50 



SCIENTIFIC NE\VS. 



[Jan. 20, i8 



of superintending the proceedings of the Judicial Com- 

 mittee of the Privy Council. What is wanted is a real 

 Minister of Education, presiding over an organisation in 

 which the Elementary Education Department, the Science 

 and Art Department, and the Departments of Secondary 

 (including Technical)and Higher Education, should all take 

 their appropriate places under officials responsible directly 

 to the Minister himself, and not to that mysterious bodj', 

 ■" My Lords." No attempt of Parliament to organise 

 technical instruction can be satisfactory unless it involves 

 the appointment of a responsible Minister of Education, 

 and a reconstruction of the whole Departmental policy. 



Gold Mining in Wales. — There is at present con- 

 siderable discussion concerning the gold-mining opera- 

 tions now being conducted by Mr. Pritchard-Morgan 

 at Gwynfynydd in Merionethshire. Some authori- 

 ties maintain that the gold in the Welsh quartz 

 lodes is " bunchy " or " pocketty," very rich deposits 

 occurring in an isolated manner amidst very poor stulf. 

 The reply is made to this that former explorers were, as 

 far as gold is concerned, mere amateurs, who did not 

 rightly understand how to follow up the indications of 

 the precious metal. The present operations on the con- 

 trary are directed by Australian and Californian experts. 

 It must, however, be admitted that much of the gold is 

 not disseminated in the free state among the quartz, and 

 capable of being extracted by the amalgamation process, 

 but exists in the " mineralised " form, complicated with 

 blende, sulphuret of antimonj', or other bodies. Hence, 

 without great care and skill much of it may go to waste. 



The Planetoids. — The minute planets which revolve 

 round the sun in orbits intermediate between those of 

 Mars and Jupiter furnish astronomers with abundant 

 matter for investigation. Some ten to twelve of these 

 bodies, hitherto unobserved, are detected every year. 

 Professor D. Kirkwood, of the University of Indiana, has 

 recently made a report on the elements of their orbits. 

 But he points out that, theoretically speaking, the total 

 number of these small heavenly bodies may amount to 

 72,000,000. In a second portion of the report the author 

 discusses the origin of the planetoids, the relations appa- 

 rent in their orbits, and their irregularity of distribution, 

 a region being left void where such bodies, if existing, 

 would have a period of rotation commensurate with that 

 of Jupiter. Professor Kirkwood suggests that some of 

 the periodic comets may have been originally planetoids. 

 All the thirteen comets whose periods correspond to 

 mean distances vj^ithin the planetoid zones have direct 

 motions and inclinations like those of the minor planets. 

 The periods of five of these comets, indeed, correspond 

 to some of the best-marked vacancies in the region of 

 the planetoids. 



The Bradford Proposals for Technical Educa- 

 tion. — The resolutions passed by the Council of the 

 Bradford Technical College, as given in our number for 

 January 6th (j>. 21), deserve very careful attention. 

 They are m.uch more reasonable and practical than the 

 proposals of certain indiscreet, if zealous, educationalists, 

 who wish to have all children educated alike in tech- 

 nical subjects. One of the most fatal errors in national 

 education is the attempt to stereotype the minds of the 

 people b}'' forcing one uniform course of training upon all 

 pupils, without reference to the special capacities of each 

 individual, and to the varying requirements of each dis- 

 trict. It is perfectly true that the improvement and de- 

 velopment of our manufactures can only be expected 

 from the technical training of youths of special ability, 

 and not from the technical education of children n 

 general. It is to be hoped that the Bradford resolutions 

 will be duly considered before any step is taken by 

 Government. 



Sm.\ll-Pox in Sheffield. — It is alleged that in 

 Sheffield the small-pox first appeared in March last, and 

 has since increased very regularly up to December, 

 when there were 800 cases. The death-rate in the town 

 from all causes has riot, however, been increased to the 

 degree which might have been expected. The highest 

 weekly death-rate recorded is 29-2 in the thousand. A 

 very creditable device in connection with the epidemic 

 has been adopted in nearly every manufactory in the 

 town. Every workman agrees to pay a certain sum to 

 a general fund, the proceeds serving to pay every one 

 who is either attacked with the disease, or is prevented 

 from going to work through having small-pox in his 

 house. This system works well, and prevents much 

 distress. The experience gained during the course of 

 the epidemic supports the view that vaccination in 

 infancy is an almost complete safeguard up to the age 

 of adolescence, when re-vaccination proves a preventive 

 for the remainder of life. 



A Gigantic Fossil Tortoise. —MM. Deperet and 

 Donnezan have discovered an enormous fossil tortoise, 

 Testiido perpiniana, in the middle pliocenes of Perpignon. 

 The carapace of the specimen measures four feet in 

 length by thirty-nine inches in breadth, exceeding any 

 fossil species hitherto discovered. 



Mean Temperatures. — M. Alexis de Tillo {Comptes 

 Rendus) shows that the mean yearly temperature of 

 Africa is 79'5° Fahr. ; that of South America, 73*4°; 

 that of Australia (including New Guinea), 73'i°; that of 

 the Indian Ocean, 68-7°; of the Pacific, 67'3°; of the 

 Atlantic, 62'6°; of Asia and Europe, 50"; and of North 

 America only 40 •4°. 



Expansion of Metals by Heat.-^R is not generally 

 known that even in the comparatively cool climate of 

 Britain the rails on railways have been known to expand 

 in consequence of the sun's heat to such an extent as to 

 become warped and twisted. An accident which occurred 

 near Wigan some years back was traced to this cause. 



