FEBRUARY 29, 1884. ] 
—JIn 1835 the British House of Commons ordered 
an inquiry for the purpose of ascertaining ‘‘the best 
means of extending a knowledge of the arts and of 
the principles of design among the people, especially 
the manufacturing population of the country.’’ The 
immediate outcome of the inquiry was a school of 
design, which began its existence in June, 1887, with 
an appropriation of fifteen hundred pounds. From 
this has developed ‘ The science and art department,’ 
which was formally created in 1856, and has now 
under its control some twelve different institutions, 
of which the most noted are the South Kensington 
museum, the National art training school (transferred 
to South Kensington in 1856-57), and the Normal 
school of science and royal school of mines (re-organ- 
ized as one institution in 1881). In addition to these 
schools, museums, etc., the department maintains a 
system of instruction in science and art that extends 
over the United Kingdom, and in 1882 embraced 
977,797 pupils, of whom 68,581 attended science 
schools and classes, and 909,216 received instruction 
in art. These numbers do not include the attendants 
upon the lectures given under the auspices of the 
department, amounting, during the year, to 8,288. 
The appropriation for the year ending March 31, 
1883, was £351,400, while the department disbursed 
during the same time £345,363 14s. Td. The grants 
for building are not included in these estimates, as 
they pass through Her Majesty’s office of works. It 
will readily be seen that the scheme of instruction 
and examination maintained by the department has 
a powerful effect upon the development of science, 
pure and applied. While it was the only important 
agent concerned in the work, its dicta passed without 
opposition: now that other institutions have taken 
up the service, particularly the City and guilds of 
London institute, the methods of the department are 
closely scrutinized, and not a little adverse criticism 
is heard. On account of the system of examinations 
and grants, elementary teachers are particularly 
watchful; and this year they have been very pro- 
nounced in their complaints. It is urged by them 
that the papers set for elementary pupils are imprac- 
ticable and unfair, betraying total ignorance of the 
capacity and condition of the class of pupils to be 
tested. Asa result of the wide-spread dissatisfaction, 
a union of teachers of science and art was effected 
last June, whose objects are, 1°, the advancement of 
the profession; 2°, the redress of grievances. 
The presidency of this association for a year has 
been accepted by Professor Huxley, who, perhaps, of 
all English scientific men, is best fitted to give counsel 
on the educational aspects. As science examiner and 
president of the Normal school of science and royal 
- school of mines, Professor Huxley has every advan- 
tage for understanding the aims and motives of the 
department; while his relations with the City and 
guilds institute and with the Royal society, of which 
he is president, preclude the possibility of narrow 
views. 
Nothing is more freely conceded in England at 
this time than the importance of sound instruction 
in science. The efforts recently made, through the 
SCIENCE. 
269 
Royal commission, to ascertain the provision for this 
work upon the continent, have been noted in this 
country. It is not, perhaps, so generally known, that 
the English authorities attach great importance to 
what we are accomplishing in the same direction. 
It has been repeatedly stated that America surpasses 
England in this respect. In a public address last 
November, Dr. Kerr, her Majesty’s senior inspector of 
schools, after an account of the leading institutions 
of Germany which he had just visited, added, that he 
believed the finest science school of the world was at 
St. Louis, America. In his address, Dec. 10, on the 
occasion of the distribution of prizes to the students 
of Finsbury technical college, Professor Huxley called 
attention to the fact that on the American side of the 
Atlantic there was a people of the same stock, blood, 
race, and power, as the English, who would run them 
harder than any competitors had hitherto done. 
We were indeed earlier than the English in making 
provision for the new demands in modern education. 
The Rensselaer polytechnic school dates back eleven 
years from the House of Commons’ inquiry; and out 
of eighty-six schools of science, tabulated in the last 
report of the commissioner of education, twenty-two 
were organized prior to 1862, the date of the much- 
abused iand-grant. ‘The state appropriations to these 
institutions for the year are estimated at $298,919, a 
small proportion of their total expense. The lecture- 
system maintained by the British department of sci- 
ence and art is a feature that may be studied with 
profit in this country. 
— The subject of the preparation of catalogues 
of the meteorological literature of different coun- 
tries was discussed by the meteorological congress 
of Rome in 1879, and has been repeatedly consid- 
ered in the sessions of the international committee. 
At the last meeting, held in Copenhagen in 1882, 
it was decided that ‘‘ the prospects of the prepara- 
tion of a general catalogue of meteorological bibli- 
ography were not favorable to its execution, and that 
the only action for the committee to take was to in-. 
vite the heads of the different institutes to prepare 
catalogues of the meteorological literature of their 
respective countries.’”’? The first publication to ap- 
pear, in accordance with this decision, is the work of 
Dr. Hellmann. This deserves more than a passing 
notice, on account of its special merit, as well as the 
peculiar characteristics which make it much more 
than a simple catalogue of scientific papers and 
observations. It is limited to- the country of Ger- 
many, and treats of the work of the Germans in 
meteorology from the earliest times to the year 1881. 
The greater part, containing seven hundred and 
forty-four pages, is devoted to a list of the scientific 
papers, arranged, first, according to authors and insti- 
tutions, and, second, according to subjects. In the 
former division, which includes the names of about 
thirty-four hundred persons and eighty-three hun- 
dred memoirs, a valuable characteristic is the con- 
densed biographical sketch of each author, usually 
but a few lines in length. The latter division is of 
special value to those who wish to know what has 
been done in special subjects of investigation. 
