2l8 



NA TURE 



{Jan. 22, 1874 



useful things in a spirit of enlightenment which has 

 nothing mean in it, but displays a fitness for cosmopo- 

 litan life of which we see the practical results. Besides 

 the ' Realschule,' there are throughout (^ermany a num- 

 ber of ' high schools of commerce,' where young men 

 enter to learn office-work and technicalities." 



This German hits the right nail on the head, when he 

 says that — 



" The English Government would do well to establish 

 such schools upon some definite plan as to unity of teach- 

 ing. Young Englishmen are quite as well disposed as 

 Germans ; in many matters their character is even more 

 stable, but you must give them the opportunity of learning 

 what the Germans do. Proprietary schools will never 

 succeed in this ; and no breach of the liberty of the sub- 

 ject would be committed if your Government were intelli- 

 gent and far-seeing enough to recognise the need of such 

 a system of schools, supernatant on the elementary edu- 

 cation." 



As another Times correspondent says, the maintenance 

 of our commercial prosperity is pretty much a school- 

 masters' question. No "association for the promotion 

 of scientific industry" will ever be able to remedy 

 our shortcomings in this respect unless there be a 

 career for men of Science, in which case it will 

 be studied, and unless Science be properly taught. 

 Unless this countiy is to be entirely outstripped by 

 other nations in the very direction in which we have 

 hitherto prided ourselves as being supreme. Govern- 

 ment must take the matter up and see that there is 

 put within the reach of all who are in any way to 

 carry on our industries the means of making them- 

 selves thoroughly acquainted with the sciences and 

 scientific principles upon which these industries rest. 

 Let us also, like the Germans, have well-organised Real- 

 schule and technical training-schools ; and for this pur- 

 pose let Government take the advice of the deputation 

 which waited on the Lord Chancellor last Saturday, and 

 make haste to appoint a responsible Minister of Educa- 

 tion, whose duty it will be to see that our educational 

 machinery in all departments, both in extent and in eiB- 

 ciency, is kept up to the wants of the age. The establish- 

 ment of mere technical schools is not sufficient ; these 

 will be of but little avail unless those who wish to take 

 advantage of them have had a previous thorough training 

 in the scientific principles on which the arts are founded. 

 Thanks to Mr. Cole's wise foresight, there are now tens of 

 thousands of our artisans who have had such a training. 



No better instance could be afforded of the evil con- 

 sequences which arise from the want of a responsible 

 Minister of Education, than the disgraceful condition of 

 the Patent Museum. In a dark rusty iron shed at South 

 Kensington are huddled together so as to be practically 

 inaccessible for purposes of study, the paltry collection 

 which represents the genius of that nation which has 

 been foremost in mechanical invention. Let us hope 

 that the object of the Society of Arts' deputation will be 

 granted, and that no time will be lost in arranging in a 

 suitable building everything necessary for the compre- 

 hension of Science applied to our various industries, in 

 such a manner that anyone who wishes may study his- 

 torically all the improvements that have been made in 

 any department ; and that, as in the French " Consei-va- 

 toire des Arts et Metiers," lectureships will be established, 

 thus furnishing a most efficient means for training the men 



who are to carry on our industries. If this were done, 

 and if local museums were established in suitable centres 

 throughout the country, and if Government take steps to 

 put within the reach of all a thorough general scientific 

 education, and do besides, what no " society for pro- 

 moting scientific industry" can do, provide means 

 for carrying on unrcmunerative scientific research, 

 England will soon regain her industrial supremacy, or at 

 least be placed beyond any danger of being outrivalled. 



BELT'S "NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA" 



The Naturalist in Nicaragua : a Narrative of a Resi- 

 dence at the Gold Mine of Chontales ; Journeys in 

 the Savannahs and Forests ; with Observations on 

 Animals and Plants in reference to the Theory of 

 Evolution of Living Forms. By Thomas Belt, F.G.S., 

 Author of "Mineral Veins," "The Glacial Period in 

 North America," &c. With Maps and Illustrations. 

 (London : Murray, 1874.) 



MR. BELT is a close, an accurate, and an intelligent 

 observer. He possesses the valuable faculty of 

 wonder at v/hatever is new, or strange, or beautiful in 

 nature ; and the equally valuable habit of seeking a 

 reason for all that he sees. Having found or imagined 

 one, he goes on to make fresh obsen-ations and seeks out 

 new facts, to see how they accord with his supposed cause 

 of the phenomena. He is a man of wide experience ; 

 having travelled much in North and South Amer^ i ^ nd 

 in Australia, as well as in many parts of Europe — and 

 always with his eyes open — before visiting Nicaragua. 

 He is a geologist and an engineer, and knows how to 

 overcome obstacles whether caused by the perversity of 

 man or the forces of nature. 



The book we are noticing has, therefore, a value and a 

 charm quite independent of the particular district it 

 describes. As a mere work of travel it is of little interest. 

 The country and the people of Nicaragua are too much 

 like other parts of Spanish tropical America, with their 

 dull, lazy, sensual inhabitants, to possess any novelty. 

 There is little that can be called adventure, and still less 

 of geographical discovery ; and the weakest and least 

 interesting parts of the volume are the detailed descrip- 

 tions of the daily route in the various journeys across the 

 country. We have here and there good illustrations of 

 Spanish American character, as when staying for the 

 night at a ruinous farm-house, the proprietor, Don 

 Filisberto, informed him that he was busy building a new 

 residence. On asking to see it, " He took me outside and 

 showed me four old posts used for tying the cows to, 

 which had evidently been in the ground for many years. 

 ' There,' he said, ' are the corner posts, and I shall roof 

 it with tiles.' He was quite grave, but 1 could not help 

 smiling at his faith. I have no doubt that, as long as he 

 lives, he will lounge about all day, and in the evening, 

 when his wife and children are milking the cows, will 

 come out, smoke his cigarette, leaning against the door- 

 post of his patched and propped up dwelling, and con- 

 template the four old posts with a proud feeling of satis- 

 faction that he is building a new house. Such a picture 

 is typical of Nicaragua." 



Mr. Belt has done perhaps more than any other 



