excess of sodic hydrate, washing, boiling with hydrochloric acid, washing, drying, and simply igniting the resulting platinum black, and finally boiling with nitric acid and washing. This method invariably gives excellent results when the platinic solution is tried on pure potassic chloride." Col. 4, line 23, read, the authors object to the method of weighing small quantities (as 10 grs.) of dried salts. Col. 4, line 11 from bottom (Col. 2nd, line 4th from bottom, p. 285, Am. Repr.), read, 19313 and 1-582493.

Death by Electricity.

To the Editor of the CHEMICAL NEWS.

STR-I perceive you have a paragraph on the above in your last number of the CHEMICAL NEWS (Am. Repr., July, '68, p. 57), being an alleged new form of capital punishment, by a writer in Harper's Weekly.

I beg to inform you that I am the original proposer of the above; in June, 1863, I suggested to the Conservateur des Abattoirs à Paris, this method for slaughtering cattle; through insufficient address, this letter was returned to me by the "dead letter office February 17th, 1865, you published my suggestion in the CHEMICAL NEWS, page 84 (Eng. Ed.). In May, 1866, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals wrote to me that "they will be glad to appoint a deputation to attend any experiments I may desire to make, and that they will procure the permission of a butcher for the trial." This fell through because I had neither the apparatus nor the time to carry it out.

In 1866 I proposed this scheme to His Grace the Duke of Richmond, to be used instead of hanging, in capital punishment, conjointly with the suggestion that executions should take place in private, for which I gave my reasons why I considered it more expedient than the present mode. I also used the following words - "Simultaneously with the shock, the wretched being would pass into eternity without a pang."

I have condensed my letter as much as possible, and in conclusion beg a place in your journal, in common fairness to myself. I am, &c.,

Wolverhampton, April 29th, 1868.

CHAS. N. ELLIS.

Professor Guthrie's Voltastat and Graphic Formulæ.

To the Editor of the CHEMICAL NEWS.

SIR,--The report which appears in your No. 438 (Am. Rep., June, '68, page 275), of the meeting of the Chemical Society of the 16th of April is full, and in the main so accurate, that to those of your readers who were present on the occasion it might serve as a record.

As, however, you address a larger public, I beg you to al low me as concisely as possible, to clear away some misconceptions which seem to have arisen at the time, and which, judging from your correspondent "F.C.S." in the above number, have not been dissipated by reflection.

With regard to my voltastat, I have only two things to add to your report. The first concerns the use of the instrument as a voltameter. In order to calibrate the apparatus in the sense of determining the height of the mercury in the manometer tube, which corresponds to a given rate of gas delivery (or vice versa), it is necessary to collect the gases evolved. But, when this is once done, the height of the mercury in the manometer shows at once the activity of the battery. And here I think the instrument is of considerable value, because by a simple reading off we are able to arrive at a measurement of the strength of the current as accurate as that attained by the actual collection of the gas.

The second point, which is of some technical interest, is that raised by the President, who expressed his opinion that the voltastat was not applicable to weak currents such as are

required for the deposition of copper. I need only remind your readers that the tenacity of the copper film is not a mere function of the power of the battery, but also of the extent of the surface upon which the deposition takes place, and that the coveted state of aggregation of the copper is attained by extending the receiving surface, as well as by diminishing the strength of the current. Cæteris paribus, the deposited film is more coherent when the deposition takes place more slowly. Given a current of a certain strengthlet the surface to be electroplated be exceedingly small, the copper deposit will crumble away as it is formed. Let now the current remain the same, but let the surface be extended, then in the same time the same amount of copper will be deposited, but being precipitated upon a larger surface it will and the copper will be more tenacious. be thinner; the deposition will have taken place more slowly

would fall to the ground. But indeed no such extension of From this cause alone the objection raised by the President If a very weak current is the polar surface is necessary. required we have only to insert a tube of very small capillary opening. There is in fact no limit to the degree to which the strength of the current can be reduced by modifying the

instrument.

The vivacious onslaught committed by Dr. Odling on graphic formule in general, and on Dr. Brown's especially, and of which a judiciously subdued account appears in your report, I would willingly leave for reply to Dr. Brown. But as the "humorous remarks" were called forth by my modification of Dr. Brown's scheme, I may be allowed a few words of reply.

