May 10, 1883] 



NATURE 



27 



the present with what it was ten years ago, although 

 showing great improvement, still draws a discreditable 

 picture of what so important a profession is allowed to 

 remain in America ; and quite a romantic tale is told of 

 the means by which men getting a living by selling false 

 degrees were brought to justice. The number of the uni- 

 versities and other bodies which claim the right to bestow 

 degrees makes the tracking down such forgeries very 

 difficult. 



The business of nursing the sick is rising to its proper 

 position as that of an intelligent assistance to the pro- 

 fession of medicine. Cur Report wisely recounts the 

 good results to be gained by student-nurses, though 

 chiefly moral qualities are inculcated. 



In the schools of science, the number of students which 

 increased so largely in 1878, but fell off in 1S79, has begun 

 to increase again ; the number of institutions as well as 

 teachers having increased steadily all the time. Our 

 Report says : — " The multiplication and growth of schools 

 of science has been a marked feature in the recent 

 history of education in America. Either the stimulus 

 given to them by the national aid, or the sentiment which 

 compelled Congress to give help to higher education, has 

 carried forward and deepened the interest in industrial, 

 scientific, and technical instruction. Students are now 

 more frequently choosing lines of study which lead to a 

 life of business activity or to prominent positions in in- 

 dustrial pursuits. Colleges that a few years since held 

 strictly to a rigid classical course are feeling the new- 

 impulse and are striving to add to their efficiency by 

 making provision for special instruction preparatory to 

 definite occupations. Men of wealth are endowing schools 

 of science and technology more richly than other institu- 

 tions ; for they believe that the practical education which 

 has now come to the front will do more than anything 

 else to promote the industry and prosperity of individuals, 

 and to utilise the resources of the nation." 



The requirements for admission to the scientific depart- 

 ment of colleges and schools of science are not so great as 

 to classical collegiate courses. 



It is rather curious that the study of Latin is allowed 

 to be dropped in a law school of Harvard ; but the follow- 

 ing remarks made upon the value of law schools, as com- 

 pared with that of articling pupils to lawyers, may well be 

 applied not to them only but to all technical instruction : — 

 " In schools systematic training is received. Less oppor- 

 tunity is afforded for desultory and spasmodic reading. 

 Regular habits of study are required. Examinations to 

 be passed give steadiness and thoroughness to the work. 

 Companions make emulation. The desire for the respect 

 of the professors is a further stimulus to faithfulness, and 

 they are ready to aid in the understanding of intricate 

 questions. Underlying principles are given an attention 

 which corresponds to their relative importance." 



Forestry is taught in some of the higher institutions, 

 with plantations of trees arranged in their natural orders ; 

 and its value is pointed out, both as a branch of know- 

 ledge to the students, and also as adding to the knowledge 

 of the range of possible and profitable cultivation of many 

 species. 



A system of teaching the deaf and dumb to read from 

 the lips of others instead of the old finger reading is de- 

 scribed as wonderfully successful and fast gaining ground. 



Not a small advantage will science gain if the system 

 of making full inquiries into the antecedents of every case 

 of the above, as also of blindness, is patiently and 

 thoroughly carried out. Some generalisations have 

 already been made with regard to the latter. In the case 

 of 100 feeble-minded scholars their weakness is traced to 

 consumption in their stock. An inquiry into colour- 

 blindness in the Boston schools leads to the recommenda- 

 tion that a systematic process of giving instruction in 

 colour, its names, and shades, should be introduced into 

 primary schools. 



The importance of reform schools is steadily and 

 strongly upheld. The needs of their inmates are wisely 

 consulted by an education more moral than intellectual 

 being instilled into them, and by a knowledge also of 

 some method of gaining a living when dismissed being 

 carefully given to them. The better feelings are drawn 

 out and encouraged by a system of rewards for all good 

 conduct, instead of only punishments for bad. Two 

 curious observations are recorded : one is, that working 

 among flowers has a softening tendency upon such cha- 

 racters : and the other, that prisoners are, in general, 

 singularly short of mathematical ability. 



The increase in the number of free libraries since the pre- 

 vious year's Report alone nearly equals the entire number 

 of them in England, making a total nearly reaching 3000. 

 Though many of these are very small and to be compared 

 with school libraries here, yet they average all through 

 4000 volumes in each. A large increase also is noticeable 

 in Kindergarten schools, in schools for nurses, in deaf 

 and dumb, orphan, and reform schools. 



The Bureau is indebted to private enterprise for a 

 competition on the subject of schoolhouse plans organised 

 during the year by the "Plumber and Sanitary Engineer." 

 It has drawn forth from the committee of award a sketch 

 of the qualifications they believed to be necessary for a 

 public school building in a large and densely populated 

 city. They lay down ten primary requisites which every 

 plan ought to contain ; and the Commissioner hopes that 

 an impulse has been given by their report, which will not 

 be lost or wasted. 



Education, we are told, has become in every section of 

 the country a matter of more active public interest than 

 usual. City and country papers have given a place in 

 their columns to the subject, besides periodicals dis- 

 cussing them. It is rather curious to us in aristocratic 

 England to find not selfishness and stupidity only but 

 demagoguism also charged with creating discourage- 

 ments ! W. O. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. 



[ The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters 

 as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great 

 that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even 

 of communications containing interesting and novel facts.] 



The Microphone 



It is probable that the writer of the note at p. 5S8 has not 

 had an opportunity of seeing the paper of mine to which he 

 refers, and an abstract of which is given at p. 376 of the present 

 volume of Nature. 



