May 17,1877] 



NA TURE 



45 



The system adopted is as follows :— The course of 

 training extends over six years. The first two years are 

 spent entirely at college ; during the next two years, six 

 months of each year are spent at college and six months 

 in the practice of that particular branch which the stu- 

 dent may select ; the last two years are spent entirely 

 in practical work. The system of instruction in the col- 

 lege is partly professorial and partly tutorial, consisting 

 in the delivery of lectures and in assistance being given 

 to the students in their work. 



Candidates for admission must be Japanese subjects 

 under the age of twenty, and must pass a preliminary 

 examination, the best fifty being chosen as cadets, ot 

 which there are two classes. A student may elect to enter 

 either as a Government cadet — in which case all his ex- 

 penses are defrayed by Government, under whom he 

 binds himself to serve for seven years at the expiration 

 of his six years' training — or he may enter as a private 

 cadet, paying his own expenses, in which case the obli- 

 gation to serve subsequently under Government is dis- 

 pensed with. In all other respects he is on the same 

 footing as the Government cadet. 



The whole system of training may be divided into 

 three courses : — (i) General and Scientific, (2) Technical, 

 and (3) Practical. The general and scientific course, 

 which is taught during the first two years, includes 

 (1) English language and composition, (2) geography, (3) 

 elementary mathematics, (4) elementary mechanics, (5) 

 elementary physics, (6) chemistry, and (7) mechanical 

 drawing. 



The Technical course consists ot the following branches 

 of engineering :—(i) Civil engineering, (2) mechanical 

 engineering, (3) telegraphy, (4) architecture, (5) chemistry 

 and metallurgy, and (6) mining. This course is taught 

 during the third and fourth years of the curriculum. The 

 practical course, in which the students are engaged during 

 the last two years in the practice of the special branch 

 each may have selected, consists of working in the labo- 

 ratories of the college, and in the engineering works con- 

 nected with it established at Akabane, where they serve a 

 regular engineering apprenticeship. While this course is 

 going on lectures on special subjects are given, and the 

 students are required to prepare reports upon the work 

 in which they have been engaged. 



In the Technical course are included the higher 

 mathematics and natural philosophy, engineering, civil 

 and mechanical, geology, mineralogy, surveying, naval 

 architecture, strength of materials, practice in the 

 chemical, physical, metallurgical, and engineering 

 laboratories, and in the drawing office and workshops. 



The main building, which is a very handsome struc- 

 ture, consists of a central portion containing the large 

 examination hall and library, drawing offices and class 

 rooms, and on each side of this extends a wing contain- 

 ing other class rooms and lecture halls. This is the 

 College proper, and surrounding it are separate buildings 

 set apart for the dormitories. Professors' houses, mu- 

 seum and laboratories of which there are four devoted 

 respectively to chemistry, physics, metallurgy, and engi- 

 neering. The buildings have been very admirably 

 arranged by the Principal of the College, Mr. Henry 

 Dyer, C.E., and the architectural details have been carried 

 out with great skill by Mr. C. A. de Boinville. 



The staff of the College consists of a Principal and 

 nine English Professors, assisted by Japanese teachers, 

 and the Institution is under the jurisdiction of the 

 Minister of Public Works. 



A calendar of the College is published annually, which 

 contains information relative to the admission of students, 

 courses of study, and examination papers, as well as 

 catalogues of the splendid collection of instruments in 

 the laboratories, and of the books in the Hbrary, which 

 seems to be exceptionally rich in almost every branch of 

 general and scientific literature. C. W. C. 



SUSPECTED RELATIONS BETWEEN THE 



SUN AND EARTH'' 



III. 



IN the first of these articles I tried to show that the 

 magnetism of the earth is affected by the state of the 

 sun's surface. I shall now try to show that the meteoro- 

 logy of the earth is likewise affected by the same cause. 



Mr. Baxendell, of Manchester, was, I think, the first 

 to point out that the meteorological convection currents 

 of the earth appear to vary according to the state of the 

 sun's surface. More recently Mr. Meldrum, of the 

 Mauritius Observatory, has brought this connection very 

 forcibly before us by showing, from the results of his ob- 

 servations, that there are more cyclones in the Indian 

 Ocean during years of maximum than during years of 

 minimum sun-spots. This will be seen from the follow- 

 ing table : — 



Table II. 

 Comparison of the Yearly Number of Cyclones occurring in the 



Indian Ocean with the Yearly Ntimbir 0/ Spots on the Sun. 



Prof. Poey has confirmed this conclusion of Mr. 

 Meldrum by' showing that there is a similar periodicity 

 as regards the cyclones which make their appearance off 

 the coast of Central America. 



In the next place Dr. Arthur Schuster has found that 

 the years of minimum sun-spots coincide very nearly with 

 the good wine years in Germany. This will appear from 

 the following table. 



Table III. 



Exhibiting- the near Coincidence bUiueen the Years knoion as good 

 IVme Years in Germany and the Years of minimum Sun-spots. 

 Dates of Minim m Years knowa in Germany 



Sun-spots. as good Wine Years. 



17848 1784 



17985 

 1810-5 

 1823-2 

 18338 

 1844-0 



1856-2 



1867-2 



(? 

 181I 

 1822 

 1S34 

 1S46 

 1S57 

 1858 



Again, it has quite recently been remarked by Dr. 

 Hunter, Director-General of Statistics to the Government 

 of India, that the famines in Southern India have a 

 period of recurrence which is nearly eleven years, being 

 thus of the same duration as that of sun-spot frequency. 



Continued from p. 23. 



