March 19, 1896] 



NA rURIi 



477 



translated by Dr. Alexander Bruce, 2 vols ; Plea for a 

 Simpler Life, by Dr. George S. Keith, fifth edition ; The Evo- 

 lution of Bird-song, with observations on the influence of 

 heredity and imitation, by Charles A. Witchell. 



Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co.'s list is as follows : — The Spas 

 and Mineral Waters of Europe, with Notes on the Utility of Spa 

 Treatment in various Diseases and Morbid Conditions, by Drs. 

 Hermann Weber and Frederick Parkes Weber ; The Treatment 

 of Phthisis, by Arthur Ransome, F.R.S. 



Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons' announcements include : — The 

 Evolution of Horticulture in New E^ngland, a History of the 

 Art of Gardening in New England from its earliest plantation 

 to the present day, by Daniel Denison Slade ; A Scientific 

 Demonstration of the Future Life, by Thomson Jay Hudson ; 

 Handbook for Hospitals, a manual of practical suggestions, by 

 Abby Howland Woolset. 



Messrs. W. H. Allen and Co., Limited, will publish Allen's 

 Naturalists' Library, edited by Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, illus- 

 trated ; British Birds, vols. iii. and iv., by the editor ; Butter- 

 flies, vol. ii. by W. F. Kirby ; Game Birds, vol. ii., by W. R. 

 Ogilvie Grant. 



Mr. Young J. Pentland's list contains : — Atlas of the Fundus 

 Oculi, illustrated with figures in colours by W^. Adams Frost ; The 

 Principles of Treatment, by Dr. J. Mitchell Bruce ; The Edin- 

 burgh Hospital Reports, vol. iv. ; a new edition of Prof. 

 Cunningham's Manual of Practical Anatomy, in 2 vols., with 

 additional illustrations. 



Mr. Wm. F. Clay, Edinburgh, has in the press : — The Histo- 

 pathology of the Diseases of the Skin, by Dr. P. G. Unna, 

 translated from the German with the assistance of the author by 

 Dr. Norman Walker, with double coloured plate containing 

 nineteen illustrations and forty-two additional illustrations in 

 the text. 



Mr. Erwin Nagele, Stuttgart, announces Researches on 

 Mimicry on the basis of a Natural Classification of the 

 Papilionidre, by Dr. E. Haase, translated by Dr. C. M. Child, 

 with eight coloured plates, 4to, part ii. 



Messrs. Whit taker and Co. will publish immediately : — Future 

 Trade in the Far East, by C. C. Wakefield, fully illustrated, and 

 containing a map showing the latest developments in the trade 

 routes. 



The Rebman Publishing Company, 1 1 Adam Street, Strand, 

 W.C., have ready for immediate publication. Water and Water 

 Supplies, by Dr. J. C. Thresh. 



Mr. F. Furchheim, Naples, announces Bibliografia del 

 Vesuvio e del suo Territorio, compiled by Federigo Furchheim. 



Mr. David Douglas (Edinburgh) will issue The Vertebrate 

 Fauna of Scotland, vols. vi. and vii. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 The recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United 

 States in favour of Mrs. Stamford, and adverse to the Govern- 

 ment in its claim for 13,000,000 dollars, means the salvation of 

 the Leland Stamford Junior University, at Palo Alto, California ; 

 as Mrs. Stamford will now be able to carry out the munificent 

 plan of endowment, which has been held in abeyance pending 

 the issue of this litigation. The Johns Hopkins University at 

 Baltimore, on the contrary, is seriously crippled by the collapse 

 of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad system, which has just 

 been put into the hands of a receiver. The University held a 

 large amount of the securities of this line. 



The County Council of Southampton has decided not to levy 



a rate of a halfpenny in the pound, under the Technical 



Instruction Act, which had been recommended by the Finance 



Committee with a view of assisting the Hartley Institution, a 



school of science and art, in that town. As far as we can 



gather, Southampton is suffering from a plethora of educational 



authorities. Besides the Council of the above institution, the 



Endowed Schools governors and the School Board are also 



engaged in providing different grades of technical education. 



