40 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 363 



terranean church or crypt is necessarily Ughted from one end only, 

 where it is flush with the face of the rock ; and these openings are 

 filled with flamboyant windows, which are very evident insertions. 

 On the surface of the hill over this church, but with a large space 

 of solid rock intervening, is the tower and spire belonging to it. 

 The tower is of late Norman and transitional character surmounted 

 by a flamboyant crocketed spire. There is a kind of well or flue 

 cut through'the rock under the tower into the church below, appa- 

 parently for the bell-ropes, fn the church are remains of early 

 painting, and some shallow sculpture, the character of which ap- 

 pears to be of the twelfth century. Adjoining the church, on the south 

 side, is a detached chapel of transition Norman work, with an apse 

 vaulted with good ribs and vaulting shafts. A considerable part 

 of the old painting is preserved. Some of the ribs are painted with 

 zig-zags. Under this chapel is a crypt or cave cut out of the rock, 

 called the Grotto of St. Emilion, with a spring of water in it. The 

 work is of the same early character as the other vaults. 



— A factory chimney, said to be the highest in the world, is now 

 being erected at the Royal Smelting Works, near Freiburg, in Sax- 

 ony. The horizontal flue from the works to the chimney is 1,093 

 yards long ; it crosses the river Mulde, and then takes an upward 

 course of 197 feet to the top of the hill upon which the chimney is 

 being built. The base of the structure is thirty-nine feet square by 

 thirty feet in height, on which is placed a short octagonal transi- 

 tion, from which the round shaft starts. This is 430 feet high, or 

 together with the base, 460 feet high, with an inside diameter of 

 twenty-three feet at the bottom, and sixteen feet and six inches at 

 the top. It will take 1,500,000 bricks, and the cost is about thirty 

 thousand dollars, 



, — Complaints of overpressure in schools are as numerous and 

 universal in Sweden as in many other Continental countries. Swe- 

 den is, in fact, one of the countries where this fact has first roused 

 the public interest, as has been proved by Professor Dr. Key several 

 years ago, in a pamphlet full of trustworthy statistical information, 

 and showing that ansemia, chlorosis, and other diseases are due to, 

 or are at least greatly promoted by, the existing overwork in the 

 schools. Another weighty charge against the present school-sys- 

 tem is that it, to a great extent, promotes the ordinary contempt 

 for manual work among the young, and tends to engender disin- 

 clination for the practical professions, handicrafts not being suffi- 

 ciently ".genteel." Complaints of a too great influx at the univer- 

 sities are, therefore, as common in Sweden as in Germany, and the 

 other Scandinavian countries. These unhappy results of the sec- 

 ondary education are now acknowledged by nearly every body, but 

 they were foreseen by some patriotic men, who, thirteen years ago, 

 founded a school, which, after its headmaster, got the name of 

 " Palmgren's Practical Work-School." However, one must not in- 

 infer from the name that it gives instruction solely in manual work. 

 It was also intended to give a liberal education, and has now glo- 

 riously proved its efficiency in that respect, as some of its pupils 

 have, during the last two years, successfully obtained their matric- 

 ulation degree. The school-lessons are here somewhat fewer than 

 in ordinary schools, and instruction in manual work — Sloyd — is 

 obligatory for all pupils. Moreover, children who do not attend 

 the school-lessons are admitted to the Sloyd instruction at a very 

 moderate fee. Instruction is also given to men and women in 

 sewing, embroidering in gold and silver, lace-making, macrame, 

 etc. Further in bookbinding, pasteboard-work, joinery and turn- 

 ing. There are also courses at the school, of three months each, 

 for future male and female Sloyd-teachers. Besides instruction in 

 Sloyd-work, these students have lessons in drawing and the peda- 

 gogics of Sloyd. They have also to instruct children in Sloyd for 

 one to two hours a day, under the superintendence of their teachers. 

 During the summer holidays a shorter course is given for ordinary 

 teachers. To give the reader an adequate idea of the interest 

 which nearly all classes in Sweden take in Sloyd, the Swedish cor- 

 respondent of the Journal of Education mentions that Colonel 

 Ankarcrona, Commander of the Royal Swedish Lifeguards, has 

 ordered that Sloyd-instruction is to be given twice a week to the 

 guardsmen, by experienced teachers from Mr. Palmgren's school. 

