NATURE 
183 
’ No. 7.—Line in the Indigo at or near G 
ALVAN CLARK, JUN, At 435; assumed to be 434 G Peep: 
PROCTOR. At 121; more refrangible than Hy 
(114) ; coincident with a line (of oxy- 
gen?) in lumiére tube. Probably there 
is some error here ; this line as posi 
tioned by Lord Lindsay and Alvan 
Clark, jun., being slightly} Jess refran- 
gible than G.—J. R. C. fe 
Slightly less refrangible than G; a broad, 
ieee band, seen only with a wide 
slit. 
The continuous Spectrum 
Faint from about D to beyond F. 
Lorp Linpsay. 
T. F. (Torquay). 
FLG6GEL. Faint green reaching from aurora line to 
(Schellen), 16 
SCHMIDT. From aurora line to F; frequently resolved 
(Schellen. ) into three bright lines. 
ZOLLNER. Considers the bright lines or bands Nos. 
(Schellen.) 4, 6, and 7 to be a continuous spectrum 
broken up by dark absorption bands, 
Guildford, Nov. 9 J. RanD CAPRON 
Ocean Rainfall 
WirH reference to Mr. Miller’s note (NATURE, vol. vii. 
p- 123), I think it may be desirable to point out that a good 
many steps have been taken in the direction he suggests. As I 
believe Mr. Miller is a reader of ‘ British Rainfall,” he will pro- 
bably hardly need to be reminded of the article on ‘‘Ocean Rain- 
fall,” by Mr. F. Gaster in the volume for 1866, wherein tables 
of the prevalence of rain in the North and South Atlantic and 
North Pacific Oceans are given in considerable detail. The de- 
termination of the amount is a far more difficult matter for a 
number of reasons, which would require much space fully to ex- 
plain, and Tam not at all surprised at the feat being considered 
“impossible ;” but the use of that word is becoming restricted. 
At the British Association meeting at Brighton, Mr. W. T. Black 
was kind enough to show me a rain gauge which he had had con- 
structed somewhat on the plan described by him in the Journal 
of the Scottish Meteorological Society for January 1870, and which 
he intended should make a few voyages on purpose to test. 
With respect to gauges on lightships, I may state that at my 
suggestion the Elder Brethren of the Trinity House allowed a 
gauge to be placed upon the ore lightship in the autumn of 1865. 
It was carefully observed by the officers on board for about two 
ears, and the returns were compared with simultaneous records 
ept at Sheerness on the Kentish, and Shoeburyness on the 
Essex coast. I cannot say that I was satisfied with the results, 
which were principally vitiated by spray and wind. The gauge 
was bolted rigidly to a post on the deck of the vessel, as I then 
thought this preferable to the incessant oscillations which would 
result from the employment of gimbals 
Considering the sources of inaccuracy attaching to the measure- 
ment of rainfall at sea, and the fact that, so far as I am aware, 
lightships are seldom more than ten or twenty miles from land, I 
think that there are few cases in which they could render valuable 
aid. . 
As to the Chadlenger I know nothing ; but I do know that it 
was the joint resolution of Mr. Black and myself each and both 
to do what we could towards obtaining quantitative records of 
the rainfall of the North Atlantic, and when last I heard from 
him there were prospects of partiai succéss. Only partial be- 
cause we do not hope or expect to ascertain the true fall, but 
merely the relative fall in different zones, or portions of the ocean. 
Camden Square, London G, J. Symons 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURE OF THE MURCHI- 
SON CHAIR OF GEOLOGY AT EDINBURGH, 
SESSION 1872-3 * 
1815 
M USE has recently been said (so much, indeed, that 
the subject begins to get somewhat wearisome) re- 
garding the necessity for wide-spread scientific instruction 
to enable our artisans to compete with the advancing in- 
dustry of foreign countries. Technical education has 
* Continued from p. 165. 
become a kind of political cry, like the county franchise 
or women’s electoral disabilities. We hear, continually, 
too, of the need for a more special training in science for 
such professional pursuits as those of the engineer and 
the military officer, or of the men who devote themselves 
to the task of geographical discovery. Far be it from me 
to say one word that would seem to imply an under- 
valuing of such practical applications of science. Most 
heartily do I wish that a technical school were established 
in every great town in the country, and that every man 
whose pursuits in life might call for the aid of science, 
should have the means of obtaining sound practical in- 
struction in those branches likely to be of service to him. 
But I cannot believe that such utilitarian views, im- 
portant though they undoubtedly are, set before us the 
true place which science ought to hold, and which I am 
convinced it will one day hold in the general system of 
education in this country. Scientific culture is something 
more than a weapon to help us in the keen warfare of 
trade and commerce. It is, in truth, itself a noble form 
of education, filling a place which can be filled by none 
other, and without which no modern culture of the higher 
type can now rightly claim to be regarded as liberal. 
It is this aspect of the subject which I seek to impress 
upon your minds to-day. Ido so the more readily since 
it seems to me that your presence as members of this 
voluntary class is a token that you recognise with me the 
desirability of adding to the traditional methods of edu- 
cation. The matters which will come to be dealt with 
here lie outside of the ordinary curriculum of study. Yet 
they form part of that wider fieid which must ere long be 
conjoined with the older territories as the domain now to 
be required for higher culture. 
Apart altogether from any practical application to be 
made of a scientific training for the active business of 
life, such a training seems to me to deserve and require 
a place in our ordinary system of education on several 
grounds, of which I shall at present notice only two— 
firstly, because it trains the observing faculty; and, 
secondly, because it stimulates the imaginative faculty. 
I, Taking the lowest view of the case, it will not be 
denied that a habit of quick and accurate observation 
is one of the most advantageous powers with which a man 
or woman can be equipped. Such a habit often makes 
all the difference between a successful and an unsuc- 
cessful career. In point of actual hard-thinking power a 
man may be greatly superior to his fellows, but this power 
is not enough of itself alone to ensure success in the battle 
of life. Much must ever depend on the rapidity and 
shrewdness with which passing events are noted and pro- 
vided for ; or, in other words, the care with which the 
observing faculty is cultivated as well as the judgment. 
But beyond and above such considerations we cannot 
doubt that the observing spirit carries about with it a 
multiplied power of enjoyment—so multiplied, indeed, 
that, placed beside the unobserving spirit, it seems 
almost to have been gifted with another sense. A well- 
trained power of observation never suffers its possessor 
to feel wholly alone. Even out of the most solitary ~ 
scenes it can gather pleasant companionship, and amid 
the ordinary monotonous routine of life it finds recrea- 
tion where, in its absence, men are apt to encounter only 
dulness, The story of our childhood—‘ Eyes and no 
Eyes ”—has in this respect a significance for people of all 
ages as well as for schoolboys. 
If you think of it you will probably find that what we 
ordinarily term common sense springs in no small measure 
out of this habit of observation. A man who is wont to 
keep his eyes open and take note of the changes con- 
tinually going on around him, both among men and 
things, is more likely to acquire just views of the business 
of life than a man who takes notice only of what forces 
itself upon his attention. 
From the moment of our birth we are surrounded by 
