March 23, 1882] 
NATURE 
491 
lar reference to agriculture ; (4) substances employed in arts and 
manufactures ; (c) the simpler kinds of physical and mechanical 
appliances, e.g. the thermometer, barometer, lever, pulley, wheel 
and axle, spirit-level.” For Standard V. we have ‘‘(a) animal 
and plant life; (2) the chemical and physical principles involved 
in one of the chief industries of England; (c) the physical 
and “mechanical principles involved in the construction of the 
commoner instruments, and of the simpler forms of indus- 
trial machinery.” For Standards VI. and VII. the preceding 
subjects are set down ‘in fuller detail.” If two class subjects are 
taken, the second must be, in the lower division, either geography 
or elementary science; in the upper division, history is added. 
Grants are also to be given for specific subjects, and in the 
schedule setting forth the subjects, the instruction is divided into 
three stages, and includes such subjects as animal physiology, 
botany, principles of agriculture, chemistry, physics (in two 
divisions—sound, light and heat, and magnetism and electricity). 
The syllabus under the various subjects has evidently been care- 
fully considered, so as to give the pupil a fair knowledge of 
leading facts and principles. It is evident that the New Code, 
so far as science is concerned, is a great advance on the previous 
one; science has at last something like fair play, and the next 
stage will doubtless be to include its elements among the obli- 
gatory subjects. There is now, at all events, a real stimulus 
given to teachers to encourage the pupils to take it up, and 
every precaution has evidently been taken to stamp out mere 
learning by rote, and to secure that what science is taught shall 
be real. 
THE first report of the Royal Commissioners on Technical 
Education has been issued. It states that the Commissioners 
have conducted their inquiry into the instruction of the indus- 
trial classes under the following heads :—The instruction of the 
proprietors and superior managers engaged in industrial pursuits , 
that of the foremen, and that of the workmen. During their 
recent visits to France and the north of Italy, they have col- 
lected data hearing on each of those heads, but they consider it 
is not desirable to publish the whole of the information thus 
obtained, until they have possession of the corresponding facts 
about other countries, including the United Kingdom. To pub- 
lish the information at present without comment, would involve 
great risk of its not being properly understood, and the Commis- 
sioners are not yet themselves <ufficiently informed to be able, in all 
cases, to present trustworthy conclusions. At the same time, 
they think it desirable to make known, without unnecessary 
delay, certain very recent changes in the French laws on public 
instruction, as well as the purport of others still under consider- 
ation. These changes are affecting, and will further affect, the 
ordinary and higher elementary instruction, both literary and 
technical, of the workmen and foremen in France. With the 
object of showing their influence upon the former class, an 
account is given of the present and recent position of various 
branches of instruction in that country. The report proceeds to 
give voluminous details respecting the systems pursued in French 
elementary schools and trainirg colleges. Information is also 
given respecting adult art schools, shelter schools, State grants 
for technical instruction, and the outlay of French municipali- 
ties for local technical education. These points are dwelt upon 
as illustrating the activity in France in all that relates to the 
instruction of artisans. In concluding their report, the Com- 
missioners state that they wish it to be distinctly understood that 
they have not made any recommendation for the improvement 
of the instruction of our own artisans beyond the introduction 
of manual work in some of the elementary schools. They have 
refrained at present from further recommendations, not because 
they are not fully alive to the need of greatly improving general 
and technical training in this country, but because they are at 
present only at the outset of their mission. 
AT the half-yearly general meeting of the Scottish Meteoro- 
logical Society held in Edinburgh on Wednesday, papers were 
read by Mr. Clement L. Wragge, on the observations made by 
him on Ben Nevis last summer ; by Mr. Buchan, on the results 
of the Ben Nevis observations, with more special reference to 
the Weather Forecasts; and by Dr. Arthur Mitchell, on the 
Smallpox Epidemic in London during 1881. A gold medal from 
the Council of the Society was presented to Mr. Wragge in 
recognition of his valuable services in connection with the 
Ben Nevis observations. 
ON Wednesday evening, at 7 o’clock, Professors Abel and 
Roscoe, on behalf of the Chemical Society, the Society of Che- 
mical Industry, and the Institute of Chemistry, received a large 
number of distinguished guests in the Crystal Palace, where re- 
freshments were provided. Fifteen hundred invitations were 
issued and accepted, not merely within the limits of the United 
Kingdom, but in continental countries, and several eminent 
chemists from France and Germany came over expressly to join 
the gathering. The Crystal Palace was chosen as the meeting 
place because of the International Electrical Exhibition now being 
held there ; and tie party dispersed themselves about the various 
exhibits. It was a gala night at the Palace, and the different 
electric lighting systems were shown at their best. The mag- 
nificent display by Edison in the Concert Room and Entertain- 
ment elicited much admiration ; so also did the fine candelabrum 
of 96 Maxim lights, executed in cut-glass by Messrs. Defries and 
Sons, and exhibited by the Electric Power and Generator Com- 
pany. These lights are fed by a Maxim dynamo-electric machine 
capable of feeding 100 Maxim lamps of 30 candle-power each, 
The incandescent lamps of Mr. Lane-Fox, exhibited by the 
Anglo-American Brush Electric Company, the Bright system 
exhibited by the British Electric Light Company, and the Swan 
system were visited in turn, as also were the suite of apartments 
in the northern gallery lit by Edison’s lamps. The visitors 
scattered about the various stalls, and a special train carried 
most of them away to town at 9.30 p.m. 
Mr. CLEMENT L, WRAGGE sends us the following communi- 
cation :—The observations on Ben Nevis will probably be con- 
tinued during the coming summer, and with this view I hope 
soon to revisit Lochaber, but it is yet too early to refer to 
definite arrangements, The museum I have placed in Stafford, 
the county town of my family, is lent to the town and county 
for twenty-one years, thereafter to become a gift if certain con- 
ditions have been complied with. The meteorological station 
there will probably be started next month. I regret to say that 
my negotiations for a central high level observatory on the Peak 
have fallen through. The owner of one portion of the land, 
annoyed by the operations of the Ordnance surveyors, has turned 
a deaf ear to my appeal, being determined to prevent any further 
trespass ; and the agent for another could only give me permis- 
sion under conditions, one of which was that it would rest with 
me to compensate the tenants for disturbance of game, More- 
over, the Meteorological Office could not see its way to provide 
an observer, on the ground of indirect telegraphic communica- 
tion. The instruments were all inreadiness ; and the barometer, 
a fine “ Board of Trade,” reading to 23°6, made to my order by 
Messrs. Adie and Wedderburn of this city in anticipation of no 
difficulty, is at present hanging practically idle. A series of 
high level meteorological stations in direct connection with Ben 
Nevis, would, I consider, be of the utmost value ; and until we 
get them we cannot hope to perfect our system of weather fore- 
casting. 
THE Congress relating to the protection of cables is not the 
only one which will be held in Paris next April. A circular 
has been sent to the different powers asking them to ap- 
| point scientific delegates to determine the exact length of the 
