43 



NATURE 



[July 13, 1911 



they are nol such as to prevent the permanent and 

 health) upkeep of the herds when under proper 

 management and control, nor even to prevent the 

 rapid recuperation of their numbers during periods 

 oi release from persecution. On the Galapagos every 

 seal that could be found had been killed by 1887, and 

 the fur trade was surprised when ten years later a 

 vessel came into San Francisco with somewhat above 

 :oo seals from that abandoned rookery. In like 

 manner, the seals on Robben Island were practically 

 exterminated about the time of the Crimean war, when 

 for a year or two 15,000 or 20,000 skins were taken in 

 single voyages, after which the catches dwindled to 

 trilling amounts, and, finally, the place was abandoned, 

 and its existence as a hunting ground all but for- 

 gotten; but after fourteen or fifteen years of quiet, 

 the rock was again covered with seals, just as it had 

 been in the old days when first discovered. 



Of the present state of the Pribylov herds we have 

 no precise information at hand, but it is at least 

 known that the seals are greatly diminished since the 

 time, some fourteen or fifteen years ago, when they 

 were last visited by British agents; while even then, 

 some years after the arbitration, they were, of course, 

 immensely less than in the palmy days of the fishery. 

 We hope all the more, accordingly, that the agree- 

 ment which is now said to have been arrived at will 

 in due course be ratified, in the hope and confident 

 belief that in a few years' time this great source of 

 wealth, and this wonderful spectacle of crowded, 

 teeming' animal life, will be again as it was in former 

 times. But it remains to be mentioned that the de- 

 crease of the Bering Sea herds in recent years is not 

 to be laid at the door of the Canadian sealers, or at 

 least not to nearly so great an extent as of their 

 opposite neighbours, the Japanese. The once large 

 fleet of Canadian sealing schooners has dwindled, we 

 believe, to some four or five, while ever since the 

 Japanese war the Japanese have taken more and more 

 to this pelagic industry. It is said that they were 

 first led so to do when the Russian guards were 

 removed from the Commander Islands during the war, 

 and when accordingly the rookeries lay at the mercv 

 of the first comer. In recent years they have been 

 charged with actually raiding the American rook 1 n 

 and, in any case, as Japan was no party to the Bering 

 Sea Treaty, the Japanese captains have up to the 

 present been free to use firearms, and to pursue their 

 trade up to the three-mile limit of the territorial 

 waters. In 1908, the Japanese had a fleet of thirty 

 schooners, some with as many as sixteen boats, which 

 formed a cordon round the Pribylov Islands. There 

 can be no doubt at all that this has told 

 very heavily upon the herds. Lastly, it is right 

 to say that the terms of the new agreement, and the 

 compensation which il is proposed to pay to .Canada 

 and Japan for the loss of their pelagic interests, appear 

 in be both liberal and enliprhtened, and indicate a 



sincere desire on the part of the United Slates and 

 of Russia to do all that lies in their power for the 

 attainment of a great national and genera] benefit, 

 and for tin- preservation of one of the great phenomena 

 of the living world. D. W. T. 



THE EDUCATION l\'/> TRAINING OF 



ENGINEERS. 



'"piIE Conference on the Education and Training 



' of Engineers, held at the Institution ol Civil 



1 , at the end of June, of which a report 



appeared in our issue of last week, marks a further 



in the development of a scheme which has 



1 In .11 1, mil m of the council dui ing the last 



NO. 2176, VOL. 87] 



fifteen years, and cannot fail to have considerable 

 influence on the future oi the engineering profession. 

 The first step was taken under the presidency ot 

 Sit John Wolfe Barry, when a system of qualifying 

 examinations was established. Candidates who weri 



desirous ol entering the institution as students had ti 

 give proof of a sound general education developed 

 upon lines suited to subsequent scientific study. Every 

 candidate' for associate membership was required to 

 give proof of a competent knowledge of those brain hes 

 of science which form the basis of engineering, and 

 to have received an adequate practical training undei 

 actual engineering conditions. The council found it 

 necessary, from the tirst, to organise special 

 examinations; these are still continued, and largel) 

 availed of by candidates for admission in both the 

 classes mentioned. On the other hand, the council 

 was desirous of minimising the number of examina- 

 tions to which candidates were subjected, and was 

 prepared to recognise degrees or- diplomas granted bv 

 universities, university colleges, and engineering col- 

 leges, but only on condition that the standard of 

 attainment represented by these degrees and diplomas 

 was not inferior to that imposed by the council's own 

 examinations. 



Subsequent experience has shown that the advantages 

 which were anticipated at the outset have been more 

 than fulfilled. The imposition of more stringent con- 

 ditions put a temporary check upon the numbers ot 

 those who entered the institution, particularly in the 

 student class, but this check was only of short dura- 

 tion, and the rate of admission speedily began to 

 grow. It may now be confidently asserted that everv 

 associate member admitted ' to the institution has 

 satisfied the council that he does possess a competent 

 knowledge of both the science and practice of his 

 profession. In fact, British civil engineering, through 

 the action described, has fully established its claim 

 to rank as a learned profession, while the stringency 

 and standard of the conditions which must be ful- 

 filled bv all successful candidates are certainlv in no 

 respect inferior to those imposed bv the medical and 

 legal professions. Another important advantage re- 

 sulting from the action of the count il has been the 

 establishment, throughout the British Empire, of a 

 practically uniform standard of attainment for 

 engineering graduates of universities and universitv 

 colleges. This excellent result has come about chiefly 

 because the authorities of these institutions have ap- 

 preciated fully the advantages attaching to the recog- 

 nition of their degrees by the council of the Institu- 

 tion of Civil Engineers as a substitute for success in 

 examinations field bv the institution itself; and, as 

 before stated, the policy of the council has always 

 been i>> minimise examinations so far as may be pos- 

 sible. 



On the side ,,| practical training the council has 

 never delegated, ami probably never will delegate, to 

 any other body the duty of deciding whether or not 

 the training of individual candidates is satisfactory. 

 Not miTeh does thi council insist ,,,, the production 

 by candidates of articles, indentures, r certificates 

 given by trustworthy persons who have personal know- 

 ledge of the training which each candidate lias under- 

 gone, but ii has instituted special and stringent forms 

 in which the details oi thai practical training must be 

 recorded, and this, statements have to be supple- 

 mented and verified by the testimonj of members of 

 the institution who have personal knowledge of each 

 1 indidate's career and work. In other words, whili 

 recognising the value of scientific education for 

 engineers, the claims oi practical training are in no 

 way subordinated thereto: both are essential. 



In 1903 the council decided to invite the cooperatioi 



