44 



A^A TURE 



\_May 17, 1877 



to older minds than mine, beyond llie banks of Newfound- 

 land. 



But we see, from all that has been said, the vast importance 

 of noting the colours of the clouds. We depend mucli in this 

 country on the colour of the clouds for weather prediction. Ice, 

 however, at this time of year, by refrigerating the atmosphere, 

 often interferes with calculation. 11. C. 



Hailer Grace, Newfoundland 



THE PROGRESS OF EVOLUTION ' 



THE new journal mentioned below is edited jointly 

 by Dr. Otto Caspari, of Heidelberg, Prof. Dr. 

 Gustav Jiiger, of Stuttgart, and Dr. Ernst Krausc (Cams 

 Sterne), of Berlin ; and on the list of its contributors are 

 the names of Charles Darwin, Ernst Haeckel, Friedrich 

 von Hellwald, and many others whose scientific creed is 

 Darwinism. 



The editors in their introductory statement say that a 

 new day has dawned for natural science, since our great 

 countryman applied the natural laws which govern the 

 whole universe to the phenomena of th.e development of 

 life, and showed the fallacy of assigning that central 

 position in nature to man himself which had been attri- 

 buted to him for ages, as Copernicus did in the case 

 of our planet three centuries ago. Man, who seemed to 

 stand above nature hitherto has, without being drawn down 

 from his eminent position, been incorporated with nature 

 as one of her integral parts. The new monistic philosophy 

 caused a wonderful reaction, and an animated reciprocal 

 intercourse arose between the subjective and objective 

 sciences. All the sciences which treat of man, from 

 anthropology, ethnology, and the psychology of peoples, 

 to the history of culture and states, national economy, 

 the philosophy of law, history, and religion, and the 

 sciences of morals and dietetics, proved to be natural 

 sciences quite as much as mineralogy, biology, the prac- 

 tical education of man, and the cultivation of plants and 

 animals. 



The result of this general intercourse of the dif- 

 ferent sciences, has been a continued and encouraging 

 confirmation of the monistic principle contained in the 

 theories of descent and development ; the 'literature, how- 

 ever, which was generated by the reaction, is dispersed 

 and can be collected only from the various scientific 

 journals. Thus, a general desire for collection and con- 

 centration has sprung up amongst all those who look upon 

 the theory of development as a considerable progress of 

 the human mind. 



The new Kosiiios will bring together what has hitherto 

 been unconnected ; will point out the gaps still exist- 

 ing, and thus lead to their being speedily filled ; will 

 reduce contrasts and contradictions to their true nature, 

 and will oppose pernicious dogmatism. Kosi/ios will, 

 with regard to the special domains of natural science, 

 bear a certain critical and polemical stamp, its editors 

 being aware that even science is best developed and 

 strengthened in the fight for its existence, and that in the 

 end the " fittest " theory will survive. All articles in the 

 new serial are written in popular language, and are in- 

 . ended for a large circle of readers. 



The first number contains a series of very interesting 

 articles, of which we may mention — Philosophy and its 

 Union with Natural Science, by Otto Caspari ; On Inherit- 

 ance, by Dr. Gustav Jager ; On Modern Anthropology, 

 by the same ; On the Chronicles of the History of Deve- 

 lopment, by Ernst Haeckel ; The History of Creation 

 and Chorology two Centuries ago, by Cams Sterne ; On 

 the Significance and Objects of Ethnography, by Fried- 

 rich von Hellwald ; and an excellent review of Darwin's 

 work on Cross and Self-Fertilisation, by Dr. Hermann 

 M tiller. 



^ Kosmos ; Zeitschri/i fiir cinlteitliclu: WcUiinschauiin^ an/ Gritnd ilcr 

 Eniwickclnngslehre. (i Heft, April, 1B77.) 



ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN JAPAN 



'X'HE technical education of engineers is a subject 

 -*■ which has engaged public attention for a long time 

 past and is one of great national importance. It is some- 

 what singular that this country, foremost as it has always 

 been in matters of engineering enterprise, should be so 

 behindhand in the systematic education of its engineers, 

 there being no establishment in England devoted to that 

 object which is recognised by the profession. Under the 

 system that has been in vogue up to a comparatively 

 recent period a youth intended for an engineer is taken 

 from school at the age of sixteen being thereby deprived 

 of the most valuable years of his education, and placed in 

 some engineering manufactory, where he remains, perhaps, 

 till he is twenty. In those four years his so called " train- 

 ing '' consists in going through the manual routine of the 

 various workshops and " picking up " what knowledge he 

 can by keeping his eyes open and living on good terms 

 with the workmen. His last year is usually spent in the 

 drawing-office, where, by a similar process of " picking 

 up,' he learns how to draw if not to design machinery or 

 works of construction. At the end of that time his edu- 

 cation is supposed to be complete, and he either remains 

 as a draughtsman until something better is offered him, 

 or he enters the office of another engineer for the purpose 

 of improvement. All this time the far more important 

 theoretical training is neglected altogether, no classes or 

 e.Kaminations are held, no lectures or other instructions 

 are given, and though some few energetic young men 

 in some way make up this loss by private study they 

 are a great exception, and the hours of manual work 

 are usually so heavy (from 6 a.m. till 5 p.m.) as to 

 render working in the evening both fatiguing and un- 

 profitable. 



The Continental system goes to the other extreme, 

 teaching the theory and discarding the practice. This 

 system is as bad as the other, for experience has shown 

 that in engineering works a practical man without scien- 

 tific training seldom makes such serious blunders as a 

 scientific man without practical experience. It can only 

 be by a judicious combination of the two systems, 

 allowing science and practical experience to work hand 

 in hand together in the education of an engineer that 

 the best results can be looked for, and in these days 

 of close competition, not only between man and man, 

 but between country and country, it is of the utmost 

 importance to a nation that its engineers should be in- 

 structed upon the best and soundest principles. The 

 Indian Government recognised this when it established 

 the Royal Indian Engineering College at Cooper's Hill 

 for the systematic training of engineers for the Public 

 Works Department of India ; and it is remarkable that 

 the profession of engineering should stand alone in Eng- 

 land as having no recognised .lima Mater of its own. 

 Many years ago an engineering college was established 

 at Putney upon a good system, but it was badly 

 managed, and after becoming a nuisance to the neigh- 

 bourhood, was ultimately shut up ; at the present 

 time, with the exception of the technical classes at 

 the Crystal Palace and at King's College, which, in 

 a small way, are doing good work, there is no insti- 

 tution in this country devoted to the education of 

 engineers. 



While England is so far behindhand in this important 

 question, a great work has been done by the Japanese 

 Government in the establishment of an Imperial College 

 of Engineering at Tokei, an institution which gives 

 to its students a highly scientific training, combined 

 with actual practical e.xperience in engineering work- 

 shops which give employment at the present time to 

 over three hundred workmen, but which are being largely 

 increased and are turning out all classes of engineering 

 work. 



