June 29, 1888.1 



SCIENTIFIC NE^A^S. 



623 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 



Agricultural Education. — On the 20th inst. a deputa- 

 tion from the National Association for the Promotion of 

 Technical Education waited upon Lord Cranbrook, at the 

 Privy Council, to place before hira resolutions passed by the 

 agricultural section of the National Association on the sub- 

 ject of agricultural instruction. The President of the Coun- 

 cil was accompanied by the Duke of Rutland and Sir 

 William Hart-Dyke. Lord Spencer, in introducing the sub- 

 ject, said that the Association thought that the vote of ^5,000 

 should be employed for three purposes — the encouragement 

 of dairy schools, for the middle-class schools, which would 

 give sound, practical, and useful agricultural education, and 

 for the payment of travelling lecturers. Lord Cranbrook, in 

 reply, said the Government were alive to the interest of the 

 agricultural community, and nobody, in fact, who had gone 

 into the history of agriculture during the past few years could 

 help seeing tliat, unless something were done to alter its 

 position, it would soon be in a state of decadence which 

 would result in absolute ruin. The great question which 

 in England was always raised was — how much the State was 

 to do, and how much was to be done by individuals. In this 

 country we had the remarkable fact that, without State 

 assistance and with our great agricultural societies, we had 

 succeeded in producing a larger amount of cereals per acre 

 than any other country in the world ; and we had produced 

 the best breeds of cattle, and got them to the highest state 

 of perfection. Therefore, there was in this country volun- 

 tary initiation, which it was better to support than the 

 attempt to initiate anything on the part of the Government ; 

 and he quite agreed with them that they should, if possible, 

 help those who helped themselves. With regard to the 

 elementary schools, it was not quite so easy a matter as 

 might be supposed to introduce real agricultural instruction. 

 In the first instance, the children of the elementary schools 

 left them at so early an age that it would almost be impossi- 

 ble to benefit them, unless they could remain to be allowed 

 to practice it ; and in almost every part of the country every 

 cottage had a garden attached, in which boys would probably 

 learn much more from their parents than they would in the 

 short time that could be devoted to it at school. At the same 

 time, there could be a good deal done with older boys if they 

 could get them to attend evening classes, and supplement 

 that with the instruction they got at home in the gardens 

 attached to their cottages. He did not understand that these 

 recommendations were meant to be universally applied. 

 That was in accord with the course which Lord Spencer took 

 in 1881, when he was at the head of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment, in making agriculture not a class subject in the schools, 

 but a specific subject to be taken up by those in the more 

 advanced standards. That would be at a time when some- 

 thing more should be done in the mode training. The same 

 point had been raised as to technical education generally, 

 and the subject of the manual training of boys in the use of 

 ordinary tools, and so on. If they looked through almost any 

 school they would find that a great number of boys were not 

 destined for agriculture, and therefore they could not make 

 it universal teaching in the school. With regard to the train- 

 ing of the teachers, there had been some remarks made with 

 respect to tire Science and Art Department at South Kensing- 

 ton, and the training of teachers under their care. There 

 had been an increase going on in the number of those who 

 were taking advantage of the teaching of agriculture at South 

 Kensington, and the numbers had risen considerably. In 

 May of last year there were 7,231 papers sent in ; and there 

 were 1,628 more papers sent in this year. Besides, no one 

 was entitled to grants unless a certificate was given that 

 either he had been or was to be engaged in agriculture. As 

 to the question of hand-books on agriculture, there might be 

 some difficulty with the publishers, for, after all, it would be 

 taking upon the Government, not only to advertise one 

 person's work, but it would probably depreciate or destroy 

 the work of others. He could not give much hope that the 

 Government would undertake that duty. As to the grant 

 which had been made to the Department over which he pre- 

 sided, it was only partially an agricultural department at 



present. They had a veterinary department fully manned 

 and ready to do its work ; but they had not a general agri- 

 cultural department, either connected with dairies or arable 

 land, or in any other way. That new department might be a 

 very great business. With regard to the disposal of this 

 ^5,000, the Government had long come to a determination to 

 endeavour to assist those schools which were already in 

 operation. With regard to diary schools, they would send 

 out inspectors to those schools which had been brought to 

 their knowledge to see whether they were fit recipients for 

 the money. With rsgard to the middle-class schools, they 

 also would be visited to see whether the teaching could be 

 developed in order to benefit agriculture. The subject of 

 travelling lecturers would also be considered, and, in fact, 

 the whole of their resolutions would be duly taken into con- 

 sideration by the Government with the view of benefiting 

 agriculture. The deputation then withdrew. 



SloJD. — A meeting took place last week at the Earl of 

 Meath's, 83, Lancaster-gate, for the purpose of starting an 

 association to promote the teaching of the Swedish system 

 of technical education known under the name of "Slojd,' 

 and to assist Miss Evelyn Chapman and Miss Nystrom to 

 establish classes for training teachers and others in the above 

 art. The Earl of Meath occupied tire chair. Miss Evelyn 

 Chapman e.xplained the origin and objects of the Slojd sys- 

 tem, which is now taught in over 800 schools in Norway and 

 Sweden. The Earl of Meath pointed out the necessity for 

 reform in the educational system of the country, and the de- 

 sirability, in face of an ever-increasing population, of teach- 

 ing all classes, from the highest to the lowest, how to use 

 their hands as well as their heads, so that each man and 

 woman might be placed in a position of independence and 

 be capable of earning an honest livelihood. It was shown 

 that Slojd might include metal-work, smith-work, basket- 

 making, painting, fretwork, bookbinding, papier mdclte, and' 

 wood Sliijd, that its results were to implant respect for work 

 in general, even for the coarser forms of manual labour ; to 

 develop activity, to foster order, accuracy, cleanliness, and 

 neatness, to encourage attention, industry, and perseverance, 

 to develop the physical powers, and to train the eye and the^ 

 sense of form. Resolutions proposing that an association 

 should be formed and a committee appointed for the purpose 

 of promoting the establishment of the Slojd system in this 

 country were passed, and Lord Meath was requested to act- 

 as President of the Association, with Miss Chapman and 

 Miss Nystrom as joint Secretaries. Miss Nystrom announced 

 that she had received a letter from the Chamberlain to His 

 Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway graciously con-- 

 senting to become patron ot the association. 



ANNOUNCEMENTS. 



French Academy of Sciences. — M. Millardet has been 

 elected a corresponding member ot the Botanical SectioUr 

 in place of the late M. Boissier. 



Royal Botanic Society, Regent's Park. — At a meeting 

 of this Society, held on June 23rd, the Duke of Teck, the 

 President, presented a gold medal and purse of 50 guineas 

 to Mr. Ellis, L.R.C.P., of Liverpool, the winner of the 

 Queen's Jubilee Prize, given by the Society for the best 

 essay upon the plants and vegetable products introduced 

 into the United Kingdom for use in the arts and manufac- 

 tures, and for food, during her Majesty's reign. 



— *^i^xtf5tf-* — 



Fluidity of the Earth's Interior. — M. Maurice Levy 

 (Co;«j*/^si?(;H(/;<s) communicates the result of his researches- 

 on the figure of the globe. He gives a formula with 

 four variables, which expresses the reality as closely as 

 possible. From this formula it follows that we cannot 

 bring the law of the variation of densities into harmony 

 with the precession of the equinoxes without supposing, 

 the interior of the earth fluid. 



