April 15, 1887.J 



8GIE]SrCE. 



355 



own. The government of Greece has shown such 

 warm interest in our enterprise, that a vahiable 

 piece of land on the slope of Mount Lycabettus, 

 containing an acre and a half, has been granted to 

 the school by a royal edict, issued July 35, 1886, 

 and signed by seven ministers of state." 



This generosity of the Greek government has 

 already been so well seconded by friends of the 

 school in America, that suflScient funds are al- 

 ready in hand to erect and furnish a suitable 

 home for the school, which will he ready for oc- 

 cupation in October. To place the enterprise in a 

 position to attain the greatest possible usefulness, 

 an endowment of at least a hundred thousand dol- 

 lars ought to be secured. Plenty of work lies be- 

 fore the school. Prof. Martin L. D'Ooge of the 

 University of Michigan, the director for 1886-87, 

 writes that the French government is not likely to 

 accept the offer, made by the Greek authorities, 

 of the privilege of making excavations at Delphi, 

 and in that event the chance will be offered to the 

 Americans. 



We may fitly end this brief account of the 

 American school at Athens with the glowing 

 words of Professor Goodwin himself upon this 

 very subject : " The Archeological society of 

 Athens has disclosed a wealth of ancient temples 

 near Epidaurus, — among others, the beautiful 

 round building erected by Polycletus, and the 

 theatre, also his work ; and the same society has 

 opened to the day the foundations and the pave- 

 ment of the great sanctuary of Eleusis. the home 

 of the Eleusinian mysteries, which offers more 

 problems to architects and archeologists than will 

 soon be answered. Every part of Greece is full of 

 j)lans for new excavations, which mei-ely need 

 money to be carried out with substantial results. 

 The ruins of Delphi, with their countless buried 

 temples, which peer imploringly from the scanty 

 earth, as if beseeching the traveller to restore them 

 to the light of the sun, lie at this moment waiting 

 only for some power to decide who shall excavate 

 them ; and happy will be the scholars who are 

 fortunate enough to be in Greece when the solemn 

 silence of that wonderful valley of Delphi is first 

 broken by the pickaxe and the spade." 



John S. White. 



LONDON LETTER. 



That the people of England are at last begin- 

 ning to realize the immense importance of tech- 

 nical education is evident from two facts, — first, 

 that scarcely a week passes without prominence 

 being given by the press to utterances on the sub- 

 ject by public men ; and, second, that pressure is 

 being put on the government to extend such in- 



struction. A few days ago Lord Hartington dis- 

 tributed the prizes at the Polytechnic young men's 

 Christian institute, an organization in the west of 

 London which numbers seven thousand students 

 in technical subjects ; and his speech, in which 

 he quoted Professor Huxley, was widely circu- 

 lated and favorably commented upon. During 

 the present week a \ery influential deputation 

 was received at the education department, which 

 strongly urged the provision of manual training 

 in all elementary schools, as a preparation for 

 technical instruction later. It was pointed out 

 that a very slight modification of existing organi- 

 zations would enable this to be done at a small 

 expense. The reply of the government, though 

 sympathetic, was to the effect that parliament 

 had not yet pronounced an opinion on the sub- 

 ject. 



On the evening of March 16 a very well arranged 

 and largely attended conversazione was held at the 

 Central institution of the city and guilds of Lon- 

 don, for the advancement of technical education. 

 Demonstrations were given during the evening 

 by members of the staff, notably by Professor 

 Unwin, F.R.S,, with the 100-ton testing-machine. 

 The apparatus and methods of instruction em- 

 ployed were on view in the different laboratories, 

 and interesting exhibits, lent for the occasion, 

 were also displayed. Two concerts added to the 

 enjoyment of the fifteen hundred guests ; but it 

 was rather unkind to allot, as a ladies' cloak- 

 room, a room on the door of which was inscribed, 

 ' Chemical preparation room.' 



Lecturing a few nights ago to a crowded audi- 

 ence at the Royal institution, on ' Mental differ- 

 ences in men and women,' Dr. Romanes remarked 

 that the average woman's brain weighed five 

 ounces less than the average man's, and that the 

 inferiority of women displayed itself in the ab- 

 sence of originality in the higher levels of intel- 

 lectual work. In powers of acquisition, women 

 stood nearer to men, and indeed often surpassed 

 them at an early age. 



On Tuesday, March 15, a most unusual meteor- 

 ological state of things prevailed in London, 

 which was at the time under the influence of the 

 calm weather between two systems of depression. 

 Snow fell to the depth of a foot or more, — and it 

 did not disappear for more than a week. — and 

 simultaneously a high fog occurred, literally caus- 

 ing midnight at noon and for some hours after, 

 although the lower strata of air were fairly clear, 

 and devoid of mist. In consequence of the un- 

 expected sudden consumption of gas, the supply 

 thereof ran short, and in many places grave 

 inconvenience and danger resulted. 



M. Her mite's process of the electrolytic bleach- 



