SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Aug. 1st, iS 



gate a considerable number of the cases of persons inoculated 

 by him. A careful series of experiments, under Professor 

 Horsley's superintendence, was also instituted on the effects 

 of the inoculation on the lower animals. The inquiry seems 

 to have been conducted in a thorough and impartial manner, 

 and the report now issued is a valuable contribution to our 

 knowledge of the subject ; it is moreover satisfactory to find 

 that the committee are unanimous in the conclusions they 

 have arrived at. They are entirely in favour of M. Pasteur's 

 system, and this must be especially pleasing to the great 

 pathologist himself, as only lately some medical authorities 

 in Italy reported against it. We give elsewhere extracts 

 from the committee's report, which is alike creditable to the 

 discoverer of the treatment and to those who have investi- 

 gated it in so truly scientific a spirit, without a tinge of national 

 or professional jealousy. 



Technical Education in England. — We are gradually 

 awakening to the national importance of promoting technical 

 education, and active steps are now being taken in several 

 directions to give effect to the recommendations of Sir 

 Henry Roscoe and other competent authorities associated 

 with him, who have given the matter their careful attention. 

 At the same time we believe there are still many who have 

 a very inaccurate idea of what has already been done, and 

 who are consequently unable to give their best thought to 

 the difficult questions involved. Moreover, their sympathy 

 with the movement cannot be as full as it might be, were 

 they to see clearly that their own individual interests are 

 directly or indirectly involved. The end in view is a very 

 practical one indeed, neither more nor less than how best to 

 train our working classes to make the fittest use of the 

 materials they have to work with. Mere skill in handicraft 

 is not enough ; they must also understand the techmque of 

 the subject they are dealing with. Rule of thumb has had 

 its day, but will not suffice any longer ; there must now be 

 a more exact knowledge of cause and effect, and of the 

 principles underlying the processes to be worked out. 



The danger of such a movement as this is that it may 

 become too theoretical, too professorial, unless checked and 

 influenced by those who have actual trade experience of 

 the practical details to be considered. After all, the question 

 is an industrial one, and we want the shrewd sense of the 

 community brought to bear on it, as well as the teaching of 

 theoretical experts. If these forces are combined the ultimate 

 gains cannot fail to be real and great ; we therefore strongly 

 recommend manufacturers and others to make themselves 

 acquainted with the actual doings of the organisations already 

 at work. Not that we consider them by any means fault- 

 less, but those practically engaged in the arts and manufac- 

 tures will then be in a position to give welcome and helpful 

 advice to those who are directing the movement. We give 

 elsewhere a translation of a paper by Sir Philip Magnus, 

 which was read before the Industrial Section of the Interna- 

 tional Technical Education Congress held a short time since 



at Bordeaux. This gives a clear account of the growth 

 of Technical Education in this country, and as a state- 

 ment of facts, it will doubtless be welcome to many of 

 our readers. We may not agree with all that has been done, 

 and may be somewhat afraid of an abuse of the system of 

 " payment by results," and of giving too readily certificates 

 of proficiency ; but in general terms we cordially approve 

 the movement, and at this early stage are not disposed to 

 dwell unnecessarily upon details. 



Marine Biological Association. — The third annual 

 general meeting of this association was recently held in the 

 rooms of the Linnasan Society. The report for the past 

 year stated that the attention of the council had been chiefly 

 devoted to the superintendence andfitting upof the laboratory 

 at Plymouth, and to preparations for the work of the 

 association in connection with it. It is expected that the 

 laboratory will be ready for partial occupation in the present 

 summer; but the tanks and circulation of sea water cannot 

 be completed for some months to come. The council had 

 decided to issue to members of the association a journal, 

 which would serve not only for the circulation of the official 

 publications, but also as a means of inquiry and exchange 

 of information among those who are interested in marine 

 biology in its relation to the sea fisheries of the United 

 Kingdom. It is most important that there should be a first- 

 rate biological library in the Plymouth laboratory, and the 

 council trust that members and friends of the association 

 will assist in the formation of such a library by gifts of 

 books. The association is willing and anxious to co-operate 

 with individuals or associations in any part of the British 

 Islands who are engaged in the study of the natural history 

 of marine fishes, or in researches in marine biology. It is 

 fully the intention of the council to promote real scientific 

 research, and to discourage mere dilettante work, and their 

 efforts are deserving of cordial support. 



Agricultural Experiments. — Under the auspices of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society some useful field experiments 

 have been carried out at Woburn. The primary object of 

 these experiments, which were commenced in 1877, was to 

 test the accuracy of the estimated values of manure, ob- 

 tained by feeding the live stock on different kinds of pur- 

 chased foods. In order to test by actual farming experience 

 the correctness of the estimated values, sixteen acres of 

 light brown soil were devoted to rotation experiments. To 

 half the plots manure made from feeding on cotton cake 

 and maize meal respectively was applied, and on the other 

 half artificial equivalents of the manurial constituents of 

 each of these foods were used. For several years there was 

 practically no diftcrence in the results, and if only the manures 

 made by feeding with cotton cake and maize meal had been 

 applied, it might have been supposed that the chemists' 

 estimates of manurial values were entirely wrong ; but the 

 only possible conclusion was that the field was so much 

 enriched by previous manuring as to continue to yield its 



