Feb. 17, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NE^A^S. 



167 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION NOTES. 



Agriculture. — Prolessor Wallace, of Edinburgh Univer- 

 sity, has issued a proposal for the development of agricul- 

 tural education in Scotland. He urges the increasing of 

 educational institutions rather than the establishment of 

 experimental farms. 



Carpentry Exhibition. — The Carpenters' Company and 

 the Joiners' Company propose jointly to hold an exhibition of 

 models, drawings, and specimens of works in wood, within 

 the respective trades designated by their titles, at Carpenters' 

 Hall in May and June next. The first division consists of 

 constructive carpentry, in which skill in obtaining the greatest 

 amount of strength at the smallest expenditure of material 

 and labour is the object aimed at. The various classes in- 

 clude roofs, bridges, floors, beams, centring, scaffolding, etc. 

 The seconcl division is that of ornamental and constructive 

 carpentry, in which architectural or picturesque effect, com- 

 bined with strength and efficiency, is the aim. The other 

 divisions are joinery and wood-carving, all in hand work. 



Trade Schools and Technical Schools. — Professor 

 Garnett, writing in the Contempo7-ary Review for November 

 last, points out a distinction between trade schools and 

 technical schools which deserves to be kept steadily in view. 

 He says : — " In a trade school students learn precisely what 

 they would in a workshop. The technical school is intended 

 not to take the place of the workshop, but to supplement its 

 teachings. In the workshop the apprentice is taught to 

 imitate ; in the technical school he should be taught to think. 

 In the workshop he performs the same operation repeatedly 

 and under the same conditions until he acquires manual 

 dexterity. In the technical school, if he repeat an operation, 

 he varies the conditions so as to acquire practical knowledge 

 and be prepared for any emergency that may arise." 



The Telegraphists' School of Science. — We learn 

 from the Electrical Review that this school, which was estab- 

 lished twelve years ago by Mr. W. Slingo, at the Central 

 Telegraph Office, is in a very satisfactory condition, and 

 is doing excellent work. The practical laboratory and work- 

 shop classes have been well attended. The workshop, being 

 available at all times, allows students to make profitable use 

 of the odd hours intervening between the expiration of official 

 duties and the beginning of the lectures. The course of in- 

 struction is : — Monday, 6 to 8 p.m., workshop practice ; 8 to 

 9 p.m., magnetism and electricity; 9 to 10 p.m., technical 

 telegraphy. Wednesday, 6 to 7 p.m., magnetism and elec- 

 tricity ; 7 to 8 p.m., technical telegraphy; 8 to 9 p.m., ad- 

 vanced electricity and laboratory practice. Friday, 6 to 8 p.m., 

 workshop practice ; 6 to 7 p.m., elementary laboratory prac- 

 tice ; 7 to 8 p.m., advanced mathematics ; 7 to 9 p.m., elemen- 

 tary mathematics. 



— •>-i»t^^''S^ — 



ANNOUNCEMENTS. 



Geographical Society of France. — The celebration of 

 the La Perouse Centenary has been postponed till the 28th of 

 April. 



The Melbourne Exhibition. — In view of the importance 

 attached to the representation of Lancashire industries it 

 has been resolved to erect a special building for their accom- 

 modation, covering a space of 100,000 square feet. 



Mining Association and Institute of Cornwall. — In 

 connection with this institution it is proposed to establish a 

 museum of mineralog)', of a purely practical and educational 

 character, to illustrate the geological structure of the im- 

 portant mining districts of Cornwall. 



Bristol Engineering Society. — At a recent meeting of 

 the Engineering Society, the officers for the ensuing term 

 were elected as follows : — President, Professor Ryan, M.A., 

 D. Sc. M. Inst. M.E.; Hon. Vice-President, D. C. Selman ; 

 Vice-President, John P. Littleton ; Secretary and Treasurer, 



A. J. Ward ; Librarian, C. P. Banham ; Committee, Messrs. 

 Dix, Fonseca, Pinto, Ames, Shepherd, and Bruce. 