In support of the use of graphic formulae, I am fortunately able to cite an authority of whom I have no doubt Dr. Odling entertains a very high opinion. This authority is Dr. Odling himself.

In his "humorous remarks" Dr. Odling appeared shocked at the idea of an atom of nitrogen supporting three "sticks," one in each hand, and one on its head. Strange objection from one who years ago trained his atom of nitrogen to the

much more difficult acrobatic feat of balancing simultaneously three sticks on the tip of its nose,-N".

Or would not our Secretary rather liken his accents to an advertisement on the part of the element? Willing to adopt, three hydrogen babies, or an oxygen boy and a hy drogen baby, or a full-grown phosphorus adult. Apply to N., care of Dr. O., &c., &c.'

In seriousness, I am far from wishing to depreciate the system of accents introduced by our humorous Secretary. But as formulæ constructed with them are to all intents graphic formulæ, I am at a loss to understand why the graphic formulæ introduced by Dr. Brown should have so terrified our Secretary that he has sought refuge from Dr. Brown's "sticks" even beneath the once detested "buckle " of Kolbe.

It is surely a misconception on Dr. Odling's part to imagine Dr. Brown's double bond to indicate a double strength of attachment; a misconception arising from a confusion between number and quantity.

I refrain from following Dr. Odling in his connubial illustrations, which combined great humour with considerable pathos.

Your correspondent "F.C.S.," in the same number, arrives at the conclusion that there is little new in my scheme, and that that little is bad. Let me endeavour to reply to some of the remarks of "F.C.S."

Though my symbols for water and bromine resemble the ordinary symbols for division and multiplication, yet, since the latter operations are at present scarcely employed in chemical formulisation, there can be but little danger of ambiguity arising from this source. The dots and accents employed by Berzelius and others, for oxygen and sulphur may, perhaps, be still employed by "F.C.S. ;" but, I imagine, by few others. The resemblance between my symbol for oxygen and the minus sign can be of little consequence, because the minus sign need never be used.

I am fully aware that I am not the first to employ differently shaped figures to represent different elements. The hieroglyphics employed by the alchemists, and which still linger in pharmacy, are arbitrary. So are those mentioned by F.C.S." The symbols whose use I suggest have a meaning. The novelty which I claim for my modification of Dr. Brown's scheme, is this:-The figures employed by Dr. Brown are, I think, difficult to read at a glance; the only graphic difference between the symbols for different elements being the number of linear attachments. The " atomicity" in my symbols is shown by the form of the symbol itself. I need only add that the sole reason I have for adopting these special symbols is, that they are the simplest I can find to express my meaning.

With regard to incompleteness, I fully admit the charge, and invite " F.C.S." to make the system more complete. As it stands, my plan is, of course, little more than a sketch; but, unimportant as it may be, it is for the consideration of chemists rather than of humourists.-I am, &c.. FREDERICK GUTHRIE.

Edinburgh, April 28th, 1868.

Science Teaching in Schools.

To the Editor of the CHEMICAL NEWSs.

SIR, I cannot see that it was unwise to form a judgment on the tone of Mr. Rodwell's teaching from the published conclusions to two courses of his lectures, when each conclusion seemed to give the same indications A teacher of science generally sums himself up in the final remarks of his course of lectures; and Mr. Rodwell appeared to have followed the usual custom.

As a matter of fact I could not understand the conclusions I found them, in a marked degree, scholastic; I then inferred that a scholastic tone ran through the lectures, and from this, that they "were not adapted to attract boys to science." Mr. Rodwell objects to the mode in which I arrived at this conjecture, and then quoting it, adds-" they would not be fulfilling their object if they sought to do this;" hence it appears that they were not meant to attract, and it is an obvious probability that they were not adapted to

attract.

However, I cheerfully concede to Mr. Rodwell that I am not in possession of sufficient material for forming an ade. quate idea of his lectures, and if I have misjudged him, I ask his forgiveness.

