3/' 



XATL'RE 



[OtTOISEK lO. iJS95 



pUiit air. These latter are, at the end of this time, all as fresh 

 and healthily green as they were at the moment of cutting ofl" 

 the parent plant, notwithstiinding the ver)- hot weather we have 

 recently experienced. It seems to me that this is a clear proof 

 that the riVc of leaves is to aisorb as well as evaporate, a point 

 on which much doubt has often been expressed. G. Pal'i.. 

 Harrogate, September 29. 



It has been proved over and over again, and it is easy to 

 prove, that the leaves of some plants, though probably not of 

 all, are capable, under certain conditions — usually abnormal 

 conditions — of absorbing aqueous vapour or fluid water : but 

 this action can hardly be regarded as a function, though I am 

 not prepared to say that absorption of moisture by leaves is in 

 no case a part of the every-day life of a plant. The return to 

 tuigidity of the leaves of a plant during the night is. however, 

 in a general way, due, doubt'.ess, to reduced transpiration, 

 rather than absorption from the atmosphere. Yet in the 

 absence of a counteracting current of water from the roots, the 

 leaves of some plants, especially of those inhabiting almost 

 rainless regions, but where the air sometimes re;iches almost 

 complete saturation, absorb moisture. .\t least, so it is asserted. 

 With regard to absorption by detached leaves, or by leaves of 

 detached branches, the development of the action depends, apart 

 from other circumstances, on the amount of vital energy left ; 

 and this is determined, to a great extent, by age. The common 

 Privet is a shrub of extraordinary vitality, rare in our native 

 vegetation. I hardly need add that proof of leaves being able 

 to absorb water may be had by inserting withered leaves in 

 water by their upper halves, leaving the stalk out. If not loo 

 old, or too much dried, the whole leaves will r^ain tui^dily, 

 though the process may be a slow one. 



\V. BoTTiNr, Memsi.ev. 



Tertiary Fossil Ants in the Isle of ^Vight. 



In a paper published in Xaiike for .\ugust 22, p. 399, by 

 Prof. C. Emery, on ' ' The Origin of lCuro|wan and North 

 .Vmerican Ants,'' the author states that " the Sicilian amber of 

 Miocene age contains genera which belong to the actual Indian 

 and .Australian fauna, while the Baltic amber contains the 

 genera Kormica, Lxsius, and Myrmica." In the Bembridge 

 limestone in the Isle of Wight, of Kocene .tge, the same as the 

 Baltic amber, the following genera occur : Formica, Myrmica, 

 and Camponotus, and some others not yet described. In my 

 collection there are a large number of these Mymenoptera, 

 generally well preserved, and seem to he more numerous than 

 any of the other insects from the same beds. It is only of late 

 years thai any number of insects have l>een met with in the 

 British tertiaric-s, and it is well to record the two genera referred 

 10 Formica and Myrmica, being found both in the Baltic amber 

 and Bembridge limestone. ,\mong the numerous fossil insects 

 in my possession from the Lias, no trace of any ants has been 

 observed, and it seems that they did not come into existence 

 until the later Tertiary epoch. P. B. Broiiie. 



THE NORMAL SCHOOL A T I'AKL^. 



T N connection with the celebrations of the centenary of 

 ■*• the foundation of the Ecole Normale in I'aris, referred 

 to at the time in these columns (vol. 11. p. 613), a pon- 

 derous tome has bctn published ' containing the com- 

 plete history of the school, and details concerning; the 

 most renowned of its alumni. Opportunity is thus 

 afforded of giving a sketch of the development of a 

 s' ' ■ ' Ii has played an important part in the history 

 "I for nearly a century, and which has been the 



ti "f many of the most distinguished Pro- 



■ .1.. orate article in the volume is a detailed 

 •' I. I'.iul iJupuy, on " L'Kcolc Normale dc I'an 



' ' ■ article has furnished the particulars with 



f the early history of trie school given in this 



■n the Con\intion of the 9th Itruniairc, .An. III. 

 " r 30, 1794 . : I r.l (he decree to which the N'urm.i] 



' •■ l,r Onlcniuf male." (Parii : Hocbeli 



NO. I35.I, ^..i,. 52] 



School owes its foundation, it realised an idea which had 

 occupied the attention of the University and Parliament 

 for many years. So far back as 1645 the University of 

 Paris considered a proposal by the rector, Dumonstier, to 

 provide the means for the education of teachers and 

 principals. After the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1761, the 

 Parliament of Paris began to carry out the idea by insti- 

 tuting fellowships and uniting at I.ouis-le-Grand the 

 scholars of the small colleges of the University. .\t the 

 time when Parliament was taking these steps, Barletli de 

 Saint-Paul was forming a training school for teachers, in 

 which his principles of personal pedagogy were taught ; 

 and Bernardin de -Saint-Pierre pleaded for a college of 

 instruction. "J'admire avec etonnenient," he wrote in 

 17S9, "que tous les arts ont parmi nous leurapprentissage, 

 e.xcepte le plus difficile de tous, celui de former les 

 hommes." To the influence which these educational ic- 

 fomiers had in bringing the matter before the Govern- 

 ment of the Revolution must be added the impulse 

 derived from ("icrinany, through .Msace. .\lsace was 

 then the only province of France able tofuniish ideas and 

 models for popular instruction. It had been touched by 

 the great pedagogic movement in Germany, and its great 

 influence upon the three Revolutionary .Assemblies makes 

 it prominent in the historv- of the Normal School. 



Practically every part of the educational system of 

 France owes its development to the Republic. The 

 Committee of Public Welfare early concerned itself 

 with the question of national education, and Com- 

 missions were appointed to report upon the best 

 means for developing an educational system. In 

 1793 a plan was put forward to establish normal 

 schools for the training of teachers. .Nothing definite 

 was formulated, however, with reference to the Normal 

 School until September 1794, when the Committee of 

 Public Instruction adopted a scries of articles, the first of 

 which was to the effect that " there should be established, 

 at Paris, a Normal .School, where instruction in the art of 

 teaching science should be given to persons already 

 possessing scientific knowledge." .At the end of the fol- 

 lowing month, the National Convention, after a discussion 

 of the scheme and the subjects to be taught, passed a law 

 for the establishment of Ecoles normales. The idea was to 

 establish these schools in various parts of France, but it 

 was not then realised, and the Normal School at Paris is 

 the only one that owes its existence directly to the law of the 

 Convention. Referring to the designation of the schools, 

 an official note reads : " The word normal, which has 

 been applied to the schools newly decreed, is taken from 

 geometry. It expresses really the perpendicular or level. 

 In the sense employed in this case it announces that all 

 knowledge belonging to science, to the arts, to belles- 

 lettres, &c., will there be taught, and taught to all equally." 

 Science was thus placed upon the same footing as the 

 humanities. The methods and results of investigation 

 were not to be know n to a few, but were to be taught by 

 the most eminent nun it was possible to obtain. The 

 first programme of the courses and professors shows the 

 scope of the instruction given. 



Subjects. 

 Mathematics 

 Physics 



Descriptive Geometry 

 Natural History ... 



Chemistry 



Agriculture 

 Geography 

 History 

 Morals 



Grammar 



Analysis of the Understanding 

 Literature 



Professors. 

 Uagrangeand Laplace. 

 1 latiy. 

 Monge. 

 DaulK'nton. 

 Ilerlhollet. 

 Thouin. 



liiiache and MenlelU'. 

 \'()lney. 



Bernardin de St, Piciie. 

 .Sicard. 

 Garat. 

 La Mar|x-. 



A glance at this list will show that the professors 

 were selected on account of their eminence in different 



