548 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 227 



ducement for teachers to attend the meeting. 

 Perhaps the most valuable feature of the session 

 will be the papers on industrial education, by 

 President Walker of the Massachusetts institute of 

 technology, and by Prof. Felix Adler of New 

 York City, together with the discussions that will 

 follow. But the smallest benefit to be derived 

 from a meeting of this sort is that which comes 

 from listening to papers and discussions. There 

 is the stimulus that comes from seeing and meet- 

 ing fellow-teachers from all parts of the country, 

 from feeling the sense of professional co-opera- 

 tion. It is this which the teachers of the country 

 most need at present, and it is this which they 

 must have before their profession can occupy the 

 place in the public mind that rightfully belongs 

 to it. It is because of the part that the meeting 

 of the National association plays in bringing about 

 this feeling, that it is chiefly to be commended. 



The subject of the professional training of 

 teachers is one which will bear all the discussion 

 it can get, and Col. Francis W. Parker of Cook 

 county Normal school, Illinois, Prof. Nelson B. 

 Henry of the University of North Carolina, and 

 Principal William M. Giffin of Newark (N.J.), 

 are peculiarly qualified to write on it. To the 

 student of education, to whom the necessity for 

 such training is so imperative, further argument 

 in its favor may seem useless ; but it is surprising 

 how little below the surface these arguments have 

 as yet penetrated. In spite of all that has been 

 so ably said and written on the subject, school 

 boards continue to appoint untrained and incom- 

 petent persons to teachers' positions, and untrained 

 persons continue to apply for positions Avhich are 

 as far beyond their capacity as those of a skilled 

 draughtsman or electrician would be to any one 

 ignorant of drawing or electricity. It is for this 

 reason that the point must be unceasingly pre- 

 sented to the pu.blic. It must be admitted, too, 

 that the normal schools are not in a true sense 

 professional schools. They combine a large meas- 

 ure of general education with a moderate allow- 

 ance of professional training. What we want is 

 an institution or institutions that shall be as truly 

 professional as the Harvard medical school or the 

 Columbia law school. If the college to be opened 

 in the autumn in this city by the Industrial edu- 

 cation association shall occupy this place, it will 

 contribute largely to put teaching upon a truly 

 professional and scientific basis. 



By the death of Prof. Thomas Spencer Baynes, 

 which was announced a few days since, the liter- 

 ary and scientific world is deprived of an influen- 

 tial and valuable worker. Professor Baynes's 

 work is not as well known in this country as it 

 ought to be, for the reason that much of his criti- 

 cal thought found expression only in articles and 

 papers published in British magazines or in the 

 proceedings of various associations. Professor 

 Baynes was born in England, not in Scotland as 

 it is sometimes supposed, at Wellington, Somer- 

 setshire, on March 24, 1823. He received his early 

 education at the schools of Bath and Bristol, and 

 then went to the University of Edinburgh. He 

 sat at the feet of Sir William Hamilton, and un- 

 doubtedly received great mental stimulus from 

 Hamilton's teaching. After taking his degree he 

 became Hamilton's assistant. From 1857 to 1863 

 he was examiner in philosophy at the University 

 of London, and was also connected with the Lon- 

 don Daily news, to which he contributed many 

 articles on the American war of the rebellion. 

 In 1864 Mr. Baynes was chosen to fill the chair of 

 logic and metaphysics at St. Andrews. In 1851 

 he had published his popular translation of the 

 ' Port Eoyal logic,' which has gone through seven 

 editions. In 1852 appeared his ' New analytic of 

 logical forms,' being a prize essay on Hamilton's 

 logical system, and the best exj)osition of it that 

 we have. In 1874 Professor Baynes received the 

 degree of LL.D. from the University of Edin- 

 burgh, and about that time undertook the prepa- 

 ration of the ninth edition of the ' Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica.' Prof. Robertson Smith has since 

 been associated with him as editor. Professor 

 Baynes's most important contribution to the ' En- 

 cyclopaedia ' is the article on Shakspeare, which 

 was published in the volume lately issued. 



DISTILLERY-MILK REPORT.— L 



In seeking for information on the use of dis- 

 tillery swill, and its effect on the milk produced 

 by cows to which it was fed, the results were so 

 meagre, thtit Science determined to undertake an 

 inquiry into the subject for itself. With this ob- 

 ject in view, the following letter was prepared, 

 and sent to the health ofiicers of all the principal 

 cities, and to the most prominent sanitarians, in 

 the United States and Canada : — 



Inasmuch as there appears to be a diff'erence of 

 opinion among sanitarians as to the wholesome- 

 ness of distillery waste, or distillery swill, as food 



