76 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XL No. 26 



care and skill. The results are remarkably good, both as regards 

 the actual knowledge acquired by the scholars, and the stimulus 

 given to the general intelligence. Besides the above-named sub- 

 jects, physiology and algebra are often taken with very good re- 

 sults, and in one school the principles of agriculture are taught with 

 marked success." 



Some of the causes of this almost total absence of any scientific 

 teaching in the elementary schools have been pointed out. Where 

 science has been well taught, it has borne good fruit ; and where 

 teachers and managers have set themselves steadfastly to overcome 

 the difficulties in their way, a high and encouraging measure of 

 success has been obtained. Thus we have the remarkable testi- 

 mony of the success of the experiment in Nottingham, and surely 

 there are many other districts in England quite as competent to 

 carry on this work as Nottingham. Why it could not be done in 

 any town in England, it is difficult to see. In many cases where 

 these subjects have been taught, the inspectors have wisely set their 

 faces against them, finding but a wretched smattering among the 

 pupils. Nothing else can be expected in remote rural districts, 

 where the teacher, whose whole time is scarcely sufficient for the 

 few rudimentary subjects, is so ambitious as to attempt to cram 

 some of his pupils with the elementary knowledge of a science of 

 which he is himself confessedly ignorant. But in the towns and 

 cities competent teachers are always to be had. If the board mas- 

 ters do not find themselves fit for the extra labor and extra knowl- 

 edge required, there should be no difficulty in obtaining a special- 

 ist, as has been done at Nottingham. And in no place could the 

 foundations of technical education be more surely laid than among 

 the elder children of elementary schools. In the minutes and in- 

 structions issued to her Majesty's inspectors, managers are re- 

 quested to aid, in every way they can, the teaching of one or more 

 specific subjects appropriate to the industrial or other needs of the 

 locality, and the rudiments of two higher subjects to supply a foun- 

 dation for future work. With this object, it is suggested that where 

 the teacher is not competent to do so, — and this, according to the 

 reports, is the rule, and not the exception, — a specialist might be 

 employed by a number of schools in a district, whose instruction 

 would be supplemented by that of the ordinary teachers. There is 

 only one instance, that of Nottingham, given in the reports, of such 

 suggestions having been followed. 



What is said in the report about geography and geography-teach- 

 ing is of special interest. It appears that while there is a great ab- 

 sence of culture and general intelligence upon the part of a consid- 

 erable number of candidates, yet the answers to the geography- 

 papers set for admission to the male training-colleges are more 

 accurate than would be supposed. 



