FOR GENERAL READERS. 



Vol. I. — No. 7. {New Series.) 



FEBRUARY 17 th, iJ 



"Weekly, Price 3d. 

 _ By Post. S^d. 



•Current Events 



Scientific Table Talk 



Air Filter (/Z&j-.) 



Arsenic Eating 



Another Remarkable Meteorite 



Photography by Flash Light (illus.).. 



Contracted Handwriting 



Whistling Language ... 



Reclamation of Waste Lands .... 



General Notes 



-Automatic Temperature Regulator 

 (illus.) 



The Struggle for E.xistence ... 



Natural History : 



African Sheep (z7/?«.) 

 Extinction of the Bison ... 

 The Teredo and its Doings 



The Kola-Nut 



Society of Arts 



Aldershot Military Society 

 Manchester Microscopical Society 



Correspondence : 



Mean Velocity of the Wind— Cats 

 Destroying Frogs — Occurrence of 

 Rare Moths — Influence of Occupa- 

 tion on Heredity — Formation of 

 Hoar- Frost — Aurora Borealis and 

 Magnetic Perturbations — Instinc- 

 tive Fear — Will Men Ever Fly ? ... 



Recent Inventions 



Technical Education Notes 



Announcements 



Diary for Next Week 



Sales and Exchanges ... 



Books Received 



Notices ... ... ._ 



PAGE 

 164 

 164 



i6S 

 166 

 167 



167 



CURRENT EVENTS. 



Technical Education. — In pointing to the necessity 

 for technical education, Professor Huxley calls attention 

 to the fact that the present conditions of industrial life in 

 this country are very different to those which obtained 

 only a few years ago. Formerly the owner of a work- 

 shop had but few workmen, and his four or five appren- 

 tices were generally able to pick up odds and ends of 

 technical knowledge, besides being the privileged 

 recipients of the master's traditional trade secrets. Works 

 of this small magnitude have now made way for factories 

 where instead of five there are fifty, five hundred, and 

 even five thousand workmen, and it is no longer possible 

 for the master to give instruction as in former days. 

 Artisans must therefore look outside their workshop for 

 the teaching necessary to enable them to master the 

 principles of their craft, and for this the technical school 

 is needed — not of course instead of the workshop, but as 

 an adjunct to it. 



Technical education is also necessary because com- 

 petition is very keen, and because the successful deve- 

 Jopment of modern inventions demands an increasing 

 ■knowledge of the principles on which they depend. 

 As a general statement this almost goes without 

 saying, but at the same time from a practical point of 

 view, we quite agree with Professor Huxley that the 

 wants of a particular district can best be determined by 

 those who are actually engaged in the industries of that 

 district. Each district should be free to act as may be 

 best in its own interest, as each school is of local rather 

 than national importance. Bearing on this point, it will 



be remembered that among the useful resolutions pre- 

 sented by the Bradford Technical College to the Vice- 

 President of the Council on Education was one to the 

 effect that technical schools should be established in the 

 centres of the different manufacturing industries, with 

 special reference to the industry or industries of the 

 locality. 



Sanitary Work in London. — A correspondent of 

 the Times gives an interesting summary of the work 

 done during the past year by the Mansion House Council 

 on the Dwellings of the People. From this it appears 

 that the Council has succeeded in doing much in the way 

 of remedying insanitary conditions in almost every dis- 

 trict in the Metropolis, by means of its voluntary workers 

 and only two paid inspectors. Over 3,500 cases have 

 been dealt with from the central office alone, quite apart 

 from the work done by the local committees. Sanitary 

 knowledge has been propagated by means of free public 

 lectures, and by the distribution of literature on the 

 subject. There is no disguising the fact that the vis 

 inertia of Bumbledom is great indeed. Local authorities 

 are either ignorant or indifferent, if not prejudiced and 

 actively obstructive. The Council have therefore adopted 

 the policy of teaching and persuading the ratepayers to 

 take a greater interest in the matter, and by so doing 

 they hope in time to secure the election of fitter men for 

 the vestries and district boards. In the meantime it is 

 satisfactory to know that in many cases the mere dread 

 of public exposure is sufficient to insure attention to the 

 inspector's complaints. It is uphill work, no doubt, but 

 if the result is slow it is sure, and the Council and its 



