Feb. 3,1^^7] 



NA TURE 



number of students, partly because the instruction was 

 rendered more thorough and efiicient by the addition of 

 laboratory and practical instruction in physics, me -hanics, 

 biology, and geology, and partly because South Kensing- 

 ton was more convenient for students than Jermyn Street 

 or Oxford Street. The school was also rendered more 

 useful by the fact that, after the transfer, a few teachers, 

 and promising students who undertook to become 

 teachers, were brought up to London to be trained. This 

 system has been developed, and now from fifty to sixty 

 teachers are annually trained in different branches of 

 science. A system of short summer courses for teachers 

 has also been organised, and this opportunity of improv- 

 ing themselves is highly valued by the teachers, about 180 

 or 200 of whom are selected annually from some 500 or 

 600 applicants. 



The affiliation of the School of Mines to the Normal 

 School of Science in 1S81 marked an era in the history of 

 the institution and in the history of scientific work and 

 education in this country. Students of all classes receive 

 in these united schools systematic instruction in the 

 various branches of physical science. The institution is 

 primarily intended for the instruction of teachers and of 

 students of the industrial classes selected by competition 

 in the e.xaminations of the Science and Art Department, 

 but other students are admitted so far as there may be 

 accommodation for them, on the payment of fees fixed at 

 a scale sufficiently high to prevent undue competition 

 with institutions which do not receive State aid. 



All this is fully and clearly set forth in the "Calendar 

 and General Directory," where also the reader will find 

 ample details as to the Science Collections, the aid 

 granted to local museums, the Committee on Solar 

 Physics, the relation of the Government to scientific 

 research, the Geological Survey, the Museum of Practical 

 Geology, the Mining Record Ofti:e, and the scientific 

 establishments of Edinburgh and Dublin. 



In an article on '■ National Education in Science and 

 Art," the Times on Monday last expressed a doubt whether, 

 after all, any country can be much ahead of England in 

 the number and excellence of its scientific institutions. 

 The Times takes far too favourable a view of the relative 

 position of the United Kingdom in such matters. Re- 

 cent Consular reports have shown that our traders are 

 being steadily beaten by German competitors in many 

 great foreign markets ; and the explanation is that, not- 

 withstanding the progress we have made, our system of 

 scientific instruction will not compare, in comprehensive- 

 ness and thoroughness, with that which has grown up in 

 < ,crmany. The 7 imes, although unwilling to admit the 

 -aperiority of our rivals, readily grants that as a nation 

 we do not yet do enough for the promotion of science. 

 It says : — 



"When the general condition of popular artistic and 

 scientific instruction is viewed, there can be no question 

 that it is not in accordance with national responsibilities, 

 whatever the average may be elsewhere. A primary 

 result of the discovery is to abate some of the admiring 

 ' ontent which study of the contents of the Science and 

 .\rt Department's 'Calendar and Directory ' is calculated to 

 produce. To the Science and Art Department has been 

 committed the task of imbuing the nation with those two 

 extensive branches of human learning. The depreciatory 

 estimates so freely offered in these days of the industrial 

 attainments of the nation in each of them suggest either 

 that the Department is not altogether equal to the enter- 

 jirise, or that it has not been provided with the proper 

 instruments.'' 



The Times urges, with much force, that wealthy men 

 have a magnificent opportunity of serving their country 

 by following the example of the late Sir Joseph Whit- 

 worth in the endowment of scholarships, exhibitions, and 

 prizes for students of science. With its remarks on this 

 point all who are interested in science will agree ; but it 



is necessary to point out that, however generous private 

 persons may be, they cannot possibly meet the wants of 

 England, with regard to science, in our time. This task 

 can be properly undertaken only by the community as a 

 whole, acting through its organ, the State. If it is not 

 undertaken on the scale which circumstances have ren- 

 dered necessary, we must be prepared to pay the penalty 

 in diminished commerce and industry. On the other 

 hand, the success which has attended our efforts in the 

 right direction in the past ought to encourage us to make 

 further sacrifices. There cannot be the slightest doubt 

 as to the eagerness with which increased opportunities 

 for scientific education of the highest order would be 

 taken advantage of. At South Kensington there is not 

 nearly room enough for the large number of students who 

 annually seek admission, and like pressure will probably 

 soon be experienced at many less important centres of 

 scientific training. Here the Times speaks out strongly 

 and well : — 



" If the industrial classes in England be more or less 

 deficient in taste and technical intelligence, it is from 

 absence, not of natural aptitude, but of educational oppor- 

 tunities. Keenness of Continental competition may be 

 far from an unmixed evil if it frighten Englishmen who 

 have the ability into using it for the remedy of the short- 

 coming. Dulness and mental lethargy are in themselves 

 evils, apart from the danger they cause of a loss of trade. 

 A workman without insight into the meaning of the work 

 he is doing, and with no perception of its real capabilities, 

 is a mere bondsman to his occupation, instead of its 

 master. While we suspect, as we have intimated, the 

 existence of an exaggerated tendency to extol foreign 

 technical training, the British mechanic will have no reason 

 to regret the propensity, if it conduce to his equipment 

 with the means of industrial enlightenment needed to 

 convert his vocation from base drudgery into an art." 



That the working classes are becoming alive to the 

 necessity of an improved system of scientific and technical 

 instruction may be inferred from the resolution on the 

 subject which Mr. Howell proposes to move in the House 

 of Commons. This resolution we print elsewhere, and 

 our readers will agree with us in wishing Mr. Howell all 

 success in the admirable enterprise he has undertaken. 



THE PROGRESS OF ASTRONOMICAL 

 PHOTOGRAPHY 

 T N the Annuairc for the present year, published by 

 -*■ the Bureau des Longitudes, is an important article 

 by Admiral .Mouchez, the Director of the Paris Observa- 

 tory. The article is really a history of the various appli- 

 cations of photography used by astronomers up to the 

 present time, and the history is very well done. Yhe 

 article contains many details relative to the work which 

 has recently been going on in the Paris Observatory, 

 which we think will be read with very general interest. 



In the new instruments which the Brothers Henry have 

 recently constructed at the Observatory, before a plate is 

 taken the telescope is pointed approximately to a bright 

 star, which is examined with an ordinary eye-piece, armed 

 with a blue glass. In this way a slide can be placed very 

 near the chemical focus, but in order to determine the 

 focus exactly, an image of a star is made to run six or 

 seven times along a very small plate at dift'erent marked 

 distances inside and outside the focal point, as previously 

 determined. An inspection by a magnifying glass of the 

 diflerent trails left by the star on the clielu' show-s which 

 was the most exact chemical focus employed to produce 

 them. This when once done really needs no repetition, 

 but as a matter of fact the operation is repeated once a 

 month. 



Another point which the Brothers Henry have already 

 settled is, that in the case of very many photographic 

 plates of extreme sensitiveness the plates are practically 



