136 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Aug. 10, 1 J 



Mr. Hillhouse contributes three papers on the " Pre- 

 sent and Future of Science-Teaching in England." This 

 able writer asks, "What proportion of an average 

 schoolboy's existence is given to physical or biological 

 science, the knowledge of the world which surrounds 

 him, of the laws which govern his existence, and which 

 will govern him in his struggle for the power to live? 

 Is it one-half? No. One-quarter? No. Doubtful even 

 if it is one-eighth in the best of cases, and from that it 

 sinks away to nothing ! And yet we pride ourselves 

 upon being a practical people, when it is doubtful 

 whether one more unpractical, more improvident, exists 

 upon the face of this earth." He concludes his last 

 paper with the weighty remark, " The golden rule of 

 our educational method of the future will, I believe, be 

 not to accumulate information, but to cultivate ability; 

 not to cram the brain, but to train and develop the facul- 

 ties. Knowledge may indeed be power, but intellectual 

 power is more than knowledge." 



Mr. Wragge, the Government Meteorologist of Queens- 

 land, gives an account of the climate and resources of 

 this important colony. He considers that the under- 

 ground wate' -supply, even in the western parts, where 

 the rainfall is scantier than on the coast, is ample. 



An article by Mr. J. G.Baker, F.R.S.,F.L.S., on "Kew 

 Gardens and the Botanical Statistics of the British Posses- 

 sions," is exceedingly interesting. The number of plant 

 species inhabiting the British Empire is estimated at 

 46,000, or very nearly one-half of those found on the 

 entire earth. The late Sir W. Hooker planned, we 

 learn, a series of works classifying and defining the 

 plants of the empire upon one uniform system. The 

 volumes for Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the 

 West Indies, and Mauritius are finished ; that for India 

 is far advanced ; those for the Cape and the West Coast 

 possessions are about half finished. 



It is not generally known that the Princess Augusta, 

 the mother of George III., was the originator of the 

 Botanical Gardens. The Earl of Bute, the unpopular 

 Premier in the early part of the reign of George III., was 

 an enthusiastic botanist, so much so that he spent 

 ^10,000 in printing an elaborate botanical work in nine 

 volumes, of which only twelve copies were struck off. 

 One of the chief objects of Kew Gardens is the horti- 

 cultural and agricultural benefit of the Colonies. The 

 total number of plants there cultivated is nearly 50,000. 



" Passages from Popular Lectures," by Mr. F. T. Mott, 

 F.R.G S., includes an account of the umbelliferous plants. 

 Here we find a passage to which grave exception maybe 

 taken. Says Mr. Mott, " The world will never cease to 

 remember with shame and grief the death of Socrates." 

 If we reflect that he turned away the minds of men from 

 the study of physical and biological science, and that he 

 seems to have originated that antithetical distinction 

 between " Nature " and man, which we are now under 

 the guidance of Darwin beginning to reject, we can only 

 consider the Socratic movement as an apostacy. Though 

 his execution was a judicial murder, it was of little 

 moment as compared with that of Lavoisier. 



A Handbook for Steam Users. By M. Powis Bale, 

 M.I.M.E., A.M.I.C.E. London : Longmans, Green, 

 and Co. 

 A useful, practical little book, that would repay perusal 

 by all users of steam-engines, as a knowledge of its con- 

 tents would enable them to exercise some check on the 

 frequently incompetent men allowed to have charge of 



boilers. We suppose it would be too much to expect 

 boiler attendants to read this book themselves until it is 

 made compulsory for them to have a certificate of com- 

 petency before being allowed to take charge of boilers. 

 We agree with the author that there is little doubt that 

 many disastrous explosions have been clearly traced 

 either to the gross ignorance of the attendants or the 

 criminal carelessness of the owners, and without an 

 adequate system of compulsory inspection and certifi- 

 cates of competency we are likely to hear of many more 

 of these "accidents." 



Twelfth Annual Report of Her Majesty's Inspectors of 

 Explosives ; being their Annual Report for the Year 

 1887, presented to both Houses of Parliament by 

 Command of Her Majesty. London : Her Majesty's 

 Stationery Office. 



Few persons, we imagine, will question the utility of 

 Governmental inspection and regulation in the manufac- 

 ture of explosives. Without such interference this in- 

 dustry would constitute a grave danger, not merely to 

 the men employed, but to all persons living in the 

 neighbourhood. 



The first point we notice in the report before us is a 

 curious inconsistency in the Explosives Act, which has 

 only just been perceived and amended. Picric acid has 

 long been known to be vio'ently explosive under certain 

 conditions and in certain combinations or mixture?. It 

 is, in fact, supposed to be one of the ingredients of the 

 new French explosive, melinite. Hence its manufacture 

 and storage came very naturally within the scope of the 

 Act. But there was a curious and most illogical proviso— - 

 i.e., that it was amenable to control only if made for 

 engineering, military, or pyrotechnical purposes ! If 

 manufactured, as was at one time largely the case, for 

 use in dyeing or in the preparation of other colours it 

 was exempt. 



An accident which occurred on June 22nd, 18S7, at the 

 chemical works of Messrs. Roberts, Dale, and Co.. of Corn - 

 brook, Manchester,opened the eyes of the authorities to the 

 very plain fact that the properties of a substance in no 

 manner depend on the purpose or intention with which 

 it is made or sold. They have also doubtless learnt that 

 a manufacturer or merchant does not always know to 

 what use his customers intend to put the articles which 

 the3' buy. Messrs. Roberts and Dale are, we believe, 

 chiefly, if not exclusively, manufacturers of chemicals 

 for dyers and tissue-printers, and in not placing their 

 works under Government inspection they were ait'ng in 

 a perfectly legal manner. The conclusion arrived at in 

 the inquiry was that the accident originated in a fi:e at 

 or close to the stove in which picric acid was drying. 

 The fire was caused by one of the workmen, named Heyes, 

 smoking. The main explosion was due to the detonation 

 of a quantity of picric acid or of some self-formed picrate. 

 Only one death resulted, but the damage to property was 

 very considerable. 



In consequence of this accident, picric acid, the picrates, 

 and their mixtures, with other substances, now come under 

 the definition of explosives, unless wholly in solution or 

 made and stored in a building exclusively appropriated 

 and adapted for the purpose. 



Only eight deaths have occurred in connection with 

 the manufacture of explosives ; the annual average for 

 the ten years is 7 - 5. During the years immediately pre- 

 ceding the operation of the Explosives Act it was 37 per 

 annum. 



