Oct. 



NA TURE 



625 



Various causes have, no doubt, contributed to this result ; but 

 the proof is positive that the introduction of science has not 

 interfered, to say the least, with elementary education in the 

 "three R's." 



V. On the first introduction of the system there may be a 

 certain amount of antagonistic feeling aroused amongst some 

 head masters and mistresses. In Birmingham this was indeed to 

 some small extent the case. Some head teachers feared that the 

 demonstrator would prove a new inspector, who, having to 

 discharge duties as a teacher, might unduly interfere with their 

 own functions, and that some conflict of authority might occur. 

 To the best of my knowledge, however, this feeling has entirely 

 disappeared. The only complaints which I hear as Chairman of 

 the School Management Committee, are when the experimental 

 lessons are omitted at any school through any stress of examina- 

 tion work or accidental circumstance. The masters find that 

 the science demonstrators render them valuable assistance and 

 do a work which it is out of their own power to accomplish. 



In order to apply the severest test to the peripatetic system, 

 I applied to the head master of a large school, situated in one of 

 the very poorest districts in Birmingham, and attended by children 

 whose social surroundings are, as a rule, almost as unfavourable 

 to intellectual development as they can possibly be. The school 

 has accommodation for 416 boys, and an average attendance of 

 about 350, 414 being sometimes present during the week. 



The reply of the head master to my request that he would 

 inform me of the results of the science teaching in his school, 

 lifts the whole question out of the region of controversy. 



Dartmouth Street Boys' Board School, 

 Birmingham, September 9, 1884. 



Rev. Sir, — In reply to yours of this morning, I beg to make 

 the following remarks : — 



The results from the science lessons given in this school are 

 very gratifying. I have seen results in a variety of ways both in 

 and out of school. 



The interest taken in these lessons, both by parents and boys, 

 is surprising. Many a mother has, to my frequent knowledge, 

 inconvenienced herself in her domestic duties on certain days 

 when we have sent word for her boy to be present, as the science 

 demonstrator was expected that morning. The day is well 

 remembered by most of them, and eagerly looked forward to. 

 The attendance in the uppermost class is wonderfully increased 

 on the mornings these lessons are given. 



The results in other subjects in those standards where science 

 is taught are none the less satisfactory. A greater intelligence 

 and thought are quickly discovered when we are dealing with 

 the other subjects. 



Teachers are more encouraged when brighter material to work 

 with is placed in their hands. 



Other important subjects have impressed me very much, viz. 

 the desire of the boys after leaving school to continue to study 

 some science subject at some of our science classes. 



Older brothers, too, have been induced to goto science classes 

 through seeing the growth of knowledge in those much younger 

 than themselves. 



Many persons who have reason to come in contact with the 

 boys after leaving school, have expressed themselves in tones of 

 great regret that such instruction was not given when they 

 attended school. 



I remain, Rev. Sir, 



Your obedient servant, 



Rev. Dr. Crosskey. T. H. Purcell 



As a development of the systematic and experimental system 

 of science training I have described — a system only rendered 

 possible of adoption by the employment of the peripatetic 

 method — a new kind of Board school has been opened in Bir- 

 mingham, for the purpose of enabling the scientific work com- 

 menced in the elementary school to be continued by the more 

 advanced scholars before they enter upon their respective em- 

 ployments in workshops and factories. 



The arrangements of the peripatetic system will suffice until 

 the sixth standard is passed ; but special provision must be made 

 for those lads who can remain a year or two longer at school, 

 and whose future employments render the extension of their 

 scientific training desirable. A large proportion of those who 

 pass the sixth standard are obliged to earn their livings at once ; 

 for these various evening classes are available. But a certain 

 number of working men can, by an effort, manage to exempt 

 their children from toil, say for an extra two years. 



The question therefore arises whether special provision 

 cannot be made for scholars who must ultimately earn their 

 living as working men, but whose parents can afford to keep 

 them at school for two years after they have passed the sixth 

 standard ? 



It is evident that for such scholars increased facilities for 

 scientific study will have a peculiar, indeed almost an incal- 

 culable, importance. 



They have been well grounded in the first principles of science 

 and familiarised with the management of apparatus and the con- 

 duct of experiments during their school career. Their work 

 in life will be largely increased, not only in pecuniary and 

 mechanical, but in intellectual and moral value, by scientific 

 knowledge. 



To meet the wants of this class, a school has been opened as 

 an experiment, in New Bridge Street, Birmingham, in premises 

 belonging to the Chairman of the Board (Mr. George Dixon), 

 who, at the cost of more than 2000/., has adapted them for 

 the purpose, and placed them rent free at the service of the 

 Board. 



The characteristics of this school are the following : — 



I. It is especially intended for scholars who will have to be- 

 come working men, but whose parents can keep them at school 

 after they have passed the sixth standard, and the fee (j,d. a 

 week) is adapted to their means. 



II. While a seventh standard school under the Code, the 

 instruction given is largely scientific and technical ; and a 

 special staff of trained scientific men has been appointed. There 

 is a special master for chemistry and metallurgy ; another 

 master for mechanics and physics ; a drawing master ; and a 

 mathematical master ; a highly qualified scientific man being 

 placed at the head. Workshop instruction is provided, and 

 includes a knowledge of the chief wood tools, and the properties 

 of materials, while it supplements the mechanical drawing of 

 the schoolroom, and is an aid to the study of theoretical 

 mechanics. 



III. The course of instruction is arranged to extend over two 

 years. In the first year the scholars take ordinary standard 

 work, together with mathematics, mechanics, drawing, chemistry, 

 and workshop practice. 



In the second year the study of mathematics will be con- 

 tinued, but it is intended that the scholars shall then specialise 

 their studies in one of the following groups : (i) Chemistry and 

 Metallurgy. (2) Mechanics and Machine Drawing. (3) Physics 

 and Geometry. 



The peculiarity of this scheme is that it is not an attempt to 

 benefit a few picked scholars or to provide a higher-grade school 

 for those able to pay high fees, but that it is a continuation of 

 the science training given by means of the peripatetic method in 

 every ordinary elementary school under the Board. 



It has already been made evident that a large capacity for 

 scientific investigation — amounting, I believe, almost to a 

 special genius for the study of science — exists among our 

 English people, which has never yet received its full and fair 

 development. The country is undoubtedly awakening to the 

 necessity of making better provision for the study of science, in 

 order that our manufacturers may hold their own in the markets 

 of the world. Other and higher blessings will follow in its 

 train. Labour, in being made intelligent, will cease to be so 

 loveless as it often is, and the lives of toiling thousands will be 

 filled with larger interests, guided by finer tastes, and enriched 

 with nobler joys. 



THE ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN NATU- 

 RALISTS AND PHYSICIANS 

 T"HE annual gathering of this influential Society was held this 

 ■*■ year at Magdeburg during the week ending September 23, 

 simultaneously with the yearly meetings of the German Botanical 

 and Meteorological Associations. The proceedings were opened 

 by the President, Dr. Gaehde, whose address was followed with 

 a few appropriate remarks by Prof. Hochheim on the services 

 rendered to science by Guericke and other distinguished 

 physicists. 



The formal work of the meeting was opened with a paper by 

 Prof. Rosenbach of Gbttingen, on the microscopic organisms 

 present in festering wounds. After a brief reference to the dis- 

 coveries of Koch and Ogston, the author dwelt upon his own 

 investigations, by which he claims to have proved that all puru- 

 lent matter is primarily due to minute animal organisms. The 



