NVav. 4, 1869 | 
NOTES. 
By offering Dr. Temple the Bishopric of Exeter, Mr. Gladstone 
has removed from his post the most eminent schoolmaster in 
England. Dr. Temple has done much for the education, present 
and future, of all classes; and although this is not the place to 
comment on all he has done in this direction, we may note here 
what he has done for education in Science. He may fairly claim to 
be the first head-master who has recognised its importance, and 
effectively introduced it into his school. And its introduction at 
Rugby is of special importance, because it is the acknowledged 
leader in educational progress, and because so many head-masters 
have been trained there. Now Harrow and Eton, and several 
other schools are doing something, though none yet with quite 
the same liberality as Rugby: but it will be instructive to look 
back ten years, and thus to estimate the advance. Rugby was 
then the only public school where science was taught at all. But 
even there it was under great disadvantages. No school was 
assigned to it; it was an extra, and heavily weighted by extra 
payment. ‘There was no laboratory, scarcely any apparatus, and 
searcely any funds for procuring it. About forty to fifty boys 
attended lectures on it, but there was no possibility of making 
those lectures consecutive, and of dealing with advanced pupils. 
Now there is a suite of rooms devoted to science. A large and 
excellent laboratory, where thirty boys are working at the same 
time at practical chemistry with the assistance of a laboratory 
superintendent, opens into a smaller private laboratory, which is 
for the use of the master and a few advanced students. This 
again opens into a chemical lecture room, in which from forty to 
fifty can conveniently sit. The seats are raised, and the lecture 
table fitted with all that is required. Adjoining is the physical 
science lecture room, in which sixty can sit, and of which a part 
is assigned to work tables. And out of this the master’s private 
room is reached, in which apparatus is kept, and experiments 
and work prepared. There is a considerable geological museum, 
and an incipient botanical collection. A Natural History Society 
meets frequently, and publishes reports and papers contributed 
by the boys. Five masters take part in teaching natural science. 
It is introduced into the regular school work (about 360 out of 
500 appear to be in the Natural Science classes) ; being compulsory 
on all the middle school; an altermative in the upper school ; and 
optional in the Sixth Form, And the result of the teaching has 
been satisfactory. It has not damaged classics, It has been the 
means of educating many boys, and has been a visible gain to 
the great majority; and it has steadily contributed to the lists of 
honours gained at the University. If Dr. Temple had done 
nothing else, his name would deserve honour at our hand for 
having brought about this change. Let us hope that his successor 
will be equally liberal to science, and maintain its efficiency. 
Tue public anxiety about the fate of our great explorer, Dr. 
Livingstone, has been anything but allayed by the recent telegrams 
from Bombay and Zanzibar, wanting, as they seem to do at 
present, the stamp of the approval of Sir R. Murchison, The 
Bombay mail is now hourly expected ; and, by the opening meet- 
ing of the Royal Geographical Society, Sir Roderick will be in 
possession of all the data on which to form a complete estimate 
of the recent intelligence, and will then communicate the results. 
In the meantime, we wait and hope ; Livingstone is not the man 
to do his work hastily or incompletely, or to return leaving any- 
thing unexplored. 
TueE President of the Royal Society, Sir Edward Sabine, 
being unable, through pressure of official duty, to accept the 
Khedive’s invitation to be present at the opening of the Suez 
Canal, was allowed to nominate a gentleman to represent the 
Royal |Society on the memorable occasion. The President's 
choice, which has been approved by the Council, fell on Mr. 
* J. F. Bateman, C.E. This selection will perhaps gratify the 
NATURE’ 
25 
civil engineers as well as the Royal Society, for Mr. Bateman, 
who is now on his way to Egypt, has made himself known on 
the Mediterranean, by his land-reclamations in Majorca and at 
the mouth of the Ebro. 
Drs. CARPENTER and WyYVILLE THOMSON have just con- 
cluded a remarkably successful dredging expedition in the 
surveying ‘ship Porcine, the scientific results of which will 
shortly be laid before the Royal Society. They succeeded in 
bringing up large quantities of ooze from a depth of more 
than 2,400 fathoms, and have established the wonderful facts, 
that at such enormous depths, in total darkness, and with a 
temperature below the freezing-point, there is not merely life 
but life in abundance ; not merely the lowest organisms, but 
highly developed Mollusca, Echinoderms, and _ Star-fishes. 
Many practical points of great importance for future investigation 
have been established during this cruise, more especially the 
proper mechanical arrangements by which dredging can be carried 
on in almost all weathers, thus. enormously increasing the 
amount of work that can be performed in a given time ; and, 
what is perhaps of equal value, the discovery by Captain Culver 
of a far more effectual method than the dredge for obtaining in 
large numbers many of the characteristic inhabitants of these 
profound ocean depths. Copious series of thermometric observa- 
tions have also been taken, which point to results of great 
theoretical interest. 
THE “Female Physicians” question, thanks to Professor 
Masson, has made a great stride during the past week. Ladies 
are to beadmitted to study Medicine at Edinburgh University. 
Im: gine the feelings of the non-contents when Professor Masson, 
ina final outburst, described their argumentation as ‘‘rampageous 
mysticism, dashed with drivel from Anacreon!” 
WE are glad to learn that, through the generosity of a friend 
of science who forbids the mention of his name, the publication 
of the Astronomical Fournal is about to be resumed. Dr. Gould 
will edit it, as before. 
THE Fellows of the Chemical Society reassemble this evening 
(Thursday), and begin the work of the session by discussing the 
President’s elaborate paper on the Atomic Theory, which has 
been printed at length in the Journal of the Society. Any 
contribution to chemical philosophy from the pen of Professor 
Williamson must command the attention of those who have 
studied the history of chemistry, and the discussion he has 
invoked will doubtless be sustained by able'!supporters” and 
opponents. Prof. Williamson holds that the atomic theory is 
the consistent general expression of all the best known and best 
arranged facts of chemistry, and he challenges detractors to bring 
forward an alternative theory. He asserts that all chemists use 
the atomic theory, though many refer to it as “something which 
they would be glad to dispense with; and that all the facts 
which point so distinctly to the existence of molecules derive 
their significance from the atomic theory. Even those who 
cannot accept Dr. Williamson’s conclusion that the atomic theory 
is the very life of chemistry, will doubtless “feel duly grateful 
for his masterly summary of the evidence by which the theory 
is upheld. 
WE learn with regret from Zriibiter’s Literary Record that the 
Imperial College of Pekin, which was established to disseminate 
the knowledge of the West amongst the Celestials, appears to 
have ended in a failure. Prince Kung favoured it, but other 
powerful Mandarins, and amongst them Wo-Jen, a leader of the 
anti-foreign party, have succeeded in extinguishing it. We are 
afraid that we have here the result of Occidental diplomacy. 
Has Wo-Jen been tampered with by Lowe-king ? 
Ir should make Englishman sad to think that while Mr. 
Peabody, who we trust is now better, finds the most pressing 
