May i, 19 1 3] 



NATURE 



227 



philosopher Wang Ch'ung said, "The vital spirit of 

 a dead man leaving the body may be compared to the 

 cicada emerging from the chrysalis." There were also 

 eye, lip, and umbilical amulets. 

 ' Dr. Laut'er has a very extensive knowledge of 

 Chinese literature and of folk-usage and belie! and 

 as he has discussed the matters studied with Chinese 

 savants, we have a remarkably complete and discern- 

 ing monograph, which will appeal alike to connoisseurs, 

 artistSj ethnologists, and students of comparative reli- 

 gion and folklore. There are sixty-eight plates, six 

 of which are coloured, and 204 text figures, most of 

 which are reproductions of Chinese drawings. The 

 Field Museum of Natural Historv is to be con- 



Fig. 2. — Incense-burner carved from white jade in open. work, Miiig period 

 Chinese Archaeology and Religion." 



gratulated on the publication of a monograph worthy 

 of its most important and interesting collection of jade 

 objects. A. C. Haodon. 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN INDIA. 1 

 A REPORT on the results of an inquiry into the 

 **■ relation of technical instruction in India to the 

 actual requirements of employers, which has recently 

 been published, contains some valuable suggestions on 

 the industrial outlook in that country. The inquiry 

 is, however, strictly limited in scope. The report is 

 not concerned with the general question of technical 

 education, nor with the organisation or improvement 



1 Report on the Inquiry to Bring Technical Institutions into Closer Touch 

 and More Practical Relations with the Employers of India. By Lieut. -Col. 

 E. H. de V. Atkinson, R.E., and Tom S. Dawson. Pp. 100. (Calcutta, 



of local industries ; it deals with the more restricted and 

 definite question of the value of the instruction now 

 provided in Indian technical institutes in qualifying 

 the students of those institutes to undertake positions 

 as managers, heads of departments, foremen, and 

 assistants in engineering, and in some few other 

 industrial works. 



Extensive inquiries have been made from the heads 

 of engineering firms in different parts of India and 

 also from the directors of instruction and the managers 

 of some of the principal schools and technical insti- 

 tutions, and the results of these inquiries are embodied 

 in certain definite recommendations, which have for 

 their object the bringing into closer relation of the teach- 

 ing of the schools with the 

 actual needs of employers. 

 The writers of the report, 

 whilst giving due weight to 

 the views of British engineers 

 and educational authorities, 

 have wisely recognised the 

 fact — too often overlooked — 

 that the conditions of indus- 

 try differ very widely in India 

 and in Western countries, 

 and that the character, dis- 

 position, and aptitudes of 

 native students must be con- 

 sidered in any proposals as 

 to their education and train- 

 ing. The endeavour to im- 

 pose upon institutions in 

 India methods of instruction 

 which may be well adapted 

 to European students has 

 produced results which are 

 by no means satisfactory, and 

 those who approach the 

 problem of education from a 

 scientific point of view realise 

 that the character of the 

 student, which is a product 

 of his environment, must be 

 considered in all educational 

 schemes, and that the condi- 

 tions of his training must be 

 adapteS to his habits and 

 surroundings. This fact is 

 recognised by the writers of 

 the report when, at the out. 

 set of their inquiry, they 

 state : — " It is useless train- 

 ing a man in mechanical 

 engineering who will not 

 take off his coat and work, 

 not stand the strain, or whose 

 manual work repugnant." 

 l'he efforts already made to organise and develop 

 education in India have clearly shown that the native 

 student has a strong preference for studies dealing 

 with the theories and principles of his subject over 

 those demanding severe practical work or protracted 

 scientific investigation. In many of the higher 

 branches of handicraft the Indian is proficient, and it 

 is a matter of some regret that greater efforts have 

 not been made to develop technical instruction along 

 lines which would have improved, and given greater 

 artistic value to, many of the native industries. That 

 suggestion, however, " opens up a subject beyond the 

 scope of the inquiry with which the report deals. The 

 main object of the Commissioners was to ascertain 

 what arrangements can be made for systematic co- 



" Jade : A Study in 



whose physique will 

 social customs make 



NO. 



22~0, VOL. 91] 