Here, again, the metropolitan candidates are superior to the pro- 

 vincial candidates, particularly in the map-drawing, though in this 

 particular there has been a falling-away of late. Among the female 

 candidates, the geography was not very satisfactory, exhibiting in- 

 accuracies in map-drawing, indefiniteness in the answers, and gener- 

 ally marks of defective early training. In the examinations for the 

 first year's certificates the male candidates answered fully and ac- 

 curately ; but usually there was a slavish following of the words of 

 the text-books and the lecturers' notes. At the end of the second 

 year there is the same report, — book-knowledge without intelli- 

 gence, and abundance of information imperfectly digested. With 

 the females the result is the same, — verbatim reproduction of the 

 books or notes they had read ; fairly creditable answering ; but 

 " the style of the papers reveals the painful poverty of the general 

 reading of the students, and the utter absence of any individuality, 

 or attempt at description in their own words." In many papers 

 there was a constant iteration of the same words and phrases, sug- 

 gesting that the candidates had learned off by rote the answers to 

 probable questions. With regard to the elementary schools, all the 

 reports agree in saying that there has been a marked improvement 

 in the teaching of geography. Where it is intelligently taught, it is 

 the favorite subject ; but too frequently the children are not well 

 grounded. While all parts of the country report progress in geog- 

 raphy, it is worthy of remark that all the maritime districts surpass 

 the inland schools in the knowledge of the country, its colonies, and 

 its trade. The report believes that this is only natural, and insists 

 that " the teacher who would not, in Devonshire, interest a class of 



boys in the voyages of Drake, or who, in Somerset, would not rivet 

 the attention of his pupils on the victories of Blake, would not be 

 worthy of his post." Though the teachers may be congratulated, 

 speaking generally, on the progress made in geography, there are 

 many faults to be found. In portions of Wales and of the centre 

 of England, geography is only fairly satisfactory. The pupils are 

 weak in questions of latitude and longitude: they do not learn in- 

 telligently, because most probably they are taught mechanically and 

 unintelligently. It should be within the power of every teacher, by 

 the use of an ordinary globe, to make this portion of the subject in- 

 telligible to any ordinary boy. But few lads could understand a 

 lesson on meridians and parallels, given by a teacher who does not 

 use a globe at all ; and yet this is quite common. Hence it is that 

 the map-drawing is very poor, even where there is a good knowl- 

 edge of geographical facts. Many of the inspectors complain of 

 lack of globes, maps, etc. ; and, even where there is abundance of 

 general maps, there are no local maps, — a want which is very 

 widely felt. In this respect the Board of Education might take a 

 lesson from the commissioners of national education in Ireland, 

 who have published local maps, and require each pupil in the higher 

 grades to know, in addition to general geography, the map of his 

 neighborhood. 



THE IMPROVEMENT OF HARBOR ENTRANCES. 



In 1743, under the direction of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, a move- 

 ment was started in Philadelphia for the organization of the first 

 scientific society in America; and in a letter from Franklin, under 

 date April 5, 1744, to his friend " Honi^ Cadwallader Colden, Esq.,"' 

 he says, " The Society, as far as relates to Philadelphia, is actually 

 formed, and has had several Meetings to mutual Satisfaction ; — as 

 soon as I get home, I shall send you a short Acct. of what has 

 been done and proposed at these meetings." 



This society, which for nearly a century and a half has been 

 known as the ' American Philosophical Society for the Promotion 

 of Useful Knowledge,' has been presided over by the most distin- 

 guished of American scientists and scholars, and an election to its 

 membership has been an honor cherished no less by foreigners than 

 by Americans. The society to-day is venerated for its age, distin- 

 guished for its services in promoting useful knowledge throughout 

 the continent, and claims for its supporters the greatest scientists, 

 the most cultured scholars, and the most prominent of American 

 engineers who have been active in the dissemination of useful 

 knowledge through improved navigation, the creation of canal and 

 railway systems, the telegraph, and the development of the me- 

 chanic arts, by which useful knowledge has become as free to all 

 as the air we breathe. 



In 1785 John Hyacinth de Magellan of London, recognizing the 

 prominent position of the society, proposed to donate to the society 

 " 200 guineas, to be appropriated as a perpetual Fund ; the interest 

 of which to.be annually given, in a medal of gold, as a Premium to 

 the author of the best Discovery, or most useful Improvements re- 

 lating to Navigation or Natural Philosophy." The conditions under 

 which this premium was to be awarded were drafted by a com- 

 mittee of which Dr. Franklin was a member, and were approved 

 by Magellan himself. These conditions are so exacting that but 

 few discoveries have been considered sufficiently important in them- 

 selves to merit the high honor of the 'Magellanic Medal,' — an 

 American honor which is esteemed more highly than any to be won 

 by a scientific discoverer in the field of navigation, natural philos- 

 ophy, or astronomy ; which latter subject Magellan subsequently 

 included. It has now been many years since any discoverer has 

 received this medal, although applications are continually presented 

 which seek the prize so zealously guarded by the society. 



Last spring a paper was presented to the society, describing a 

 most important discovery in ocean dynamics, under the title ' The 

 Physical Phenomena of Harbor Entrances, their Causes and Reme- 

 dies. — Defects of Present Methods of Improvements.' This, with 

 other communications, was referred to the consideration of the 

 twelve counsellors and other officers of the society, and on Dec. 16 

 a favorable report on the discovery was made to the society, and, 

 by a secret ballot of the members, the premium was awarded the 

 same. Upon opening the sealed letter with the same motlo as that 

 accompanying the description of the discovery, it was found that 



