October 29, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



381 



the autumn in connection with our signal service, 

 now mostly abandoned by reason of an unfortu- 

 nate and unwise economy. The more important 

 existing stations, fitted with good instruments and 

 in the care of good observers, are as follows : 

 Havana, Cuba, at the Jesuit college, in charge of 

 Padre Benito ViSez ; Kingston, Jamaica, in charge 

 of Prof. Maxwell Hall ; Port au Prince, Hayti, 

 directed by Jesuit priests ; two in San Juan, Porto 

 Rico, one controlled by the government, the 

 other in a Jesuit monastery. Besides these, there 

 are records of less detail kept at Santiago, Cuba, 

 and on the several English islands ; but they are 

 not published in good or easily accessible form, if 

 published at all. Considering the direct impor- 

 tance of uniform series of observations on the An- 

 tilles, especially during the hurricane season, and 

 the probability that observers could be found 

 there if instruments could be supplied to them, 

 the field commends itself to international culti- 

 vation ; and in time we trust to see our hydro- 

 graphic and signal offices taking the lead together 

 in this work, to which other nations will undoubt- 

 edly contribute a valuable assistance. 



The legislators of European countries seem 

 to be ever on the alert to devise means by which 

 the general health and vigor of the youth may be 

 increased. While it may be true that the real 

 motive which actuates these efforts is not a 

 philanthropic one, but is rather with the idea of 

 raising up material for an army with which to 

 defend the fatherland or to carry conquest into 

 other cotmtries, still the end which is reached is a 

 most beneficial one. By a law recently enacted 

 in Germany and Switzerland, the principals of all 

 schools are required to dismiss their pupils at noon 

 of every day on which the thermometer registers, 

 at 10 A.M., 20° Reaumur (77° F.). We commend 

 this action as worthy of reproduction in this 

 country to those who, during the coming year, 

 will serve in our state legislatures. 



The preliminary account of an analysis of 

 the Mexican codices which appears in this number 

 of Science aroused an unusual interest in the sec- 

 tion of anthropology at the recent meeting of the 

 American association. All previous attempts at 

 deciphering these queerly artificial systems of 

 picture-writings were confessedly inadequate ; and 

 the principle of ascribing a phonetic value to 

 the characters, and not a merely symbolic one. 



is as rich in its consequences as it was unexpected. 

 It is highly improbable that a method of interpre- 

 tation yielding such definite and rational results 

 even in a small number of instances should not be 

 the key to a large portion of the writings ; just as 

 improbable, for example, as that a thousand let- 

 ters of a printer's ' pie ' should happen to form 

 rational sentences. Moreover, the discovery of 

 the determinative signs does much to complete 

 whatever gap may have been left in the evidence. 

 Linguists and anthropologists alike will await with 

 anxiety the results of the application of this 

 promising innovation to the mysterious remains 

 of Mexican thought and customs. 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 



It is pleasant to notice that the subject of tech- 

 nical education and manual instruction in con- 

 nection with the public-school system is being 

 actively and favorably discussed in New York 

 City. The board of education some time ago 

 appointed Messrs. Dewitt J. Seligman, Hemy L. 

 Sprague, and E. J. H. Tamsen a special committee 

 to make a report on the subject of technical edu- 

 cation, and on Oct. 13 their report was received 

 and discussed by the board. The report emphati- 

 cally favors the introduction of manual training 

 into the public-school system, and points out that 

 it may be accomplished in one of two ways : first, 

 separate schools for manual training may be 

 established ; or, secondly, it may be made part of 

 the regular course of study, as now pursued in 

 the various schools. Inasmuch as the superin- 

 tendent of school buildings reported that there 

 were vacant rooms in various schools, the com- 

 mittee was of opinion that mechanical or con- 

 structive drawing, modelling in clay, wood-work- 

 ing by means of hand- tools, etc., could be taught 

 immediately, such vacant rooms being used for 

 the purpose. To carry out the proposed experi- 

 ment in male grammar schools, the committee 

 asked the board of education to apply to the 

 board of estimate and apportionment for an ap- 

 propriation of fifty thousand dollars. 



The manual training of girls was not overlooked 

 by the committee, and an additional ten thousand 

 dollars was asked for in order to introduce ex- 

 perimentally into the female grammar schools 

 instruction in elementary cooking (twelve lessons, 

 of two hours each, would suffice, in the com- 

 mittee's opinion), instruction in sewing (sewing is 

 now compulsory one hour a week in the primaiy 

 schools for girls), and to provide for com-ses of 

 lectures to the older girls on the elementary rules 

 of housekeeping. Some discussion arose concern- 



