March i8, 1886] 



NA TURE 



463 



Technical College of Sydney, like many similar mstitu- 

 tions in this country, has grown up out of the Sydney 

 School of Arts. From iS73to 1S77 plans for the extension 

 of the school were carefully considered, and in 1S78 the 

 Colonial Parliament granted 2000/. towards the inaugura- 

 tion of a Technical College. In 18S3 the Government 

 decided to establish a State system of technical education 

 in New South Wales, and having carefully examined the 

 scheme of the City and Guilds of London Institute, and 

 compared it with what was being done on the continent 

 of Europe, they decided that the course of study and 

 system of instruction to be adopted in their college should 

 "accord with the practice of the City and Guilds of London 

 Institute, with such modifications as seemed necessary 

 to meet local requirements and appliances." " Following 

 out the principle laid down by the City of London Guilds 

 for their own guidance, the Board of Technical Education 

 resolved that the object of technical initruction in the 

 colony would be to improve the industrial knowledge of 

 workmen by teaching the sciences and principles under- 

 lying their handicraft, and that such teaching should be 

 illustrated by the best apparatus and machines that can 

 be obtained, and by visits to workshops, manufactories, 

 &c." No sounder views than these could be expressed. 

 In 1SS4 the Parliamentary vote for technical education 

 had increased to 17,093/. 3^-. 41-/., and more than forty 

 classes were in operation at the College. These figures 

 indicate the great advance that has been made, .^s now 

 organised, the College contains thirteen departments, 

 viz.. Agriculture, Applied Mechanics, .-\rt, Architecture, 

 Geology, Chemistry, Commercial Economy, Mathematics, 

 Music, Elocution, Pharmacy, Physics, and Domestic 

 Economy. Some of these subjects are outside the 

 curriculum of our own Technical Colleges ; but there is 

 much to be said in favour of the introduction of some 

 non-scientific subjects into a technical course ; and where 

 statesmanship is almost a profession the study of elocu- 

 tion in early youth is of distinct advantage. The average 

 number of students in the College during the past session 

 has been 917, and the fees paid by the students amounted 

 to 1838/. 



For the benefit of artisans engaged in the building- 

 trades, classes have been established in decoration, plumb- 

 ing, bricklaying, wood-carving, carpentry, and joinery ; 

 and in many of those classes the syllabus of instruc- 

 tion is identical with that in use at the Finsbury 

 Technical College Recently, the Council of the 

 City Guilds Institute have received an application to 

 extend their technological examinations to the colony, 

 and to award certificates and prizes on the results. 

 This application is at present under the considera- 

 tion of a Committee of the Institute. There can be 

 no doubt that all efforts to bring the colonies and 

 mother country into closer relationship should be en- 

 couraged, and the more the colonial system of education 

 is assimilated to our own, the greater will be the sympathy 

 between the colonists and the inhabitants of the Unjited 

 Kingdom. This sympathy is of greater advantage to our 

 commercial interests than is generally supposed ; for it 

 tends to link together the colonies and the mother country 

 into one vast empire, the several parts of which will depend 

 upon one another rather than upon foreign markets for 

 the supply of their various wants. 



It is to be hoped that the e.xample of New South Wales 

 will be followed by Victoria, and may extend to New 

 Zealand and to other parts of our colonial empire. The 

 advancement of technical education in our colonies is to 

 us a matter only second in importance to the improve- 

 ment of the means of technical instruction in our own 

 manufacturing towns ; and it must be a source of satis- 

 faction to the City and Guilds of London Imtitute that 

 the influence of its operations is being felt, not only in 

 the centres of our home industries, but already in one of 

 the most flourishing of our colonies. 



SEEBOHM'S HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS'- 



SINCE our last notice of Mr. Seebohm's book (N.OiTURE, 

 vol. .xxviii. p. 126) the author has brought it to a 

 successful conclusion, and has fully sustained his reputa- 

 tion as an original and painstaking writer. The great 

 defect in our standard works on British birds has been a 

 want of originality, as one author after another, and one 

 editor after another, have compiled books on the subject, 

 each one founded on the labours of their predecessors, so 

 that the best books have been but compilations. Mr. 

 Seebohm has started on quite a different principle, and 

 the greatest charm of his book consists in the account of 

 the 'life and habits of the birds, drawn from his own 

 actual experience of the species in their native haunts. 

 And before giving to the world his varied experiences, he 

 has, as is well known, travelled extensively in Europe and 

 Northern Asia, and has become celebrated as the dis- 

 coverer of the breeding-places of many species of Euro- 

 pean birds, previously unknown. In this respect he 

 resembles the late John Wolley, for whom a fellow-feeling 

 of sympathy is expressed by Mr. Seebohm throughout his 

 work, but, more fortunate than that well-known naturalist, 

 our author has survived to record in his own books the 

 results of his successful expeditions. It must not, how- 

 ever, be supposed that Mr. Seebohm, in giving us de- 

 tailed accounts of the life of the birds, has neglected in 

 any way the scientific portion of his task. On the con- 

 trary, he has grappled with this difficult subject in a 

 manner which is highly creditable, and however divided 

 opinions may be as to the advisability of some of the 

 changes of nomenclature which he introduces, there can 

 be no question as to the greater simplicity which he has 

 once more attached to the names of the British birds, and 

 w^e believe that he will be largely followed. Some revision 

 of the code of rules proposed by the British Association 

 appears to us to be necessary, and we trust that ere long 

 Mr. Seebohm or some other ornithologist will draw out a 

 scheme for their modification, in order to bring them into 

 harmony with the more advanced state of science of the 

 present day ; and an attempt to arrive at a definite under- 

 standing with our Continental and American brethren as 

 to the employment of a uniform system of nomenclature 

 ought soon to be made. The opportunity may probably 

 come when the authoritative " List of North American 

 Birds" is promulgated by the American Ornithologists' 

 Union, a work which is anxiously awaited by naturalists in 

 this country, and it will then be competent for us to con- 

 sider the m'erits and demerits of the trinomial system of 

 nomenclature which is gaining ground considerably on 

 this side of the water, but which cannot be adopted with- 

 out the utmost consideration. Mr. Seebohm does not 

 hesitate to adopt it, but how far he will be followed remains 

 to be seen. 



We can cordially recommend this book to all lovers 

 of ornithology, both at home and abroad, and to young 

 and old alike, for they will find ample material for 

 study, and a very great deal that is new. It is by far the 

 best introduction to a knowledge of British birds that we 

 are acquainted with, and a great deal of the subject-matter 

 is very original. The criticisms of contemporary orni- 

 thologists are occasionally somewhat hard, but no one can 

 complain of a want of candour on the author's part, and 

 as he no doubt expects equally hard hitting in return, he 

 must have counted the cost before striking at the authors 

 who so often arouse his ire. One thing we do not clearly 

 understand, and that is the constant odium thrown by 

 Mr. Seebohm upon the "Ibis List of British Birds" com- 

 piled by a Committee of the B.O.U., of which the author 

 was himself a member. A long time was spent by this 

 Committee in investigating the subject, and as its conclu- 

 sions were carried by a majority of votes, all the members 



