Febkdaey 3, 1899.] 



SCIENCE, 



187 



government laud or land donated for that pur- 

 pose. The other lower agricultural schools 

 may be established on private estates. The 

 secondarj' schools are open to young men of all 

 conditions who have completed the course in 

 the primary public schools. The course of 

 instruction covers four years, and includes 

 in addition to the general studies the ele- 

 ments of the natural sciences, agricultural 

 and rural economy, cattle raising, veterinary, 

 agricultural law, horticulture, gardening, etc., 

 together with carpentry and blacksmithing in 

 their application to agricultural machinery. The 

 primary agricultural schools are open to all who 

 can read and write and have a knowledge of 

 arithmetic as far as fractions. The courses last 

 from one to three years. They include, aside 

 from general studies, instruction in the ele- 

 ments of agriculture, with practical exercises. 

 The classes in agriculture are intended for the 

 instruction of young men of the peasant class. 

 The course does not last longer than two years, 

 and consists in the study of the rudimentary 

 principles of agriculture and their application to 

 the local conditions. The successful comple- 

 tion of the course in these three grades of the 

 lower agricultural schools carries with it certain 

 reductions in the military requirement, depend- 

 ent upon the grade. The practical agricultural 

 courses are designed to impart popular informa- 

 tion in particular branches of agriculture. The 

 instruction does not continue for more than a 

 year, and consists in demonstrations, talks and 

 practical exercises in different branches of agri- 

 culture in their application to local conditions, 

 and especially to the conditions of the peasants. 

 The dilTusion of general agricultural informa- 

 tion is to be provided for by : (1) the organization 

 •of public readings or lectures on agricultural 

 questions for the benefit of diflferent classes of 

 the population ; (2) instruction of the teachers 

 in the public schools in agriculture, horticulture, 

 gardening, apiculture, etc., and providing the 

 public schools with small plats of land and 

 means for cultivating the same ; (3) the teaching 

 of agriculture in the normal schools, and (4) the 

 introduction of supplementary courses in agri- 

 culture in the village schools. There are now 

 in Russia 3 schools for higher agricultural in- 

 struction, 9 agricultural high schools, 83 lower 



schools and 69 special courses. Steps have 

 already been taken for the establishment of 

 about 50 additional agricultural schools. 



TEE INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCI- 

 ENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



Through the courtesy of the Secretaries of the 

 Royal Society, we have received a copy of the 

 Acta of the Second International Conference on a 

 Catalogue of Scientific Literature, together with 

 the report of the committee of the Royal So- 

 ciety, with schedules of classification, and hope 

 to give full consideration to a subject which is 

 probably the most important now before men 

 of science. It is to be hoped that the verbatim 

 report of the proceedings of the second confer- 

 ence will be printed promptly and freely dis- 

 tributed among men of science and scientific 

 journals. This is especially important in view 

 of the short time, now less than one year before 

 the plans of the Conference are to be put into 

 effect. In connection with this subject we 

 quote the following editorial note from the last 

 number of Natural Science : 



" In our last number we gave a short account 

 of the proceedings at the International Confer- 

 ence on Scientific Literature convened by the 

 Royal Society. We did not think it necessary 

 to say that we had abstracted this account from 

 our highly valued contemporary Nature, since 

 we assumed that the proces-verbaux were public 

 property, and that copies would be distributed 

 to the press, especially the scientific press, in 

 due course. No copy has yet reached us, and 

 we gather from Science, as well as from other 

 sources, that no attempt has been made by the , 

 Royal Society to furnish the scientific public 

 with any account of the work carried on by this 

 Congress. We now recall the strange fact that 

 the elaborate ' Report of the Committee of the 

 Royal Society of London, with Schedules of 

 Classification,' though bearing date March 30, 

 1898, was never heard of by many of those 

 most interested until late on in the year (vide 

 articles in Science, and by Professor Victor 

 Carus in Zoologischer Anzeiger). It seems to us 

 that the Royal Society does not realize its re- 

 sponsibilities. Why this shrinking from the 

 public gaze ? Are the members of the commit- 

 tees so afraid of criticism? This is a scheme 



