SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, FEBRUARY lo, li 



The annual report of the New York State Department of 

 Public Instruction has been laid before the Legislature by Superin- 

 tendent Draper. It contains some very interesting statistics and 

 observations. It appears that the department expended during the 

 year, $14,461,774.94, and this sum does not include the payment to 

 Cornell University, the expenses of the regents, or the appropria- 

 tions to academies ; so that even this enormous sum does not fully 

 represent the State expenditure for common schools. Over 31,000 

 teachers were employed, and only 5,821 of them were males. The 

 average annual salary of a teacher is, in the cities, $687.12 ; in the 

 towns, $262.44. The number of children of school age was 1,763,- 

 115, and the total enrolment was 1,037,812. The average attend- 

 ance was only 625,610. The superintendent points out that the 

 uneducated class is increasing, and that the attendance in the 

 schools does not keep pace with the growth of the population. 

 The shortcomings of the present compulsory Education Act are 

 pointed out, and some excellent suggestions are offered as to the 

 best way to remedy the difficulty. On the subject of manual train- 

 ing, Mr. Draper seems to be conservative, but still open-minded, 

 and ready to recommend whatever is proven to be desirable. He 

 says, " There has been much discussion during the year relative to 

 the introduction of manual training as a regular branch of public- 

 school work ; and several cities, notably New York and Albany, 

 have undertaken a thorough trial of the experiment. It is much to 

 be hoped that it may prove a v/ise undertaking. There will hardly 

 be two opinions as to the advantages of industrial training, but it 

 must be demonstrated, upon actual trial, that it can be made a 

 part of our common-school work with advantage to pupils, without 

 detracting from the old-fashioned and essential work, . . . before 

 it should be generally taken in hand by the school authorities. 

 The experiments which have been entered upon will be watched 

 with much interest. The test will be a severe one, but it must be 

 met successfully, by a trial in good faith, before the already over- 

 full courses of study in the schools should everywhere be opened to 

 admit what is commonly called industrial training. There is a 

 common misapprehension in this connection. Manual training 

 need not be confined to carpentry work with boys, or making aprons 

 and dresses with girls. Free-hand or industrial drawing may train 

 the hand and the eye more effectually than handling a saw or a 

 needle. It is easily taught, it is inexpensive, and it is practicable. 

 It is the best possible preparation for further manual work. Every 

 school in the State may undertake this without difficulty, and with 

 good promise of excellent results, and then safely wait for the ver- 

 dict of those who are further experimenting upon the subject. . . . 

 The mission of the pubHc schools is to best prepare the greatest 

 possible number of children for the activities of life, for social and 

 industrial relations, and for the responsibilities of citizenship under 

 such a government as ours. The few must not be favored at the 

 expense of the many. The beginners must have the most care and 

 the best work. What is done must be practical. A philosophy is 

 of small use unless it materializes. Children must be evenly edu- 

 cated in all directions. Just what shall be taught in detail, must 

 depend upon what, in a practical way, promotes the end for which 

 the schools are maintained at public and general expense." After 

 a survey of the field of educational work, Mr. Draper is able to ex- 

 press a favorable judgment on what is being done, and concludes 

 thus : " There seems to be unmistakable promise of an educational 

 re- organization and revival in this State. Public occurrences during 



the year have forced the subject upon the attention of the people. 

 Our supervisory officers and teachers are coming more and more 

 to realize the importance, as they are striving more and more ear- 

 nestly to accomplish the organization of a comprehensive, symmet- 

 rical, and harmonious State educational system, in which the dis- 

 trict schools, the union schools, the high schools, the academies, 

 the normal schools, and the colleges and universities, shall have 

 their appropriate place, and shall not rival or antagonize, but ar- 

 range their courses of instruction so as to support and supplement 

 each other, and work intelligently together for a common and 

 beneficent purpose. The fact must be hailed witli universal and 

 unfeigned satisfaction among all our people. The promise must 

 become a realization, if our magnificent commonwealth would 

 maintain her foremost position in the sisterhood of States." 



THE DEATH PENALTY. 



It will be remembered that the Legislature of the State of New 

 York in 1886 passed an act providing for the appointment of a com- 

 mission " to investigate and report at an early date the most humane 

 and practical method known to modern science of carrying into effect 

 the sentence of death in capital cases." The commission, consist- 

 ing of Elbridge T. Gerry, Matthew Hale, and Alfred P. Southwick, 

 has just made its report to the Legislature. Immediately after its 

 appointment, the commission met, and carefully considered the gen- 

 eral outlines of the subject, and also examined the entire criminal 

 law, from its earliest history down to the present time, as to the 

 principles upon which the infliction of capital punishment was 

 based, the methods of execution and the reasons therefor ; and in 

 its report, which consists of a pamphlet of one hundred pages, 

 it gives a history of the law, beginning with that of Moses. Let- 

 ters were sent to sheriffs, physicians, and judges, requesting their 

 opinions as to the present modes of punishment, and inviting sug- 

 gestions. To these letters two hundred answers were received, 

 and, after their perusal and a careful study, the commission decided 

 that electricity was the best means for effecting capital punish- 

 ment. 



The advantages claimed for electricity are, that death is instan- 

 taneous upon its application, and that resuscitation is impossible. 

 For the administration of electricity to a criminal, all that would be 

 essential would be a chair with a head and foot rest, in which the 

 condemned could be seated in a semi-reclining position. One elec- 

 trode would be connected with the head-rest, and the other with 

 the foot-rest, which would consist of a metal plate. The expense 

 of such a chair would not exceed fifty dollars. If the current of 

 electricity is supplied from the electric-light wires, there would be 

 but slight expense incurred to make the connection from the chair 

 with the wires on the outside. An independent application would 

 cost between two hundred and fifty and five hundred dollars. 



The commission concludes its report with the following recom- 

 mendations : that the death penalty must be inflicted by causing 

 to pass through the body of the convict a current of electricity of 

 sufficient intensity to cause death, and the application of the current 

 must be continued until the convict is dead. The execution must 

 take place within the walls of the State prison designated in the 

 warrant, or within the yard or enclosure adjoining. It shall be the 

 duty of the warden to be present at the execution, and to invite the 

 presence of a justice of the Supreme Court, the district attorney, 

 and sheriff of the county in which the conviction was had, together 

 with two physicians and twelve reputable citizens. Besides one, 

 or, at most, two clergymen, and seven assistants or deputy-sheriffs, 

 no persons other than those mentioned shall be permitted to be 

 present. Immediately after the execution, a post-mortem examina- 

 tion of the body of the convict shall be made by the physicians 



