JwLT 16, 1886.] 



SCIJSJ^CU. 



55 



sentative graduates, representatives of these con- 

 stitiient colleges, the examiners, which shall ad- 

 vise the senate on all matters relating to the sub- 

 jects of examination, and shall appoint boards of 

 studies ; 4°, that the university (now entirely 

 dependent on fees and a treasmy grant) sliall 

 have power to hold real property, in order that it 

 may assist by any suitable means in promoting 

 higher education. Except on the question of the 

 admission of women to degrees, there have never 

 been debates in convocation at which more inter- 

 est has been shown. At the present moment, a 

 keenly contested parliamentary election is being 

 carried on in the university. The poll is open for 

 five days ; the voting is open, and may be done in 

 person, or by voting-papers sworn before a justice 

 of the peace and then sent in by mail. Sir John 

 Lubbock, F.R.S., formerly vice-chancellor, repre- 

 sented the university for many years as a liberal, 

 but not a ' home-ruler ; ' and he is now opposed by 

 Mr. Frederick Harrison, the Gladstonian candidate. 



In connection with the Colonial and Indian ex- 

 hibition, a very useful series of conferences are 

 being held in the Conference hall of the exhibi- 

 tion. Many of these are devoted to an exposition 

 of the resources of some particular colony — to 

 various industrial products and questions — and to 

 such subjects as the federation of the colonies, etc. 

 One day was devoted to the subject of the position 

 of science in colonial education, which was intro- 

 duced in a very exhaustive paper by Mr. WiUiam 

 Lant Carpenter. 



The colonies to which Mr. Carpenter had di- 

 rected his attention were, Canada generally ; in 

 South Africa, the Cape of Good Hope and Natal ; 

 western and South Austraha, Victoria, New 

 South Wales, Queensland, New Zealand, and Tas- 

 mania ; the last of which, unfortunately, was not 

 represented at the present exhibition. An account 

 of the present condition of scientific education in 

 each of these colonies was given, in primary, 

 secondary, and grammar or high schools, in col- 

 leges and universities, and in museums, etc., for 

 adults. The most perfect scheme of education 

 was ijrobably that of the little colony of New 

 Brunswick, which was admnably arranged. This 

 colony spent one- third of its entire revenue on 

 education, and one-eighth of its entne population 

 in 1885 received instruction in hygiene. There 

 was a universal desire in the colonies to realize as 

 far as possible Professor Huxley's idea that a sys- 

 tem of public instruction should be an educational 

 ladder reaching from the gutter to the university. 



As a general conclusion, IMi-. Carpenter thought 

 that the claims of science to a place in state-aided 

 primary education were more fully recognized 

 than in the old country ; and this, not merely be- 



cause it was the only foundation upon which a 

 system of technological education could be 

 securely built, but for its value in drawing out the 

 minds of the pupils. As regards the branches by 

 which the time-honored routine of subjects may 

 be most beneficially varied, precedence was almost 

 universally accorded to drawing, and to the objec- 

 tive presentation of the elements of science. In 

 secondary grammar and high schools, science 

 scarcely occupied a position equal to that in cor- 

 responding English schools ; but there were many 

 signs of improvement in this respect. In the col- 

 leges and universities of the older colonies, the 

 classical and academic influence was still very 

 strong, while in the newer ones the claims of 

 scientific education to be put on an equal footing 

 with literary were recognized. Great as had been 

 the progress of public opinion in England during 

 the last few years on the importance of science as 

 an element in education, the author was disposed 

 to consider it greater in the colonies in the same 

 period. Certainly the development of that opin- 

 ion to its present point had been much more rapid 

 in. the colonies than at home. There were many 

 voluntary colonial associations for the isromotion 

 of science ; and the author concluded his paper 

 by throwing out the suggestion, that, if there 

 were grave and practical difficulties in the way of 

 an imperial federation of the Australian colonies, 

 the establishment of an Australian association for 

 the advancement of science, somewhat on the 

 lines of the British and American associations for 

 similar purposes, might not be beyond the reach 

 of practical scientists ; and he was strongly of 

 opinion that such a federation would tend to 

 strengthen ' the j)Osition of science in colonial 

 education.' 



The annual meeting of the Society of chemical 

 industry is about to be held at Liverpool. The 

 success of this society, which was only founded 

 five years ago, has been remarkable, chiefly be- 

 cause it met a great want. It numbers over two 

 thousand members, some resident in remote parts 

 of the world. It has sections in the chief manu- 

 facturing districts of England and Scotland, such 

 as Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, 

 etc. Its journal, issued monthly, is a very valua- 

 ble record of industrial chemistry ; the abstracts 

 of patents, and of papers in foreign jom-nals, be- 

 ing a special feature in it. 



The experimental farm of the Royal agricul- 

 tural society has recently been visited by distin- 

 guished colonists, as weU as ofiicially by the 

 members of the society. It was started in. 1877 to 

 put to a practical test the relative manurial values 

 attributable to the consumption of certain feeding- 

 stuffs, which, on chemical considerations, should 



