WAYSIDE NOTES. 
159 
seriously contemplating the desirability of returning the subscriptions 
they have already received. The amount that Edward accomplished 
for natural science was simply enormous, even if considered inde¬ 
pendently of the bright example of devotion that he has left for 
younger generations to imitate,—if they can. We cannot understand 
whv a memorial of this kind should fall so flat, although we recognise 
fully that the tendency of the day is to sound the praises of technical 
education, and to sneer at such impractical things as mere sciences of 
observation. When the pendulum comes back in its swing, and the old- 
fashioned word “naturalist” comes once more into favour, we shall 
probably be heartily ashamed of the neglect with which the proposed 
memorial to Thomas Edward has been received. 
Dr. Junker gave the Royal G-eographical Society a field day of the 
first water on the 9th ult., when he told a crowded and admiring 
audience his story of that region of the “ dark continent ” which lies 
between the Upper Nile, the Congo, and Lake Chad. Rather, we 
ought to say, when he was expected to tell his story to the Society, 
for in truth the famous traveller said very little about his own work, 
and devoted himself mainly to the Malidist rebellion, and his gallant 
friend Emin Pasha, to whose aid another renowned African traveller, 
Mr. H. M. Stanley, has recently started. Probably Dr. Junker felt 
his task too complicated for a single meeting of a society, and indeed 
it may well be supposed to be difficult to compress even the baldest 
account of six years’ continuous exploration into a portion of an 
evening. Dr. Junker has shown, just as other travellers have, that 
Central Africa contains the most perfect system of inland water 
communication in existence, the term “ network,” as applied to its 
rivers, being literally, and not metaphorically true. 
Mummy wheat is responsible for a great many troubles. It would 
be an interesting investigation to find out how many good men have 
gone astray, or have been led astray by the Arab who has learned to 
measure all things by their capacity for extracting backsheesh. Prof. 
Judd is the latest addition to this noble army of martyrs to a disposi¬ 
tion over-endowed with faith. Botanists, who above all men are 
interested in the prolonged vitality of seeds, have over and over again 
protested against the loose way in which seeds, asserted to have been 
taken from some Egyptian mummy case, have been used to demon¬ 
strate the possibility of enormous vitality, and it is really hard for 
them to be told by Prof. Judd that “competent botanists have cited 
the case of the germination of seeds taken from ancient Egyptian 
tombs as authentic.” Pray, Prof. Judd, do not be so chary in taking 
us into your confidence. Either let us know everything or nothing. 
Who are these certifiers to the character of mummy wheat ? As, in 
our small way, earnest enquirers after scientific truth, pray let some 
light in upon the Egyptian darkness with which we are enshrouded. 
General scientific education will, we hope, receive decided assist¬ 
ance from the recently printed report of the Select Committee on 
Endowed Schools. It is not yet twenty years since the Endowed 
Schools Commission cleared away the dust which for, in some cases, 
centuries had accumulated upon the work of the great public schools 
of England. Much valuable work there was shown to have been done, 
but as a whole it might be plainly stated to be altogether dispropor¬ 
tionate to the amount at the disposal of the then existing governing 
bodies. In some cases all the worst vices of close corporations were 
seen to be reproduced. The broom the Commission then applied no 
doubt swept clean for the time, but there is no finality in educational 
systems. That the public has largely profited by the changes few will 
