494 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. Vlll., No. 199 



system of scholarships and bursaries in connec- 

 tion with it. A good natural history society ex- 

 ists in St. John, with corresponding members in 

 the country districts. A museum, mechanics' 

 institutes, and similar agencies complete the 

 facilities for the pursuit of science. 



Nova Scotia. — In all grades or classes of the 

 elementary schools, the teachers are expected to 

 furnish suitable instruction in hygiene, and what 

 are termed ' Lessons on nature,' or useful knowl- 

 edge lessons, as well as geography. In grades 

 3 to 6, these lessons are chiefly biological and 

 inineralogical ; while, in grades 7 and 8, elemen- 

 tary physics, chemistry, and agriculture are intro- 

 duced ; and, in order that the teachers may be 

 well prepared for this last, there is a school of 

 agriculture in connection with the normal school. 

 In the higher graded schools, the course includes 

 geography and the elements of mathematics, 

 physics, botany, pliysiology, geology, and chem- 

 istry. There are various colleges, and a university 

 at Halifax, on the basis of that of London, to 

 which most of the colleges are affiliated. 



In concluding this brief sketch of the provisions 

 for scientific education in the province of Canada, 

 I feel that it would not be complete without an 

 allusion to the schools for the blind, and for deaf- 

 mutes, all of which come under the superintend- 

 ents of public instruction, just as they do in the 

 United States. The education of children so 

 afflicted is not a matter of charity, as with us ; 

 but it is taken cognizance of officially, and, as I 

 can testify from personal inspection, is carried out 

 in a very scientific manner. What is taught is 

 mainly objective and experimental. It may not 

 be out of place, perhaps, to mention here that we 

 owe the invention of the Bell telephone to re- 

 searches undertaken by Alex. Graham Bell, in his 

 official position as head of the Normal school for 

 teachers of deaf-mutes, in Boston, Alass., in order 

 to facilitate the instruction of children hitherto 

 voiceless — I can hardly say, speechless. 

 South Africa. 

 Cape of Good Hope. — The system is a complete 

 ■educational ladder, with the Kraal schools at the 

 bottom, and the University of the Cape of Good 

 Hope at the top ; and every kind of educational 

 institute is state-aided. I cannot learn that any 

 science-teaching is given in primary schools. In 

 the second-class schools a fairly high standard is 

 aimed at, but how far it is reached may be 

 gathered from the following sentence in a recent 

 report of the inspector-general of schools : " But 

 certainly the greatest want in the school curricu- 

 lum is the almost general neglect of science- teach- 

 ing in a scientific manner." 



A friend writes to me, " In the schools near Cape 



Town, of which I had some experience, the idea 

 of science was, getting by rote a few pages of a 

 book on physical geography. At one or two 

 schools, where I introduced simple lessons in 

 physics, with experiments, I was surprised — 

 though it was for this that I hoped — at the quick- 

 ening of intelligent interest in the work." There 

 is a university, but I regiret to say that its exam- 

 ination schemes give no encouragement whatever 

 to scientific training. Public libraries, museums, 

 and botanic gardens exist, and are state-aided, as 

 well as their country branches. 



Natal. — A council of education controls state- 

 aided schools of all kinds. The course in all pri- 

 mary schools includes theoretically the elements 

 of natural and physical science. Even in the 

 native schools a little physical geography is taught. 

 In the higher schools, at Durban and Pietermaritz- 

 burg, scientific teaching is carried st'll further. 

 A lady friend of mine, Miss Rowe, an ardent dev- 

 otee of science, has lately settled in the latter city, 

 at the head of a very high-class girls' school. 

 Australasian colonies. 

 In every one of thefe, the state s} stem of educa- 

 tion is compulsory and undenominational. Pub- 

 lic instruction is free in Victoria, Queensland, and 

 New Zealand. In proportion to population, Vic 

 toria has more children at school than any other 

 colony ; but its age-limits, six to fifteen years, are 

 greater. New South Wales heads the list in point 

 of cost of instruction jDer scholar, with an expen- 

 diture of £8 2s. M. each per year, nearly double 

 that of any other colony ; but its system of in- 

 struction is far the most complete of any, as will 

 shortly be seen. 



Western Australia. — Its total population does 

 not amount to 40,000. In 1884 about £10,000 was 

 expended on education. In the schools through- 

 out the colony, whether high or elementary, the 

 rudiments of some branches of science form a part 

 of the teaching. The wealthier classes of society 

 send their children away for education, and this 

 has not tended to encourage high-class teaching 

 of any kind. 



South Australia. — The schools are divided into 

 public (or primary) and provisional. In the 

 former, only certificated teachers are employed. 

 Physical geography, object-lessons, and simple 

 drawing all find a place in the compulsory course. 

 The secondary schools and colleges are mainly 

 denominational, receiving ' grants-in-aid,' and in 

 the programmes of many of them science takes a 

 fair position. The colony enjoys the distinction 

 of being the only one of the mainland provinces 

 of Australasia which possesses an agricultural 

 college : it was opened in 1885, under the manage- 

 ment of Professor Custance, formerly of Ciren- 



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