THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 371 



mena of dissolved gases in water, £50 ; Mr. C. S. 

 Wright, the radio-activity of Antarctic water, £15 ; 

 the Clare Island Survey, under the auspices of the 

 Royal Irish Academy, £100 ; Professor T. Johnson, 

 the Kiltorcan fossils, £6, 15*. 



In addition to the above, the Society granted a 

 sum of £10 per annum for three years in aid of the 

 publication of annual tables of constants and numerical 

 data, chemical, physical, and technological, under the 

 commission appointed by the seventh International 

 Congress of Applied Chemistry. 



Science Training in Schools 



In 1899 the Committee of Science and its indus- 

 trial applications submitted a report to the Council, in 

 which they reviewed the condition of science teaching 

 in the Irish Intermediate Schools, and pointed out 

 that the position indicated a complete abandonment of 

 science teaching in the near future. The report con- 

 tains statistics, showing the total number of boys 

 presented for examination in all subjects, contrasted 

 with the number presented in science subjects. In 

 1887, for example, the total in all subjects was 4613, 

 and of those 41 13 presented themselves for examina- 

 tion in natural philosophy and chemistry. Ten years 

 later the total number presenting themselves for exa- 

 mination had risen to 6661, while only 905 out of 

 that number entered for examination in the science 

 subjects referred to. It was pointed out that this 

 great falling off took place, notwithstanding the fact that 

 in the same period the amount paid to the owners 

 of schools in the form of result fees had risen from 

 £10,000 to upwards of £50,000 per annum. Owing 

 to the almost complete absence of any attempt to teach 

 science practically in the Dublin schools, the Society 



