^dmiiit 



FOR GENERAL READERS. 



Vol. I. — No. 19. (New Series.) 



FRIDAY, MAY nth, iS 



rWeekly, Price 8d. 

 L By Post. Sjd. 



PAGE 



Current Events 433 



Scientific Table Talk 434 



The Sturtevant Crushing and Grinding 



Mill {i//us.) 435 



Lightning (illus.') 437 



Boulders in Coal Seams 438 



General Notes ... ... ... ... 439 



Reeling's Sewer-Gas Destructor (zV.'mj.) 441 



Marine Explorations in the Adriatic . . . 442 

 Natural History : 



Poisonous Fishes — I. : The Weever 



(illus.) 443 



The Eyra Cat 444 



Miscellaneous Note.' 444 



C ONTENT S. 



Crow Roosts and Crow Roosting ... 

 Work for Naturalists' Clubs — I. 

 Reviews ; 



Researches on Diamagnetism and 

 Magne-crystallic Action 



Science Sketches 



Turning Lathes ... 



Notes on Meteorities 



Abstracts of Papers, Lectures, etc. : 



Geological Society 



Royal Horticultural Society 



Royal Scottish Society of Arts ... 



South London Entomological 

 and Natural History Society ... 



PAGE 



445 



448 



449 

 450 



451 



451 



Royal Botanic Society 



Foraminifera — HL 



Correspondence : 



Tuberculosis from the use of 

 Milk — Rests- for Amphibia 

 in Aquaria — The New Shell- 

 Collectors' Handbook 



Recent Inventions 



Technical Education Notes 



Announcements 



Diary for Next Week ... 



Sales and Exchanges ... 



.Selected Books... 



Meteorological Returns 



PAGE 

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45* 

 453 

 454 

 455 

 455 

 456 

 456 

 456 



CURRENT EVENTS. 



Drawing as a Means of Education. — Last week 

 Mr. T. R. Ablett read a very interesting and suggestive 

 paper on the above subject, at the Society of Arts. We 

 are all famihar with the teaching of drawing for artistic 

 purposes, but comparatively little attention has been 

 given to the subject as a means of education. In some 

 schools it is even classed with dancing and such like 

 " extras." Drawing has been for the few rather than 

 the many, and, as the lecturer pointed out, the methods of 

 teachers are usually directed to pupils who have a natural 

 aptitude for the work. As to the intrinsic value of 

 drawing, it may be said to be the language of architects 

 and engineers, and it is of great importance to military 

 and naval men, to designers and scientific men, and 

 many others. But apart from such persons who require 

 drawing for technical or trade purposes, we have to 

 consider its educational effect and the benefits it confers 

 on all who learn it. 



As Mr. Ablett remarked, too much must not be 

 expected from the average pupil, and although many are 

 wanting in manipulative power, they have intelligence 

 and can learn to draw in a way useful to themselves, and 

 this aids the development of their faculties. At the same 

 time the teacher must be satisfied if the pupil works up 

 to the limit of his or her capacity. No one, of course, 

 should be careless, but manipulative excellence must 

 not always be insisted upon. Children are by nature 

 very observant, and drawing furnishes them with the 

 most delightful mode of describing the things which 

 interest them. A child's fondness for imitating produces 

 in it a desire to make representations ot things 

 which are attractive or astonishing, long before its mind 

 is sufficiently developed to enable it to cope seriously 

 with reading, writing, arithmetic, and kindred subjects. 



We agree with the lecturer that this desire to draw 

 should be fostered and encouraged. 



Above all, it promotes accuracy in observation and 

 thought, for when an attempt is made to sketch any- 

 thing from memory a mental picture of the object must 

 first be called up. Be the object ever so simple, its form 

 must be noted before the sketch can be made, and after 

 a little practice attention is habitually given not only to 

 the form, but to the size in relation to surrounding 

 objects. Later on even the details of construction are 

 noticed and reproduced. The power to draw is not only 

 a source of endless pleasure, and of very great use, but 

 it is also an excellent mental exercise, provided it is 

 taught in a rational and attractive manner. 



The College of State Medicine. — The introductory 

 lecture of the inaugural session was delivered by Mr. 

 Brudenell Carter, under the presidency of Sir Joseph 

 Fayrer. The lecturer remarked that the function of a 

 College of State Medicine should be — first, to enlarge the 

 knowledge of members of the medical profession with 

 regard to the causes and the prevention of disease ; and, 

 secondly, to instruct the public with regard to the value 

 and importance of such knowledge. He added that the 

 immediate future of preventive medicine seemed to lie 

 in the pursuit of bacteriology, and it would be one of the 

 chief objects of the College to provide practical teaching 

 and opportunities for actual work in this highly special- 

 ised department of research. Another important branch 

 of the professional teaching of the College would have 

 reference to the investigation of the various conditions, 

 special to particular trades, manufactures, or forms of 

 industry, by which the health of those exposed to them 

 was liable to be injuriously affected. Instruction would 

 also be given in the analysis of food, water, and air, also 

 in so much of the principles and details of sanitary house 



