Correspondence . 
114 
[February, 
The interpretation is not hard. The “ gold ” is trained intel- 
ligence. The two nations are mine and yours. Your mints and 
assaying offices are your examining bodies. Our gold-mines are 
our schools of research. — I am, & c., 
F. Meyer. 
[The case is worse against us than our correspondent makes 
it. The assayer, though he cannot increase the quantity zl 
bullion, yet distinguishes corredlly fine gold from base metal. 
Our mental assayers rejecft the finest gold along with the pinch- 
beck, and “ pass ” the 8-carat articles. — E d. J. S.] 
POPULAR INSTRUCTION. 
To the Editor of the Journal of Science . 
Sir, — You have often remarked the ignorance of the cultivated 
classes, and even of public instructors, concerning the natural 
sciences. I met with a striking instance of this the other day. 
Taking up by chance a periodical addressed to young ladies, I 
found in one of the articles a slug referred to as an “ insect,” — 
not merely once, but repeatedly ! If such darkness is in the 
teachers, what is likely to be the state of the taught? — I 
am, &c., 
“Thorough.” 
