180 
NATURE 
[Fuly 6, 1871 

baker do the same? Surely it is as noble and as glorious 
and as serviceable to one’s country, to be engaged in 
clothing the naked and feeding the hungry, as in shooting 
and drowning our fellow creatures ? 
I have referred above only to the artisan, but have 
chosen him and the workshop merely for the sake of typical 
illustration ; the remarks apply equally to all who are 
engaged in useful industry, to the distributor as well as 
to the producer, to the capitalist and organiser of labour 
as well as to the labourer himself. The grocer, for 
example, who should understand and take intelligent 
interest in the natural history of the products that cross 
his counter, and the social machinery that brought them 
there from all the corners of the earth, would be a very 
different being from the mere parcel-tying and change- 
counting machine that usually weighs our tea and coffee. 
I have thus dwelt upon some of the grounds for giving 
special emphasis to the word “conscious,” believing that 
the advocates of Technical Education are too apt to regard 
the subject from a merely technical point of view. It is 
of the utmost importance that we should be convinced of 
the perfect harmony which naturally and necessarily exists 
between moral and material welfare, when the best and 
soundest means of obtaining either one or the other are 
followed, especially as there does exist in the minds of a 
certain class, both of workers and dreamers, a foolish 
prejudice and misconception, leading them to regard the 
advocates of Technical Education as a set of cold-blooded 
materialists, who look upon the workman as a mere pro- 
ductive engine which they seek to improve only in order 
to get more out of him. My opportunities of learning 
the opinions and feelings of the better class of self-im- 
proving workmen have been rather extensive, and I have 
met with this idea more frequently than one might suppose 
were possible. Certain flashy and trashy hollow-headed 
writers, who are constantly babbling about “the mate- 
rialistic tendencies of the age” have encouraged these 
ideas, and as the arts of smart writing and showy oratory 
are so very easily acquired, this class of sentimentalists 
is very numerous, 
The work above-named, which has suggested these re- 
marks, is published in shilling parts, each containing a 
large number of well-selected and well-executed illus- 
trations of art workmanship, a supplementary sheet of 
detailed working drawings, and essays on art-industry and 
miscellaneous technological subjects. Most of the illus- 
trations are representative of continental art, and the cha- 
racter of the whole work is essentially German, including 
the typography, and some clerical errors in the English. 
As the chief use of such a work is to supply the English 
manufacturer with ideas that may help to emancipate him 
from slavish adherence to mere trade customs and models, 
this feature is advantageous, provided it does not foster 
the too common fallacy of believing that our continental 
neighbours have a monopoly of artistic taste—a fallacy 
which is sometimes carried to the length of an extravagant 
prejudice. 
I have little doubt that if an equal amount of industry 
and taste were exerted in selecting models from the Eng- 
lish fittings, English furniture, and English ornaments of 
English mansions, another and retaliatory ‘‘ Workshop ” 
of equal intrinsic merit, and equally suggestive to the con- 
tinental workman, might be compiled. 
There are several designs for German porcelain stoves, 
which are especially worthy of the attention of the English 
manufacturer. Their value is not confined to their artistic 
merits ; the introduction to this country of such stoves 
would add much to the comfort and economy of English 
households, by taking the place of our barbarous open 
fire-places which give 90 per cent. of their heat to the 
clouds, and with the residue roast us on one side while 
the other is exposed to the cold blasts that converge from 
all sides towards the chimney, round which we are com- 
pelled to huddle whenever we have any really cold weather, 
such as that of last winter. The contrast between the 
genial, well-diffused warmth of the sitting-rooms of a 
well-ordered North German household and those of Eng- 
lish houses of a corresponding class is anything but favour- 
able to “the Englishman’s fireside ;” and as reason has so 
little power against prejudice, it may be well to call in art 
to the aid of science, in order to try whether the elegant 
designs of some of the German fire-places may have some 
effect upon those who reply to all demonstrations of the 
inefficiency and wastefulness of the English fireplace, that 
they must have an open fire “to look at,” or on account 
of its “cheerful appearance.” 
A work of this kind, that a man may purchase or bor- 
row from a library, and thus deliberately study at home, 
has a special value over and above that of Art Museums 
and International Exhibitions, though of course in these he 
has the great advantage of seeing the objects themselves. 
The great fault of the work is the want of direct con- 
nection between the letter-press and the engravings. 
There are essays on various branches of art-manufacture, 
and illustrations of these ; but the illustrations are dis- 
tributed at random throughout the work, which, although 
published in separate parts, has no part complete in itself. 
A re-arrangement and proper classification of the materials 
of this book would greatly increase its value. The pub- 
lishers may possibly suppose that by devoting certain 
shilling parts to knockers, hinges, gates, railings, and 
other ironmongery illustrations, another part to jewellery, 
another to mantelpieces, others to cabinet-work, &c., they 
would be holding out an inducement to their customers 
to buy only isolated numbers, while by the present ar- 
rangement, which sprinkles each man’s special require- 
ments throughout the work, they compel their sub- 
scribers to take the whole series. Whatever be the motive 
or origin of this arrangement, or want of arrangement, 
the commercial result must be to prevent many practical 
men from purchasing it at all, who would be glad to pos- 
sess those parts relating to their own trades. As a mere 
picture-book, the confused miscellaneous arrangement 
may be the most popular, it gives great variety to 
the contents of each number ; but in reference to higher 
usefulness this is a serious drawback to the merits of an 
otherwise valuable work, W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 
by his Correspondents. No notice is taken of anonymous 
communications, | 

A New View of Darwinism 
I AM much obliged to Mr. Howorth for his courteous expres- 
sions towards me in the letter in your last number. If he will be 
