April II, 1872] 



NATURE 



465 



whether or not the soap was the real cause, I a third 

 time employed the soap deliberately to see if the ekzema 

 was due to it. I was in excellent health, and in about 

 three weeks I found the disease reestablished, so that I 

 think the soap must be viewed as found guilty. Good 

 white unscented curd soap is now my resource, and with 

 no ill-effects. 



Ekzema is always a distressing complaint even when 

 affecting those in the most robust health. With those 

 of bad constitution or lowered health, however, it seems 

 to degenerate into bad or intractable skin diseases, so 

 that probably this notice may not be deemed useless or 

 uncalled for. R. M. 



THE SCHOOL OF MILITARY 

 ENGINEERING 



THERE are few educational establishments, in this 

 country at any rate, that fulfil their object so aptly 

 and so well, as the School of Military Engineering at 

 Chatham. When we remember the many sciences and 

 technical accomplishments with which the officers of the 

 Royal Engineers are conversant, and the practical use 

 that many of them are required to make of their acquire- 

 ments, it is very obvious indeed that, to be successfiil, the 

 system of education must be a most complete and sub- 

 stantial one. It is, in truth, necessary that a man entering 

 either of the scientific corps of the army — the Royal 

 Artillery or Royal Engineers — should not only be in- 

 tuitively quick and clever, so as to grapple with the multi- 

 farious subjects of study, but it is moreover quite as indis- 

 pensable that he should be at the outset sufficiently strong 

 and healthy to withstand the wear and tear of so much 

 hard work. To become a Mr. Toots would, we fear, be the 

 fate of many young gentlemen, were they passed through 

 the Woolwich Academy, and into these departments of 

 the Army, without first undergoing a rigid medical exami- 

 nation ; for the severe and lengthy curriculum is such as 

 would certainly jeopardise the health of any but the 

 strongest constitutions. Commissions in the Royal Ar- 

 tillery and Royal Engineers, be it remembered, have for 

 many years past been obtainable only by open competi- 

 tion, the successful candidates being admitted into the 

 Royal Military Academy, whence they are passed into 

 the Army when found properly qualified. But to com- 

 pete successfully for admission to the Academy in the 

 first instance, involves already a knowledge of mathe- 

 matics, of experimental and applied sciences, of languages, 

 and other subjects too numerous to detail, such indeed as 

 is scarcely possessed by other well-educated professional 

 men ; and this, bear in mind, is but the starting-point of 

 the scientific soldier's education. At the Academy, where 

 the course of special instruction sometimes continues for 

 three years, he has to pass from a lower to an upper sec- 

 tion, and when successfully through the examinations 

 that beset him at every turn, he receives his commission 

 in a provisional sort of way only. The successful Acade- 

 micians highest on the list are sent to Chatham, to com- 

 mence instruction in their duties as Royal Engineers, 

 while the remainder complete their education at Woolwich 

 and Shoeburyness, as lieutenants in the Royal Artillery. 

 And if, after all this, there are yet dissatisfied spirits, 

 who still exhibit a craving for more, then there is the 

 staff college, the advanced class, instruction certificates, 

 and other ends to be attained, enough in all conscience to 

 satisfy the most ambitious. 



It is to the .School of Military Engineering that the 

 young lieutenants of Engineers are sent for instruction in 

 their various duties, and it is only after passing through a 

 two years' course at this establishment that their commis- 

 sions are actually secured to them. The professors, or 

 instructors, as they are termed, are all officers of some 

 years' standing in the corps, appointed by reason of their 



intimate acquaintance v/ith the special subjects that they 

 teach. These subjects are not only veiy various, but are, 

 moreover, always increasing, as our system of warfare 

 continually improves. Thus, besides the subjects of sur- 

 veying, construction, estimating, fortifications, telegraphy, 

 and other more ordinary, though not less practical, 

 matters, there have been added of late years, chemistry, 

 photography, army signalling, torpedo service, &c., all of 

 which the Royal Engineer must know something about. 



It is evident that mere theoretical instruction in matters 

 like these would be of little use to men who occupy such 

 practical appointments as are filled by most Engineer 

 officers, and it is in this respect that the School of Mili- 

 tary Engineering may claim superiority over kindred 

 establishments. The studies, workshops, laboratories, 

 and demonstrating schools are of the most complete de- 

 scription, while the outworks and broken ground upon the 

 Chatham lines and around the Brompton Barracks afford 

 ample scope for the practical prosecution of those studies 

 which require a wide field of operations. It is this practi- 

 cal manner of going about one's duties that is calculated 

 above all things to impart a thorough knowledge, and to 

 inspire officers with true confidence in their abilities. 

 Fortifications are designed, parallels drawn, mines pre- 

 pared, bridges constructed, and other siege duties executed 

 by the students themselves, to render them conversant 

 with their duties practically as well as theoretically, 

 while the appointment of temporary telegraph stations, 

 the experimental application of explosive and torpedo 

 charges, the actual exercise of signaUing, both by day and 

 night, impart experience which could not, of course, be 

 gained bj- teaching or lectures in the schools. 



But it is not only the officers who benefit by the Engi- 

 neering School at Chatham. The non-commissioned 

 officers, also, are required to attend instruction in field 

 works, and can, indeed, if they desire it, pass through the 

 entire system of study, a course imperative on all those 

 desirous of promotion to " foremen of works," or to other 

 similar positions. The sappers, too, are well acquainted 

 with at least one trade, or calling, and as every company 

 of Engineers is made up from a due proportion of all 

 trades, it is obvious such a complete and intelligent 

 body of men is ofttimes invaluable. Thus it is that, in 

 the Colonies, in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, 

 and other stations where detachments of Royal Engineers 

 have been sent, their services have been found so 

 truly valuable, every available talent being at once at 

 hand for the carrying out of the engineering and other 

 kindred duties necessary to be fulfilled in the occupation 

 of a rough untravelled country. As an instance of this, 

 we need point merely to the recent Abyssinian Campaign, 

 which may justly be called a triumph of engineering — a 

 gigantic piece of road-making in fact — rather than a vic- 

 tory over half-naked Africans ; for here we have in some- 

 thing like six months, a rough tract of country surveyed 

 and mapped out, four hundred miles of road made, a line 

 of railway laid down, telegraph communication established, 

 wells sunk, and all this over and above the transport of a 

 large body of men and war material. 



The subject of torpedoes and submarine mines was so 

 recently discussed in these columns, that we need not 

 again refer at any length to this latest military science 

 just now under special investigation at Chatham. But 

 before concluding these few remarks, we may make men- 

 tion of some experiments upon an extensive scale that 

 were not long since made with these terribly destruc- 

 tive machines. The charges were fired from the shore 

 by means of electricity, the signal for their discharge 

 being given from the distance almost of a mile ; and to 

 show the control and certainty exercisable in the system 

 employed, there was, in one instance, a steamer made to 

 pass harmlessly over one of the charges, which immedi- 

 ately afterwards, at a given signal, blew into fragments 

 a launch following in tow, H, B, P. 



