March 18, 1887.] 



8CIENCF. 



277 



having, in all, 5,307 teachers and 127,138 students, 

 were i urely Arabic ; 93 schools, with 416 teachers 

 and 8,961 pupils, were sustained by the various 

 foreign colonies and religious communities ; the 

 remainder being under governmental control. 

 Statistics since 1875 are in great part not obtaina- 

 ble ; but it may be safely said, that, during the 

 past twelve years, almost no change has taken 

 place in the Arabic schools, while the other two 

 classes have made great progress. 



The native education is, for practical purposes, 

 valueless, as it consists in mere memorizing, the 

 other faculties being entirely neglected, of which 

 the outcome is a mechanical acquaintance w^ith a 

 list of facts ; and even that is lost when the for- 

 mulaic order is destroyed. At almost every street- 

 corner in the cities, behind a fountain, is a native 

 school, presided over by a sheikh, avIjo instructs 

 from ten to one hundred boys in committing the 

 Koran to memory. In 1875 these schools were 

 attended by 112,000 children. The instruction 

 consists in repeating over and over again a single 

 verse, until the pupil has learned it. The dron- 

 ing of the children is always accompanied v\ith a 

 swinging motion of the body, which is supposed 

 to facilitate the mental effort. 



The university course is much the same as that 

 of the elementary schools, the Koran being the 

 centre and end of all instruction. At Cairo is the 

 University El Azhar, the most celebrated strong- 

 hold of Mohammedan doctrine. Its students 

 number seven or ei^ht thousand, and come from 

 all Mohammedan countries. The studies are the 

 memorizing of the Koran and of the commen- 

 taries, grammar, language, and law (but only so 

 far as they are interwoven with the faith), and a 

 smattering of Aristotelian philosophy. No time 

 is devoted to mathematics ; history and geography 

 are despised, and every foreign language is rig- 

 orously excluded as dangerous to the religion of 

 the faithful. Students sometimes spend a num- 

 ber of years at the school, and at the end of the 

 time are fitted for nothing more than to become 

 caliphs or teachers of Arabic in foreign schools, 

 at a salary of one or two pounds a month. 



The schools managed by foreigners, especially 

 those of the American and English missions, are 

 Eui'opean in organization, and are accomplishing 

 some excellent results. In them much time is 

 devoted to the study of English and French, a 

 knowledge of which is of increasing value and 

 importance in Egypt. These schools are attended 

 by pupils of all nationalities and religions, and 

 many of them are open to both sexes. 



Government supervision of schools has existed 

 for forty years : but until lately the system was 

 overrun with abuses, and barren of results. Dur- 



ing the last two years a new regime has been en- 

 tered upon, and the government schools now offer 

 excellent advantages. They are of three classes,— 

 primary, preparatory, and higher special schools. 

 The primary schools, for children from eight to 

 twelve years of age, throughout the four-years' 

 course give instruction in the Koran, Arabic lan- 

 guage and penmanship, arithmetic, and object- 

 lessons of the kindergarten character. To these 

 studies are added, after the hrst year, drawing and 

 the geography of the Ottoman empire ; after the 

 second year, French, Enghsh, geometry, and 

 Egyptian history. Under the head of civilite et 

 education, the pupils are taught the principles of 

 pohteness, cleanliness, moral habits, and so forth. 

 The object-lessons give elementary instruction in 

 physics, mechanics, and in various industries. 

 The preparatory schools continue the same courses, 

 adding, in the first year, physics, chemistry, 

 natural history, algebra, and moral philosophy. 

 The. results obtained from these schools is encour- 

 aging, though the incompt fence of Arab teachers 

 to adopt modern methods is a great drawback. 

 A ministerial decree of 1886 foimded a normal 

 school at Cairo "to train professors for the schools 

 of Egypt, and to popularize good methods of in- 

 struction." In the normal school the course of 

 three years is a continuance of those of the two 

 lower grades of schools, with the addition of in- 

 struction in hygiene, psychology, pedagogy, and 

 gymnastics. Small scholarships are offered to the 

 most deserving students. 



Among the other special courses are schools of 

 medicine and law, two good schools of technology, 

 and a school of languages. Much good work is 

 being done, especially in the departments of mod- 

 ern languages, a knowledge of which is necessary 

 to obtain a government position. Much remains 

 to be done, but the energetic efforts of the gov- 

 ernment have fixed a standard of thoroughness in 

 education which must soon result in a higher de- 

 gree of intelligence and less of mechanical knowl- 

 edge among the people. R. Arrowsmith. 



DOES EDUCATION DIMINISH INDUSTRY? 



The London Spectator, at once the most serious 

 and dignified of papers, recently published an 

 article of which the above is the title, which took 

 for the subject of its comments the plan now 

 being advocated in England for introducing work- 

 shops into the national schools. As the same 

 plan is coming into prominence in this country, 

 the Spectator's remarks will interest our readers. 

 The writer in question says that many critics of 

 the present system of primary instruction in Eng- 

 land fear that it will breed up a generation with a 



