Oct. 1st, 18S7.] 



SCIENTIFIC NE^VS. 



of a locomotive engine depends on its compactness and perfection 

 of workmanship, so as to fit it, among other things, to use steam 

 at a high pressure. AH this involves an amount of accuracy 

 which can only be secured by the admirable machine tools with 

 which we are now so familiar. Besides accuracy of execution 

 the workmanship of our own time has the further advantage of 

 economy. I remember hearing from my father that the iron 

 work of the engine erected by Boulton and Watt, at Walker, 

 was charged 2s. 6d. per lb., equal therefore to ^285 per ton ; 

 and for this high price the fittings were of the rudest descrip- 

 tion ; rattling, when the machinery was at work, as if it might 

 tumble to pieces at any moment. For about one-fifth of this 

 rate we can now purchase a locomotive engine with a fire-bo.x of 

 copper, and almost all its other p.irts of steel, built, and much 

 of it polished with all the care necessary for forming part of a 

 delicate instrument intended for philosophical research. 



While a net-work of railways was gradually being extended 

 over the face of the United Kingdom, the Continent of Europe 

 was following the example we had set. The result, as we all 

 know, has been, that travelling, or land transport of any kind, is 

 now rarely performed in the manner which was all but universal 

 50 years ago. To no nation however has the railway rendered 

 greater service than to the United .States of America. It is true 

 nature has furnished their vast extent of territory with large 

 means of water communication ; but enormous as is the volume 

 of such a river as drains the Valley of the Mississippi, by far the 

 greater portion of its area, extending over one and a half million 

 square miles, is inaccessible either by the main stream or its 

 tributaries. This want, and others of a similar kind elsewhere, 

 are being constantly lessened by the construction of hundreds, it 

 may in truth be said of thousands, of miles of railways on the 

 American Continent. 



In our own country, as well as on the mainland of Europe, in 

 America, and now in Asia, the locomotive is bringing down the 

 produce of the interior to the sea coast, ready to be carried over 

 sea for the use of other populations. It is therefore not to be 

 wondered at that steam was looked to as a means of rendering 

 the same service on the ocean that it had afforded on the land. 

 I deemed it needless to say, in the case of railways, that there 

 were those who, ignorant of the quantity of heat capable of being 

 afforded by a given weight of coal, or unaware of the mechanical 

 duty it represented, would have disbelieved the statement that 

 30 lbs. of coal was able to drag a train weighing 300 or 400 tons 

 one mile at the rate of 50 miles an hour or more. To such the 

 success of the locomotive was for a long time a matter of doubt, 

 and with them an opinion of Dr. Lardner in reference to trans- 

 atlantic steam navigation probably had great weight. On the 

 authority of this professor of physical science, the world was 

 informed that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to construct 

 a ship able to carry enough coal to be propelled bj' steam power 

 across the Atlantic. It is true when Dr. Lardner propounded 

 this doctrine. Joule had not ascertained the mechanical equiva- 

 lent of heat ; but in the absence of any knowledge of the value 

 of this essential factor in the calculation, it was premature to 

 found an estimate upon the performance of an engine constructed 

 for using heat itself as a moving power. 



Before entering upon the few details which it is proposed to 

 submit upon shipping, I would remind you of its extent to-day 

 as compared with what it was 50 years ago. At the last- 

 mentioned date the tonnage sailing under the British flag may 

 be taken at 750,000 tons, of which a little above 50,000 tons 

 consisted of steamers. By the end of 18S5 this country possessed 

 3,456,562 tons of sailing ships and 3,973,483 tons of steam vessels, 

 together 7,430,045 tons. Inasmuch however as a ship pro- 

 pelled by steam is calculated to make 3^ times as many voyages 

 as one propelled by wind, the actual carrying power of our mer- 

 cantile fleet may be regarded as being now twenty times that 

 which it was half a century ago ; and that four-fifths of its work 

 is now being performed by the assistance of the produce of our 

 collieries. It will always be a satisfaction to the people of 

 Newcastle, that the credit of proving the superiority of steam 

 vessels for carrying cargoes belongs to their townsman Sir 

 Charles M. Palmer. This he did some 35 years ago by building 

 the ",John Bowes," which, notwithstanding her age, continues to 

 perform excellent service. The enormous increase of traffic across 

 the ocean implied in the figures just given, is, as I shall hereafter 

 have occasion to show, in a great measure, -a direct consequence 

 of the improved mode afforded by railways, of dealing with the 

 traffic on land. ( To he continued.) 



