SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, MAY 25, li 



The discussion in the New York City Board of Education con- 

 cerning the succession to Superintendent John Jasper is attracting 

 -very general attention. This is necessarily so, because the position of 

 superintendent of schools in New York City is one of great influence 

 and power, and its incumbent ought to be one of the foremost edu- 

 cators of the country. He can mould or make more characters and 

 more intelligences a hundred times over than the most powerful 

 •college president. His voice should be heard in educational gath- 

 erings, and his counsel should be sought all over the country. He 

 should inspire and lead on his great army of teachers to greater 

 efforts for success in their work. He should be a wise, careful, and 

 unprejudiced administrator. The present incumbent of this great 

 post has held his position for nine years, and during the whole of 

 that time the schools of New York City have been looked upon 

 with contempt by all qualified students of public education. From 

 the standpoint of organization and system, they are magnificent, 

 but they are not educational. Rigid technical requirements and 

 an awful dread of a preposterous marking system rule teachers and 

 pupils alike. Every natural instinct, every activity of the pupil, is 

 recognized only to be crushed and held in check. Superficial re- 

 sults such that they may be estimated in fractions of a per cent are 

 the end and aim of the scholastic exercises. Examinations, inspec- 

 tions, and marks recur with fearful tirelessness ; and above and 

 behind them all sits the city superintendent, — a mere calculator of 

 results and percentages. He is unknown to the educators of the 

 country ; his face and voice are unfamiliar to every educational 

 gathering. His teachers have no meetings or institutes worthy the 

 name. At least two-thirds of his assistants are disqualified for 

 their positions by age or incapacity. It is freely charged that base 

 and unworthy motives find play in many official actions. More 

 definite charges of other kinds, all turning upon the inefficiency and 

 ■delinquency of the present administration, have been made in the 

 Board of Education and elsewhere. For these reasons, vigorous 

 and effective opposition is being made to the proposition to con- 

 tinue indefinitely this state of affairs. All fair-minded men, and 

 especially all educators who realize the importance of the New York 

 city schools, should support in this crisis those members of the 

 Board of Education who are making this fight for a principle. This 

 is no time for personal considerations nor for petty jealousies. 

 Argument should turn on the highest good of the schools alone. 

 That that can be best served by a radical reform in present meth- 

 ods of administration and discipline, is obvious. 



After an interval of about eight months, news has been 

 received from Major Barttelot, commander of the camp at Yam- 

 buga Rapids, which confirms the favorable view regarding the state 

 of affairs in Central Africa, taken by all who have watched the 

 events closely. The cable reports the following message : " No 

 news from Stanley since I wrote, toward the end of October. 

 Tippo-Tip went to Kasongo on Nov. 16, but in March he had pro- 

 cured only two hundred and fifty carriers. Jameson has gone to 

 Kasongo in order to hasten the despatch of three hundred and fifty 

 carriers more, which Tippo-Tip promised to furnish. Jameson will 

 be back here on May 14. I cannot leave until June i. I shall pass 

 Stanley Falls Station, where I shall leave an officer with all that is 

 not absolutely necessary. All are well. — Barttelot." This news 



was brought by Mr. Ward from Barttelot's camp to Stanley Pool, 

 but we fail to learn how he descended the river. The important 

 facts we learn from this despatch are these : that the fear that 

 Tippo-Tip might have betrayed Stanley, which was entertained by 

 many people, was groundless ; that Barttelot has had no difficulty 

 in obtaining provisions for his men ; and that the Arabs of Stanley 

 Falls are again friendly towards the whites. All these are re- 

 assuring facts, and we may assume that ere long we shall hear of 

 Stanley's safe arrival at Lake Mvutan. It is useless to speculate 

 what he is going to do next. 



Commander John R. Bartlett, who for the past six years 

 has been chief of the Hydrographic Office of the Navy Department, 

 has been relieved from duty, and granted leave of absence for a 

 year. He will accept the superintendency of the Union Street Rail- 

 road of Providence, R.I., a position which was offered him several 

 months ago, and which has been held for his decision. A proposi- 

 tion was made not long ago to make the Hydrographic Office one 

 of the regular bureaus of the Navy Department, with an officer at 

 its head nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. 

 This has been defeated by the opposition of naval officers, which 

 has been provoked to some extent, it is believed, by jealousy. The 

 defeat of this movement undoubtedly caused Commander Bartlett 

 to ask to be retired. Before Commander Bartlett took charge of 

 the Hydrographic Office, it was scarcely more than a depository for 

 the charts of vessels. He has made it, under Commodore Walker, 

 one of the most useful and important branches of the government. 

 Its sailing-charts are most highly prized by mariners of all nations, 

 and its Pilot Chart is the best published anywhere in the world. It 

 has received frequent recognition by learned societies of Europe, 

 and from the leading naval officers of foreign countries. By the 

 establishment of branch offices at several of the most important 

 ports on the Atlantic coast, it has succeeded in getting into very 

 close relations with the merchant marine of the country, and in 

 securing from it a great fund of the data of which it has made val- 

 uable use. The Hydrographic Office, under Commander Bartlett, 

 was the first to direct attention to, and press upon, mariners the use 

 of oil to smooth the waves of the sea during or after storms. By 

 persistently caUing attention to it, and publishing upon the Pilot 

 Chart the reports of masters of ships who had successfully used it, 

 the subject was forced upon the attention of navigators, until no 

 properly equipped captain will now go to sea without his supply of 

 oil and the means of using it. The logs of all incoming vessels are 

 carefully examined, and all unusual phenomena are noted. In this 

 way the history and movements of storms have been traced, plotted 

 upon charts, and published, thus adding very greatly to the scope of 

 meteorological science. Water-spouts have been described, and 

 the accounts of them given by the officers of different vessels col- 

 lected and compared ; so that much has been added to what was 

 previously known about them. Hurricanes have been traced, and 

 the accounts of the officers of different vessels which encountered 

 them have been collated and compared ; so that the laws that gov- 

 ern them are now better understood than they were before. In this 

 way the Hydrographic Office has become one of the most important 

 of the government scientific bureaus. Lieut. George L. Dyer, as- 

 sistant hydrographer, who has been associated with Commander 

 Bartlett from the beginning, and has been a most efficient assistant, 

 has assumed charge of the office, and will continue in the place until 

 an appointment is made. 