Wv. notice that on Monday, the i6th inst., a deputation of the 



ishire Committee of the Incorporated Association of Head 



IS waited ujion the Technical Instruction Committee of the 



shire County Council, to urge the claims of the secondary 



Is in the county upon the Committee. They based their 



> upon the admitted imperfect education of the students 



NO. 1377, VOL. 53] 



who presented themselves at the technical schools for instruc- 

 tion, urging that the want of proper preliminary education could 

 be avoided by a liberal offering of scholarships to the secondary 

 schools, which out of the increa.sed income resulting from the 

 augmentation of numbers, could easily ensure a satisfactory 

 introductory training for the future students. Attention was 

 also very properly called to the work of this kind which had 

 been carried out in other counties. Though the chairman 

 expressed a fear that want of funds would prevent very much 

 bemg done for secondary schools, we are sure, in view of his 

 admission that the Committee agreed that these schools were the 

 proper places for much of the early work in a good system of 

 technical education, that it will not be long before the Lanca- 

 shire authority does something to meet the claims urged by the 

 deputation. 



The latest report of the Technical Instruction Committee of 

 the Derbyshire County Council is very refreshing reading. The 

 pamphlet is prefaced by an explanation of what the Committee 

 considers to be the proper scope of technical education. It is 

 rightly affirmed that a complete system has two main objects : 

 (i) to provide for those who may naturally be expected to occupy 

 positions of control, i.e. the "managers" ; (2) to provide for 

 the class from which individuals are constantly rising to positions 

 of control, i.e. the " men." Recognising that the recent in- 

 dustrial developments of Germany are in a very large measure 

 due to the scientific training of the managers and foremen, the 

 Derbyshire Committee very early turned its attention to the 

 secondary schools, as being the institutions where this class 

 receives its early education. Very much has been done to im- 

 prove the standard and nature of the instruction given in the 

 grammar schools of the country. In giving help to these 

 educational establishments it has in every case been insisted 

 upon that it is desirable only to give a general education in 

 English and languages, and to add a solid groundwork of 

 mathematics, drawing, and pure science, without dealing with 

 their application to specific industries. At the same time it has 

 not been lost sight of that those students who will naturally pass 

 on to occupy positions of high responsibility, must receive special 

 courses of instruction at technical schools and higher educational 

 institutions. In dealing with the requirements of the " men," 

 the Committee have wisely decided that the teaching in elemen- 

 tary schools is best supplemented by a course of object-lessons 

 in elementary science. To ensure this being well done, classes 

 for elementary school teachers have been organised, with a view 

 to teaching them how to give instruction in this way. The 

 scholar's education can then l)e suitably continued in evening 

 schools and science and art classes, which have been arranged 

 in each district according to its needs. For the more advanced 

 study which is necessary for most of the first class of students 

 and for a considerable proportion of the second, who themselves 

 desire it, a technical school is naturally stated to be of great 

 importance. Instead of attempting to found such an institution 

 themselves, the Committee have decided that the wisest course 

 is, by a careful system of grants, .scholarships, and exhibitions, 

 to utilise the excellent colleges of Nottingham, Sheffield, Man- 

 chester and Derby, which all border upon their administrative 

 county. 



In addition to the above work, we would especially notice the 

 initiation of the Midland Dairy Institute, the inauguration of a 

 Department of Mining at Firth College, Sheffield, the establish- 

 ment of local classes in "hosiery" at Heanor, in "calico 

 printing, bleaching, &c.," at New Mills, and in the principle of 

 design at various centres. The year's work is a decidedly suc- 

 cessfiil one, and we hope to see several other counties following 

 the logical and scientific methods of procedure which the Derby- 

 shire Committee have laid down. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



The Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Scietue for February, 

 1896, contains: — On the early development of Amia, by 

 Bashford Dean (Plates 30-32). Amia calva, possibly the sole 

 survivor of the race of the Mesozoic (ianoids, claims our special 

 interest as the nearest ancestral form of some, if not of all, of 

 our recent Teleosts. In embryology the Ganoid and the 

 Teleost still stand widely separate ; there has even been a 

 tendency to look upon these kindred forms as representing 

 different phyla, early divergent from a primitive chordate 

 ancestor. This, therefore, renders the details given by Dr. Dean 



