SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1887. 



A VERY SIGNIFICANT DISCUSSION on the Subject of manual 

 training took place at the late annual meeting of the school super- 

 intendents of New York State, held at Rochester. A year or two 

 ago such a discussion would not have been possible. In the first 

 place, the superintendents themselves would not have been able to 

 discuss the subject intelligently at that time, nor would it have been 

 regarded as at all a pressing matter. The events of the last twelve 

 months have, however, conspired to bring about the result which 

 made possible the discussion to which we refer. The continued 

 agitation of the subject by those best qualified to discuss it, the in- 

 crease of the intelligent literature on manual training, and the mag- 

 nificent display of the results of this training which was made at 

 the meeting of the National Educational Association at Chicago 

 last July, have all had their effect. They have brought light to 

 many minds where darkness was before, and produced a conviction 

 even among the most determined scoffers at the movement. The 

 discussion at Rochester was introduced by Superintendent Cole of 

 Albany, in which city a very gratifying progress has been made 

 toward the introduction of manual training, and whose school board 

 has a most intelligent idea of the whole subject. The superintend- 

 ents of Newburg, Dunkirk, Ogdensburg, Binghamton, Owego, and 

 Elmira seem to have been to a greater or less extent in favor of 

 manual training. The event of the discussion, however, must have 

 been the remarks of State Superintendent Draper, for it was re- 

 served for him to advocate manual training in the public schools, 

 not because it is disciplinary, but because of its eventual utility. 

 The attitude of the State superintendent only shows to what remark- 

 able extremes the complete misunderstanding of this subject may 

 be carried. We have frequently heard manual training opposed 

 because of its utility, and because it was claimed that it has no 

 disciplinary value ; but Mr. Draper is the first person who has dis- 

 cussed the subject in public who has sufficiently misunderstood the 

 whole subject to advocate it on that ground. He is reported as 

 saying that he had no sympathy with the argument advanced, that 

 industrial training should be carried on for its intellectual force. 

 He claimed that the present school system of the State contained all 

 the intellectual force that was needed. We fancy that the mere 

 statement of these two propositions is sufficient comment upon 

 them. It is hardly necessary to undertake to controvert them 

 seriously. It would be interesting to know, however, whether Mr. 

 Draper proposes to carry his theory into practice, and to eliminate 

 from the school course all subjects which have a disciplinary value^ 

 and to replace them with those which have a practical utility. If 

 so, the coming generation in New York may not know how to 

 read, write, cipher, draw, and parse, but it certainly will be able 

 to manage a steam-engine, lay transatlantic cables, and drive 

 horse-cars. 



The danger to commerce from derelict vessels on the high 

 seas cannot be too often pointed out, as it is not generally realized 

 how long they are liable to keep afloat and pursue their aimless 

 course, — a constant menace to navigation, and the cause, no doubt, 

 of the loss of many a fine vessfel by collision. This is well illus- 

 trated by the following instances, taken from the records of the 

 Hydrographic Office, and it should be remembered that no such 

 record can be complete. Long intervals often elapse without any 

 report being made, and the track during this time, assumed as a 

 straight line on the chart, must generally fall short of the actual 



distance travelled. The ship ' Ada Iredale ' (voyage from Andros- 

 san, Scotland, to San Francisco) was burned in the South Pacific 

 through the spontaneous combustion of the coal with which she 

 was laden. She was abandoned Oct. 15, 1876, latitude 13° 30 

 south, longitude 107° 45' west, about 1,900 miles east from the 

 Marquesas Islands. The crew of twenty-three men reached the 

 Marquesas group in twenty-five days, with the loss of one man and 

 one of their three boats. The still burning wreck of the vessel 

 drifted slowly to the westward in the south equatorial current, to 

 Tahiti, Society Islands, 2,423 miles distant, and was towed into 

 port by the French cruiser ' Seignelay,' June 9, 1877. She con- 

 tinued to burn till May, 1878, when she was repaired, and as a 

 handsome iron bark, named ' Annie Johnston," has done good ser- 

 vice in the trade with China. The drift was 2,423 miles, and the 

 time nearly eight months. The ship ' Oriflamme ' was abandoned, 

 on fire, in June, 1881, latitude 18" 12' south, longitute 92° 42' west. 

 On Oct. 24 the steamship ' Iron Gate ' (voyage from Adelaide, Aus- 

 tralia, to Portland, Ore.) passed in latitude 13° 27' south, longitude 

 125° 19' west, an iron ship, apparently burned, with no masts 

 standing, and sent a lifeboat alongside, but could see no signs of 

 life. On Feb. 12, 1882, the hull of an iron ship laden with coal and 

 iron drifted ashore on the island of Raroia, one of the Paumotu or 

 Low Archipelago (latitude 15° 55' south, longitude 142° 12' west). 

 She was visited by some natives, who brought away a small bell 

 upon which was engraved "'Oriflamme,' 1865." She was com- 

 pletely burned out, and in a short time sank in deep water. The 

 drift was 2,840 miles, and the time about eight months. The aban- 

 doned schooner ' Twenty-one Friends ' was first reported March 

 24, 1885, about 160 miles off the capes of Chesapeake Bay, latitude 

 36° 45' north, longitude 72° 40' west. The Gulf Stream carried 

 her in a direction about east-north-east, to latitude 51" 30' north, 

 longitude 27° 40' west (2,130 miles in four months and a half). 

 Thence she drifted in an easterly and south-easterly direction to- 

 wards the northern coast of Spain, and was last reported Dec. 4 of 

 the same year in latitude 45° north, longitude 8" west (about 130 

 miles north-north-east from Cape Finisterre). She was reported, 

 in all, twenty-two times, which in itself shows how especially dan- 

 gerous such a derelict is on the North Atlantic. The drift was 

 3,525 miles, and the time eight months and ten days. 



A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE. 



There is an interesting discussion going on in England at 

 present between Professor Huxley, Professor Bonney, and the Duke 

 of Argyll. The question at issue is whether the influence of a great 

 name has become so great in science as to interfere with free dis- 

 cussion in questions of a purely scientific nature. It seems that 

 some seven or eight years ago Mr. Murray offered an explanation 

 of the origin and structure of coral reefs which controverted some 

 of the opinions expressed by Darwin. It is maintained by one side 

 that this theory of Murray's has not been given free publication and 

 discussion, and that, while it is intrinsically more probable than the 

 older theory of Darwin, it is still held in obscurity by a conspiracy 

 of silence on the part of the leading men of Great Britain. To 

 make clear the present state of the controversy, we publish below 

 the articles published in Nattire by Professor Bonney and the Duke 

 of Argyll. 



[Communication from Professor Bonnev.] 



The Duke of Argyll is eminent as a statesman, and has won 

 distinction as a man of science. The mental qualities, however, 

 which lead to success in these capacities are widely different ; nay, 

 in the opinion of some, are almost oppugnant. To the man of 



