FOR GENERAL READERS. 



Vol. I. — No. 14. (New Series.) 



APRIL 6th, iS 



rWeekly, Price 3d. 

 L By Post, sm. 



PAGE 



Current Events 313 



Scientific Table Talk 314 



Electric Accumulators (jV/«j.) ■•• •■• 3'5 

 Microscopic Work for Young Entomo- 

 logists 316 



Fossilised Human Footprints in Nicara- 

 gua (zV/wj.) 317 



Chromatophores 318 



General Notes 319 



Tadpoles (j/Zaj.) ' 321 



Making Pig-iron with Gas 322 



Natural History : 



The Mastodon Giganteus (ilhis.) 353 



A Plague of Rats 324 



The Barking Frog ... ... 324 



Miscellaneous Notes 325 



Modern Photographic Engraving and 



Printing. — 1 325 



Iridescent Clouds 326 



C ONTENTS . 



PAGE 



Reviews : 



Astronomy for Amateurs 327 



Electrical Instrument-making for 

 Amateurs ... 327 



The Shell Collector's Handbook 

 for the Field 327 



Boys and Girls' Games — Recreation 

 Handbooks of Teachers and 

 Scholars 328 



Journal of the Franklin Institute 328 

 Rapid Methods of Preparing Lantern 



Slides 328 



Abstracts of Papers, Lectures, etc. : 



Royal Society 329 



Royal Meteorological Society ... 330 



Reading Literary and Scientific 

 Society ._ 331 



Society of Antiquaries of Scot- 

 land 331 



PAGE 



Hunslet Mechanics' Institute ... 332 

 Newcastle Foremen Engineers'and 



Draughtsmen's Association ... 332 

 Junior Engineering Society ... 332 

 Edinburgh Geological Society ... 332 

 Edinburgh Field Naturalists' So- 

 ciety 333 



Manchester Scientific Students' 



Association 333 



Correspondence : 



The Electric Action of Leaves — 

 Generalised Portraits — Heights of 



Waterfalls 333 



Recent Inventions 334 



Technical Education Notes 335 



Announcements ... ... ... 335 



Diary for Next Week 336 



Sales and Exchanges 336 



Selected Books 336 



CURRENT EVENTS. 



Science at Woolwich. — Sir Henry Roscoe did good 

 service by calling attention in the House of Commons to 

 the new regulations respecting the entrance examinations 

 for admission to the Royal Military Academy at Wool- 

 wich. Under these regulations the number of marks 

 allowed for experimental science is to be only 2,000, 

 whereas those for languages are to be 11,000. The 

 probable effect of this will be that the successful can- 

 didates will be those who have devoted themselves to 

 languages rather than to science, and yet it is admitted 

 that science should " hold the field " in the training after 

 admission. There is an evident inconsistency, but this 

 is by no means all. As Sir Lyon Playfair very truly 

 pointed out, the linguistic capacity of a man is a perfectly 

 different thing from his scientific capacity, and it is ob- 

 viously important that men should not be admitted who 

 by their entrance examination give insufficient evidence 

 of scientific knowledge or capacity. If, therefore, candi- 

 dates are admitted for proficiency in languages, how can 

 the examining authorities ascertain whether or not they 

 have the requisite scientific capacity ? 



The question is also a serious one as regards its effect 

 on the teaching of experimental science at public schools. 

 It is notorious that, as a rule, the head-masters of our schools 

 have no acquaintance with, and no liking for, science. If, 

 therefore, they know that candidates for Woolwich have a 

 greater chance of gaining admission with languages than 

 with science, it is only natural to suppose that they will 

 advocate the former rather than the latter. The effect 

 of this will be that the little progress made of late in the 

 school-teaching of science will receive an unmerited and 

 deplorable check. The high-class work at Woolwich has 



certainly done much to encourage the teaching of science 

 in our public schools, but, regarded as a pure matter of 

 business, if it be seen by the head-masters and students 

 that science " does not pay," it needs no great stretch of 

 imagination to see that preference will be given to what 

 are believed to be more " paying " subjects. In the in- 

 terest of the service and of all concerned, we sincerely 

 trust that steps will at once be taken to raise the number 

 of marks allowed for experimental science, and that no 

 discouragement will be given to scientific training in our 

 schools. 



Mr. Crogkes on Elements. — Mr. Crookes, as President 

 of the Chemical Society, delivered a very speculative and 

 somewhat metaphysical address at the annual meeting 

 of the Society, held last week. It is too abstruse and too 

 technical for general readers, but there are some points 

 to which we may venture to draw attention. That un- 

 defined but often quoted aggregation of beings, the 

 " ancients," were wont to believe that there were but 

 four elements — fire, air, earth, and water. Modern 

 science, however, already recognises some seventy 

 distinct elements, and at the present rate of discovery 

 there is every probability that this number will be 

 increased. Mr. Crookes, however, raises the question as • 

 to the constitution of the so-called elements, and instances 

 some which, he says, are not composed of ultimate atoms, 

 all identical and homogeneous. He is of opinion that the 

 ultimate atoms are in some respects heterogeneous, but 

 that at the same time they are more nearly like to each 

 other than they are to the atoms of any other approxi- 

 mate element. There are, in fact, according to Mr. 

 Crookes, elements and meta-elements. 



Doubtless there are cases in which the behaviour cf 



