3»4 



NATURE 



\_August 21, 1884 



that " the language used has been carefully studied with 

 a view- to simplicity and clearness," and explains how- 

 there came to be in his eye such a mote as "angular-^ lint," 

 without making the most distant reference to a store 

 of beams sufficient for a rather massive engineering 

 structure. 



The choice and arrangement of the matter, too, cannot 

 be commended. Elementary integrations are performed 

 at full length, which may be done by the reader himself 

 if he knows anything of integration, and which are useless 

 if he does not. The expression for the radius of curvature 

 in terms of dyldx and d' 2 y/dx"- is used at p. 252, and it is 

 not until forty pages farther on that we find the usual 

 elementary explanation of rectangular co-ordinates, the 

 construction of a curve from knowing simultaneous values 

 of x and y, and the meaning of dyldx: This defect is 

 really not distinct from the other : both are the conse- 

 quence of a certain logical haziness of mind which may 

 not, and we believe does not, detract from the author's 

 skill as an engineer, but which is certain to be fatal to his 

 success as an exponent of engineering science. 



Had the main matter of the book been worthless or 

 commonplace it could have been summarily dismissed ; 

 but there is so much evidence in it of ability and power 

 of work that one eagerly wishes to see the style and 

 structure of it improved. We trust a second edition may 

 be called for, and that for the preparation of it the author 

 may be induced to associate himself with some one 

 having the necessary logical clearness and paedagogic 

 skill to make it what it might easily be — an admirable 

 text-book. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

 [ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by kis 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 

 0/ communications containing interesting and novel fads.] 



School Museums 

 While the very valuable display of educational appliances is 

 still on view at the Health Exhibition, I should like to draw 

 attention to the school museums which are becoming now an 

 important element in the teaching of science. In Mr. Lant 

 Carpenter's papers they were only slightly alluded to, though he 

 did full justice to the technical exhibits. In the recent Instruc- 

 tion- to Her Majesty's Inspectors it is laid down that an infant 

 which deserves to be considered "excellent" and to 

 receive a corresponding merit grant should have a cabinet of 

 objects which it is suggested should be partly collected by the 

 children themselves. This of course is making teachers anxious 

 to form such collections, and the London School Board supplies 

 a cabinet wherever there is a promising nucleus for such a 

 museum ; it also supplies to any teacher that desires it a small 

 box of chemical apparatus for making simple experiments on 

 these objects, with instructions for the use of the different pieces 

 of apparatus. One of these sets of apparatus forms part of the 

 exhibit of the London Board. Of course the collection of the 

 infants' department will be of a miscellaneous character, but in 

 the museums that are now being formed in many of the 

 boys' and girls' departments something better may be aimed 

 at. The School Cabinet in Room No. 4 is filled princi- 

 pally from the schools in the neighbourhood of South Ken- 

 sington. There are stuffed birds and a small crocodile, 

 together with neatly-mounted skulls of animals, and specimens 

 of corals, shells, and sponges, all from the collections at Park 

 Walk, Chelsea. From other schools there are the skeleton of a 

 rabbit dissected by a boy of eleven years of age, insects, rep- 

 tiles, and other objects. There is also a collection from the 

 Silver Street School at Kensington, contributed by scholars, 

 teachers, and managers, comprising colonial products of various 

 descriptions, specimens of different kinds of wood, many of 

 them cut from die trees blown down by the great storm that was 



so destructive in Kensington Oardens in the autumn of 1S81. 

 There are also specimens of horseshoes with their appropriate 

 nails, and illustrations of the successive processes in the manu- 

 facture of iron, cotton, and jute. These are all properly 

 named and labelled by the schoolmaster. The lowest shelf of 

 the cabinet contains illustrations of the geology of Peckham, 

 ranging from the sands and gravels of the ancient Thames, the 

 London Clay, the Woolwich and Reading beds, and the Thanet 

 Sands, down to the Chalk. These form part of a fine collection 

 at the Nunhead Passage Board School, Peckham. From the 

 same school also there is a separate cabinet of minerals, which 

 is displayed in the corridor. Some of the training colleges 

 have formed good museums, as is evidenced by the collection 

 from the Wesleyan College in Westminster. 



In the further development of these museums two things may 

 well be borne in mind : — (1) In addition to the more miscel- 

 laneous collections got together by the children and friends of 

 the school, there should be supplied typical specimens for more 

 systematic instruction. The Japanese exhibit such a collection 

 of zoological types. (2) The special industries of the neighbour- . 

 hood should be well illustrated in these museums. That this is 

 well carried out in France and Belgium is shown by the contri- 

 butions to the Exhibition from these countries, and especially 

 by that of the Brothers of the Ecoles Chretiennes. 



At the Educational Conference an afternoon was devoted to 

 this subject. Dr. Jex-Blake described a Museum of Science and 

 Art which has been formed at Rugby School, and in the discussion 

 which followed particulars were also given of the loan collections 

 for schools now being organised by the Liverpool School Board, 

 of the Communal Museums, which are an important development 

 of the French School Museums, and of a large Educational 

 Museum which has lately been organised at Madrid. All these 

 show the gradual, but sure, advance which is being made all 

 along the line in the objective teaching of natural science. 



August 14 J. H. Gladstone 



The Red Glows 



I HAVE recently been staying at Zermatt and have observed 

 the great corona or circle round the sun mentioned by your cor- 

 respondent, Mr. T. W. Backhouse, in Nature for August 14 

 (p. 359). It was very distinct on July 29, both at Zermatt and 

 on the Garnergrat, and likewise on the four following days. On 

 August 3 rain fell in the evening, but the night became cloudless ; 

 on the 4th the corona had gone. I noted the following points : — 

 (1) The colour of the circle was like the red of clean copper when 

 it has become coated with suboxide ; this faded away into what 

 appeared brown against the blue sky. (2) Immediately sur- 

 rounding the sun and between it and the circle the sky was blue. 

 (3) The spectroscope directed towards the blue sky or a white 

 cloud showed a complete absence of the bands lying near B, C, 

 and I), which indicate the presence of water vapour. (4) A 

 band appearing like a broad line was observed between D and 

 E, distinct, but of lesser density than it usually appears at lower 

 elevations. (5) There did not appear to be any marked differ- 

 ence in the intensity of the colour of the corona when viewed on 

 the same day at altitudes varying between 6000 and 10,000 feet. 

 (6) After rain had fallen on the evening of August 3 the almost 

 cloudless sky altered in appearance ; in that part close to the 

 sun it appeared whitish, and the whiteness diminished as the 

 distance from the sun increased, until it had faded away into 

 blue. (7) On occasions when there were fleecy clouds in the 

 sky during the visibility of the corona, the clouds as they ap- 

 proached the corona appeared of a pale but very vivid green. 

 This colour effect was due to contrast. 



Savile Club, August 15 W. N. Hartley 



Remarkable Raised Sea-Bed near Lattakia, Syria 

 In reference to the changes which have taken place along the 

 coast of Syria and Palestine in recent times, the following letter 

 from Dr. Post, of the Syrian Protestant College, Beirut, descrip- 

 tive of beds of shells now living in the Mediterranean may prove 

 of interest. Edward Hull 



Geological Survey Office, Dublin 



On a Deposit of Marine Shells in the Alluvium of the Lattakia 



Plain, in Syria 



The Plain of Lattakia extends from Jeblah, a few hours south, 



to the chalky ridge which forms the southernmost of the roots 