 This step has been taken to give the soldiers some pleasant and 

 useful recreation when they are off duty. Apart from the moral 



influence it may exert, it will evidently be a great advantage for the 

 soldiers to learn the rudiments of a trade in the barracks, which 

 hitherto have not been a school for useful and profitable arts ini 

 Sweden any more than in other countries. 



— The Standing Executive Committee of the Convention of 

 American Instructors of the Deaf, of which Dr. E. M. Gallaudet 

 Kendall Green, Washington, D.C., is chairman, have had under 

 consideration the suggestions made in many quarters that, in view 

 of the probability of a notable national celebration being held in 

 1S93, in this country, the Convention, which would naturally meet 

 in 1890, be postponed until the jubilee year. It is well known that 

 an invitation to hold the next Convention at the New York Insti- 

 tution for the Deaf and Dumb was accepted some time ago, and 

 that it was intended, through invitations to professional brethren 

 in other countries, to give the Convention an international char- 

 acter. Since this plan was decided on it has become practically- 

 certain that there will be held, in 1892, one or more great exhibi- 

 tions calculated to attract visitors even from foreign countries, and 

 that, consequently, during that year, low rates of travel to and in 

 our country will be offered, all of which would tend to- induce a 

 larger attendance at such a Convention from abroad, and probably 

 from the States, than could be expected at any Cfther time- 

 within the next decade. The influence of such a Convention, held 

 when great numbers of people, both foreign and native, would be 

 assembled at the place where the Convention would be likely to 

 meet, would give its proceedings an influence and importance they 

 could hardly have under other circumstances. The weight of these 

 considerations has led the Committee to decide, unanimously, to> 

 postpone the meeting of the next Convention until 1892. The. 

 authorities of the New York Institution have kindly renewed their 

 offer of hospitality, but the Committee are of opinion that it will 

 be wise to defer their decision as to the place of holding the Con- 

 vention until the plans for the national celebration are more fully 

 developed than they now are. 



— Life at Girton is described in The JVomen's ]Vorld in this way : 

 An early breakfast, served from eight to nine (some industri- 

 ous students begin their day with a private breakfast party at five 

 or six, and only partake of the college meal as an afterthought), is- 

 followed by a morning devoted, almost without exception, to pri- 

 vate study, or to attendance at lectures given in college by the resi- 

 dent lecturers, or at the numerous courses in Cambridge now 

 thrown open to women. The early hours of the afternoon, which 

 by common agreement of the students are considered " noise- 

 hours," are usually given to recreation, tennis being the most popu- 

 lar form of outdoor amusement, and pianos, with an occasional 

 fiddle, having full swing indoors. After luncheon coffee-parties 

 are also a common occurrence, the entertainment being of the 

 most informal description, while the hostess seldom scruples to 

 dismiss her guests or leave them to entertain themselves if she has 

 work or lectures on hand. From three until the six o'clock dinner 

 silence reigns again in the college. Many classical and mathe- 

 matical lectures are given at this time by Cambridge lecturers, who 

 come out to the college for the purpose, and the students who have 

 not lectures usually, though not so universally as in the mornings 

 devote a part or the whole of these hours to private study. After 

 dinner again informal coffee or tea parties are frequent, and friends 

 generally meet in a haphazard kind of way, which, perhaps, may 

 be best described as " loafing " into each other's rooms. In the 

 May term this " loafing " takes place round the grounds, and an 

 interesting study of shawls might be made from the windows over- 

 looking the lawn and tennis courts. The formal social duty of 

 calling on freshers is performed in this after-dinner hour, most of 

 the college business is transacted, meetings are held, and sub- 

 scriptions to the various societies paid. In the May term it is the 

 favorite hour for tennis, and in all three terms the fire-brigade has 

 a fortnightly practice immediately after "hall." Some of the 

 poorer specimens of Girtonians think this a little severe, as the 

 practice often includes a double-quick march from end to end of 

 the long corridors ; but the officers are inexorable, and catalogue 

 all who brave their scorn and fight shy of the brigade as " ill or 

 lazy." From half-past seven to nine are " silence hours " again,, 

 and then, or later in the evening, an hour or two's work is com- 



