SCIENCE. 



FKIDAY, OCTOBEK 24, 1884. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 



Professor Cotterill, in an appendix to 

 his new ' Applied mechanics,' describes the 

 organization of the school of engineering in the 

 Koyal naval college at Greenwich. He states 

 that the training of the students in the practice 

 of naval architecture and of engineering takes 

 place in the dockyards before entering the 

 college, and during the three summer months 

 in which the college is closed. For such train- 

 ing he considers the college-workshop a very 

 imperfect substitute, and that it occupies time 

 '- which may be better spent elsewhere.' He 

 further deprecates the use of models in teach- 

 ing such students, remarking that the engineer 

 does not use models, but drawings. He con- 

 siders that models are of little value for such 

 purposes, and would even condemn their use 

 to demonstrate the laws of motion. He is, 

 however, in favor of their use in explaining 

 mechanical principles. Professor Cotterill 

 approves of the ' mechanical laboratory ' in 

 which experimental investigation can be carried 

 on, and in which mechanics can be studied 

 experimentally. He also would allow the use 

 of the school-workshop in the ' lower grades 

 of technical instruction.' 



These views of so distinguished and expe- 

 rienced an educator will probably attract 

 much attention from those who are engaged 

 in similar work. It is a question, however, 

 whether they will be very generally indorsed 

 in this country, or indeed in any European 

 country, if we may judge from the fact that 

 the methods which he condemns are those 

 which are most rapidly coming into use on 

 both sides the Atlantic. In the discussion 

 which took place in section D of the American 

 association at Philadelphia, there seemed to 

 be no difference of opinion on this point. All 



No. 90. — 1884. 



were apparently agreed that the school-work- 

 shop is the place in which the student should 

 learn the use of the tools in the several trades, 

 and that systematic instruction there is vastly 

 more profitable than any that the best of shops 

 engaged in purely commercial work can give. 

 There may, however, be some question whether 

 the same systematic instruction in the large 

 shop or in the dockyards (' navy-yards ') might 

 not be still more fruitful and profitable. The 

 only point which seemed to be thought im- 

 portant as a question to be settled, in the dis- 

 cussion referred to, was the relative value of 

 the workshop conducted purely as a classroom 

 and that in which a certain amount of com- 

 mercial work is constant^ carried on. 



The U. S. artillery school at Fort Monroe 

 has the following paragraph among its recently 

 approved regulations : "To the end that the 

 school shall keep pace with professional prog- 

 ress, it is made the duty of instructors and 

 assistant instructors to prepare and arrange, 

 in accordance with the programme of instruc- 

 tion, the subject-matter of the courses of study 

 committed to their charge. The same shall 

 be submitted to the staff; and, after approval 

 by that body, the same shall become the au- 

 thorized text-books of the school, be printed 

 at the school, issued, and adhered to as such." 

 If all the courses of stud}' in the school were 

 strictly technical, or if all the instructors there 

 were eminent specialists, this plan of fostering 

 home products would doubtless work to the 

 advantage of the students ; but in such sub- 

 jects as geolog}^, botany, or zoology, in which 

 the ordinary forms of instruction cannot be 

 improved by special adaptation to artillery 

 practice, we believe that nothing is gained by 

 neglecting to use the generally approved text- 

 books of the science. The work on geology 

 lately published by the school does not dispel 

 this belief. 



