction adopted, will soon be organized. 



The Institute's Programme offers to different localities 

 a wide choice of trade subjects, ranging from simple 

 handicrafts to industries involving some of the most 

 difficult applications of physical and chemical science. 

 To the syllabus of each subject is added a valuable list 

 of works of reference, which forms by itself a very com- 

 plete guide to books in technology. The list of examiners, 

 many of whom have this year been newly appointed, in- 

 cludes well-known experts in each branch of trade, and 

 is a guarantee of the efficiency of the examinations. 

 The future development of technical education is now 

 very largely under the control of County Councils. They 

 possess the funds without which no real progress can be 

 made. But, besides funds, experience and organization 

 are needed, and there can be no doubt that the members 

 of County and Borough Councils will derive much valu- 

 able information, and many serviceable suggestions, from 

 the new edition of the City Guilds Institute's Programme 

 of Technological Examinations. 



BOTANICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. 

 ''pHE organization of a Botanical Survey of India, 

 -^ which has been under consideration since 1885, has 

 been finally settled by the following resolution of the 

 Government of India, dated Calcutta, February 26^ 

 1891 : — 



(i) The scheme for carrying out the botanical survey 

 of India, which has been under consideration for some 

 time, was finally completed a year ago, and His Excel- 

 lency the Governor-General in Council considers that it 

 is now desirable to publish the details for the general 

 information of local Governments and Administrations. 



(2) In February 1885, Mr. Thiselton Dyer, Director of 

 the Royal Gardens at Kew, prepared for the Government 

 of Madras a Memorandum on the constitution of a 

 Botanical Department for the Madras Presidency, one 

 result of which was the eventual establishment of a 

 Botanical Department for that Presidency. In sanction- 

 ing the Madras Department, the Secretary of State for 

 India took the opportunity to suggest for the considera- 

 tion of the Government of India whether, without inter- 

 fering with the control exercised by the Provincial 

 Governments, it would not be possible to bring into com- 

 munication the various Botanical Departments of the 

 different Provinces, the desirability of such an association 

 having been prominently noticed by Mr. Thiselton Dyer 

 in his MemoranduiTi of February 1885. The wider 

 scheme thus suggested by the Secretary of State was 

 accordingly considered ; and the first step taken for the 

 organization of a Botanical Survey for all India, which 

 was to have its centre in the Royal Botanical Gardens at 

 Seebpur, Calcutta, was the transfer from the control of 

 the Government of the North- Western Provinces and 

 Oudh, to that of the Government of India, of the Super- 

 intendent of the Botanical Gardens at Saharanpur. This 

 measure was demanded by the need for botanical survey 

 in the Punjab, Rajputana, Central India, and the Central 

 Provinces, which had hitherto been unrepresented by any 