Society of Engineers. — The first ordinary meeting of 

 the Society of Engineers in the present year, was held on Mon- 

 day evening, February 6th. The " Bessemer Premium " was 

 given to Mr. Edmund Olander for his Paper on " Bridge 

 Floors " ; the " President's Premium " to Mr. R. M. Ban- 

 croft for his Paper on the "Renewal of King's Cross Roof; " 

 a Society's Premium was also presented to Mr. E. C. Thrupp 

 for his Paper on " A new Formula for the Flow of Water ; " 

 and a Premium awarded to Mr. R. J. Hutton for his Paper on 

 the " Stability of Chimney Shafts." 



Netley Army Medical School. — The fifty-fifth session of 

 this school was brought to a close on the 2nd inst., when Mr. 

 G. D. Pollock, of St. George's Hospital, distributed the prizes. 

 All the students for the Indian service gained commissions. 

 Mr. A. E. Roberts gained the Martin Memorial Gold Medal 

 and the prize in clinical medicine presented by Surgeon- 

 General W. C. Maclean, C.B. Mr. D. M. Davidson gained 

 the Herbert Prize of ^20, the Montefiore Medal and Prize of 

 20 guineas, with tlie Parkes Memorial Bronze Medal. Mr. J. 

 Holt gained the prize in pathology presented by Sir Thomas 

 Crawford, K.C.B., and Mr. T. B. Maynard gained the 

 Montefiore second prize. 



Paris Exhibition, 1S89. — The French Minister of Com- 

 merce and Industry has appointed a committee to preside over 

 Section I. of Technological History. M. de Roziere is the 

 President of the Committee, and M. P. Topinard, editor of 

 the Revue d' Anthropologic, the Acting Secretary. This 

 section will deal with physical or technical anthropology, pre- 

 historic archeeology, and ethnography ; four other sections 

 will represent the liberal arts, arts and trades, means of 

 transport, and military science. The home of this depart- 

 ment will be in the Palais des Arts Liberaux. The secretary 

 of the first section appeals to anthropologists for contributions 

 to illustrate racial types. 



Geologists' Association. — At the annual general meeting, 

 held on the 3rd inst., the election of officers resulted in the 

 following being appointed : — President, Mr. F. W. Rudler ; 

 Vice-Presidents, The Rev. Professor T. G. Bonney, Dr. 

 Hicks, Professor F. Meldola, and Mr. W. Topley ; Treasurer, 

 Mr. J. Hopkinson ; Secretaries, Mr. J. Foulerton and Mr. B. 



B. Woodward ; Editor, Professor G. J. Boulger ; Librarian, 

 Mr. J. Bradford ; Members of Council, the Rev. E. S. 

 Dewick, Mr H. H. French, Mr. W. B. Gibbs, Mr. T. V. 

 Holmes, Mr. W. H. Hudleston, Mr. J. L. Lobley, Mr. J. Love, 

 Colonel C. H. M'Mahon, Mr. S. H. Needham, Mr. E. T. New- 

 ton, Mr. T. y- H. Teall, and Mr. A. S. Woodward. 



Researches in Natural History. — The Committee oi 

 Schnyder of Wartensee's Foundation, Zurich, have decided to 

 offer for the year 1890, a prize for a research on the following 

 subjects : " New investigations regarding the relation which 

 the formation of the bones bears to the statics and mechanics 

 of the vertebrate skeleton. The results of the investigations 

 as a whole to be demonstrated in detail, by way of example, 

 on the skeleton of a definite species." 'fhe conditions are 

 as follows : Competitors for the prize must send in their work 

 in German, French, or English, by September 30, 1890, at the 

 latest, to the following address : An das Prasidium des Con- 

 ventes der Stadtbibliothek in Zurich (betreffend Preisaufgabe 

 der Stiftung von Schnyder von Wartensee fur 1890)." The 

 award will be made by a Committee consisting of the following 

 gentlemen : Prof. Hermann von Meyer, Zurich ; Prof. L. 

 Rutimeyer, Basle ; Prof H. Strasser, Berne ; Prof Otto Mohr, 

 Dresden ; and Prof. Albert Heim, of Zurich, representing the 

 Committee offering the prize, who are authorised to 

 award a first prize of two thousand francs. A further sum 

 of one thousand francs is placed at their disposal for distri- 

 bution in minor prizes according to their discretion. The 

 work awarded the first prize to be the property of the Foun- 

 dation of Schnyder of Wartensee. Each competing work 

 must bear on the title page a distinguishing motto, and must 

 be accompanied by a sealed envelope containing the name 

 of the author, and bearing on the outside the same motto. 



