yg6 Accidents resulting from the [December, 
nical education, and there has been duly constituted “ The 
City and Guilds of London Institute for the Establishment 
of Evening Classes for Technical Education, or the Appli- 
cation of Science to Industry.” Twelve ledtures on “ Some 
of the Practical Applications of Eledtricity and Magnetism,” 
by Mr. W. E. Ayrton, A.M., Inst. C.E., and twelve ledtures 
on “ The First Principles of Chemistry,” by Prof. H. E. 
Armstrong, Ph.D., F.R.S., are now in course of delivery. 
Subsequent courses of ledtures on “ The Elementary Prin- 
ciples of Mechanics exemplified in our Clocks and Watches,” 
on “ The Applications of the Laws of Heat to the Steam 
and other Engines, and on “ Inorganic Chemistry with 
especial reference to its Technical Applications,” have 
already been arranged. 
We trust this example will be followed in our large manu- 
fadturing towns, and that when the best system of imparting 
technical education has been determined, no red-tapeism will 
hinder it from being speedily and universally adopted. 
England will then soon regain her former position. Even 
the Japanese have, as Mr. Ayrton remarks, set us an example 
that our ambition should lead us to emulate. There has 
grown up, in the very midst of a people who a few years ago 
were almost in a state of slavery, a technical college, with 
its staff of carefully chosen English professors, with its labo- 
ratories, class-rooms, museums, libraries, and workshops, 
costing for maintenance an annual sum of £12,000. To 
study at this college neither money nor position is necessary ; 
ability and a desire for knowledge are the only qualifications. 
IV. ACCIDENTS RESULTING FROM THE 
HEAT OF THE COMSTOCK MINES. 
<*£. 
* N the “ Journal of Science ” for March last we gave an 
abstract of a paper on “ The Heat of the Comstock 
Mines,” by Prof. John A. Church. The heat in the 
lower levels of these mines appears to surpass in intensity 
that of any other mines in the world. Prof. Church’s 
explanation of the phenomena supposes the existence of a 
cold, and what may be called a burnt out, layer of rocks, 
extending 1000 feet below the surface; a zone of hot rock 