MANUAL TRAINING : A MAIN FEATURE IN NATIONAL 

 EDUCATION. 



alsstract of a paper read at the meeting of the british 

 Association by Mr. W. Mather, M.Inst.C.E. 



THE question of remodelling the methods of Education is 

 now engaging the attention of Governments and leading 

 men in all civilised countries. With one consent, the civilised 

 nations have arrived at the conviction that " knowledge is 

 power." A compact population, inexhaustible resources, 

 accumulated wealth, settled political relations, good climate, and 

 fertile land — these and other like advantages no longer inspire 

 complete confidence in countries where they exist, for evidence 

 multiplies on every hand that the chief factor in a nation's pros- 

 perity is not the bounty of Nature, but the human intelligence 

 whereby its blessings may be utilised. The British Association, 

 through the addresses of its Presidents, has more than once 

 proclaimed this truth to the world, notably by Sir Lyon Playfair, 

 at Aberdeen, and a few days ago by its newly-elected president, 

 Sir Henry Roscoe. The former told us that in the future, not- 

 withstanding all our matchless resources, the " competition of 

 the world would be the competition of intellect " ; the latter 

 implies the same truth in expressing the apprehension " that 

 the English people do not possess, as yet, the value of science 

 so characteristic of some other nations.' Nations cannot adopt 

 systems and methods precisely alike. The English-speaking 

 people will naturally adopt methods differing from the German, 

 French, or Italian ; and probably America and our Colonies will 

 afford to us, and we to them, the chief fields of experience by 

 which we may learn the best methods of instruction. The Ger- 

 man Empire enjoys at present the most comprehensive plan, 

 especially noteworthy for the commercial and scientific training 

 available for the youth of every class. Apart altogether from 

 the schools of general education, there are about 250 institutions 

 giving scientific and technical instruction in special branches of 

 industry, and handicraft or trade schools. The results are not 

 commensurate with the time spent at the schools, or with the 

 money expended in establishing and maintaining them so far as 

 practical knowledge or constructive ability are concerned in the 

 meehanical trades. In the chemical industries the results are, 

 however, eminently satisfactory, and the commercial training of 

 the schools is especially practical and valuable. We can learn 

 from Germany, therefore, what to emulate and what to avoid. 

 There are now many schemes suggested, and others have been 

 already started, in England for technical instruction. None of 

 them will be of much avail for our working class as a whole, 

 but all may become of great value for the sons of emjjloyers, 

 managers, foremen, and others who have the requisite means 

 and abilities to pursue a scientific and technological training 

 systematically before entering the workshops and manufactories. 

 Such schools of technical instruction will also be of great service 

 in the training of teachers for the Public Elementary Schools. 

 It is believed by many who, like myself, are employers of labour, 

 and who come into close relations with the children of the 

 working classes as they pass from school to work, that the 

 present methods of teaching do not meet the wants of the 

 nation, or do justice to the children who are compelled 

 to attend our Public Elementary Schools. Since the pass- 

 ing of the Education Act of 1870, many changes and im- 

 provements have been made in the Education Code ; but 

 the traditional principle of teaching has not been re- 

 formed. Memory, rather than the whole mind, is appealed 

 to ; names, dates, events, grammar, rhetoric, and literature 

 engage an unreasonable share of the school time. The natural 

 sciences, recently introduced into our school courses in the 

 higher grades as special subjects, still hold a secondary place 

 in the order of studies ; oral teaching and text books more than 

 experimental work and illustrations are employed in these 

 branches, and too little time allowed for the mental digestion 

 and assimilation of scientific truths. In class subjects, it has 

 long been acknowledged that "object lessons " and pictorial 

 illustrations greatly facilitate the efforts of teachers, and aid the 

 comprehension of children, although in these cases the faculty of 

 observation alone is exercised. How much greater, then, would 

 be the benefit to teacher and pupil if to observation were added the 

 exercise of the faculty of execution and production in order that the 

 conception of a truth or fact in the mind should eventuate in the 

 creation of an object with the hands embodying such truth or 



