498 



SCIEJSCE. 



[Vol. VIII. , No. 199 



because it is the only foundation upon which a 

 system of technological education can be securely 

 built, but for its value in drawing out the minds 

 of the pupils. 



In secondary, grammar, and high schools, how- 

 ever, where the academic influence and traditions 

 are still strong, I incline to think that science 

 scarcely occupies a position equal to that now at- 

 tained, in corresponding English schools. I should 

 doubt, for example, whether there is any large 

 high-class school in either of the colonies, where, 

 as in Clifton college, a certain amount of attend- 

 ance on science classes is required from every boy, 

 no matter what his future is to be, in order that he 

 may comprehend the meaning of scientific method 

 and treatment of a subject. Tne colonial univer- 

 sities, too, though now generally modelled more 

 or less on that of London, have usually so ar- 

 ranged their matriculation examination, unlike 

 their prototype, that it is possible to pass it in 

 purely literary subjects alone. 



A. glance through the calendars of the older 

 colonial universities shows again, in a very marked 

 degree, the strong influence of the older academic 

 ideas of Cambridge and Oxford. I noticed this 

 particularly in the case of Sydney, in 1880, where 

 I had unusual opportunities of forming an opinion ; 

 and also, at the same time, in some of the provin- 

 cial colleges in New Zealand. "Within the last few 

 years, however, a great change has come over 

 colonial university opinion in this matter. Degrees 

 in science have been instituted ; faculties of science 

 have been organized, and placed on an equal foot- 

 ing with those of arts, laws, and medicine. In 

 the case of two, at least, of these universities, 

 degrees in engineering science are now conferred, 

 a proposal to establish which, as some present are 

 aware, is now before the University of London. 



Great as has been the progress of public opinion 

 in England during the last few years, on the value 

 of science as an element in education, I am dis- 

 posed to think that the progress has been greater 

 in the colonies in the same period. Certainly the 

 development of that opinion to its present point 

 has been much more rapid in the colonies than at 

 home. In educational as well as in political mat- 

 ters the colonies are most valuable to the mother- 

 country as localities where experiments in legisla- 

 tion may be, and often are, conveniently tried, the 

 progress of opinion on certain subjects there being 

 in advance of that in England. 



To attempt a general review of all the other ex- 

 isting agencies for the promotion of a taste for 

 science among adults would be almost hopeless. 

 They are of the same general character as in Eng- 

 land, modified to suit the special circumstances of 

 each case ; some of them being carried on, under 



circumstances of great difficulty and discourage- 

 ment, by enthusiastic devotees of nature, while 

 others, like the Royal societies of Canada, Victoria, 

 and New South Wales, have achieved a reputation 

 which extends wherever the English language is 

 read. 



EDUCATION IN SPAIN. 



An English writer, touching on the subject of 

 education in Spain, complains that so different 

 are the conditions in the various provinces of 

 Spain, statistics mislead when they seem to show 

 that Spain is one of the worst educated countries 

 in Europe. While this is true, he saj s, of many 

 districts, it is not true in all. The great drawback 

 to the cause of education in Spain is the compara- 

 tively small educated public to which appeal can 

 be made. Out of upward of sixteen millions of 

 Sj)aniards, only four millions know how to read 

 and write, and half a million more can read only.. 

 Thus only about twenty- five per cent of the popu- 

 lation have any education worth speaking of. 



Then, too, a corrupt and corrupting political 

 and administrative influence is brought to bear on 

 education. Nominally, and according to the letter 

 of the law, education is compulsory on all 

 Spaniards between the ages of six and nine. 

 Yet the number of pupils on the school rolls is 

 only 1,800,000, and the actual attendance is less 

 than sixty per cent of the enrolment. The laws 

 are violated in many particulars and neglected or 

 evaded in many more. Of the 23,000 schoolhouses 

 (and it must be remembered that the most of them 

 escape inspection altogether), 7,999 are returned 

 as no decentes y capaees. 



The teachers' salaries are ludicrously small. Of 

 15,000 teachers. 1,273 receive less than twenty-five 

 dollars a year, 2,827 receive from twenty-five to 

 fifty dollars, and only half of them have a salary 

 that amounts to one hundred dollars. 



Between 1870 and 1880 some progress was per- 

 ceptible in educational matters. The northern 

 provinces are in advance of those of the south. 

 Alava comes first, with sixty-three per cent of its 

 male population able to read and write. The 

 religious orders and corporations do not play so 

 large a part in the education in Spain as is com- 

 monly supposed. In the matter of primary edu- 

 cation, the whole number of pupils taught by the 

 religious associations is only 30,879, while the re- 

 turns from the Protestant schools show only 3,196 

 enrolled in them. 



The chief trouble with Spanish education seems 

 to be that it does not conform to the real needs of the 

 nation. While seventy-five per cent of the total 

 population can neither read nor write, the propor- 

 tion of university graduates is as high as that in 