Setting particular schools and individuals aside, the imperial question remains-How is science. to be taught in schools? If boys are to be elevated by means of science, it must of course be made a serious study; but, on the other hand, it should not be taught in the same hard, dry way in which classics have been taught. Phenomena should be explained simply, and I assert that the most talented and laborious teacher will not find his powers any too much for this. Theories that can be appreciated only by savants should not be introduced.

This is what I mean by the popularisation of science, and we want men to carry out this work. We do not want a temple to worship in, nor a haughty priesthood to exhibit to us a shrine; we want men who have been endowed with the means, leisure, and love for the work, to discourse to us in our owu language on the works of nature, and to walk with us in the paths of real knowledge.-I am, &c, D.

Science Teaching in Schools.

To the Editor of the CHEMICAL NEWS.

SIR, The difficulty for a conscientious lecturer on experimental science, seems to me to consist in his thinking himself obliged to go on from point to point with only a little reiteration, and with no oral questioning of his hearers. Grammar

probably requires more reiteration, more catechetical friction and raking, than physical science; but, to a certain extent, their demands must be similar. A teacher of grammar can do nothing without the frequent, sudden, lively interposition of questions; he cannot be satisfied that grammatical conceptions are formed in the learner's mind, except by seeing that the learner works under varied conditions. I imagine that a teacher of science ought to make sure that he is teaching, not merely by one examination at the end of a course of lectures, but by frequent catechetical examinations.

I sometimes sit amongst the young listeners to an experimental lecture: they have an infinite advantage over me in observing the experiments; but I have an equivalent advantage over them in recognising at once the terms used by the lecturer, by which they are often bewildered; and I long to stop him, and insist on his waiting till be is sure that they understand him. He assumes, I do not assume, that they at once recognise and understand such terms as suspension," "solution," "inverse ratio," "refraction," "specific gravity."

It would be a robbery of precious time if he stopped to grind such conceptions into the minds of the ordinary boy: that is his view. Be it so: then there must be a division of labour. Let the demonstrator go on with his lecture: let the hack schoolmaster at other times teach the terminology; any cultivated man ought to be able to do this. We, who live with boys, and become, or remain like boys, know better than the lecturer knows their shoals and fogs of misconception, their power of forgetting, their innocent hypocrisy in assenting, with a look of intelligence, when they are really perplexed.

Unluckily, there are but few men who care to go over the ground that another man has ploughed, and pick out the weeds that he has left behind.

Having now and then done this for your respected correspondent, Mr. Rodwell, I recommend it as an ancillary de, artment of that science teaching which is required of our schools. I am, &c., WILLIAM JOHNSON.

Eton, May 5.

Chlorochromic Acid Test.

To the Editor of the CHEMICAL NEWS.

SIR, This test, which is implicitly asserted by some textbooks and teachers to give sure and distinctive evidence respecting the presence of chlorine or a chloride, seems to me to fail in the case of PbCl2, Hg2Cl2, and AgCl.

In operating, I powdered and intimately mixed in a dry mortar about a grm. of each of these materials with double the quantity of neutral chromate of potassium; after drying the mixtures they were well moistened with strong, pure, warm H2SO4, when there occurred no visible evolution of any vapour, either red or yellow; the silver mixture smelled feebly of chlorine.

Hence it appears that the chlorine in an insoluble chloride may escape detection by this method, and the process will only therefore be reliable after we have replaced bases furnishing such, by others (say the alkalies) which will admit of solution in the menstruum sulphuric acid.

Since both BaCl, and CaCl, yield abundant fumes of CrO2Cl2 on similar treatment, it would seem that the preceding instances of the failure of the test are not due to any insolubility of the after-products; but I must leave others to theorise.

Should there be any novelty (which I can hardly imagine) or utility in this observation of a student at the threshold of the gate of science, perhaps your impartiality will lead you to communicate it to others similarly situated.—I am, &c.,

Eaton Square, May 13, 1868.

B. W. GIBSONE, M.A.

NEWS

Science Teaching in Schools.

To the Editor of the CHEMICAL NEWS. SIR-I am glad to see that the important question, "How to teach Science in Schools?" is being discussed in your journal, since your readers are qualified, not only to understand the arguments advanced, but also to give reasons of their own in justification of their views.

Perhaps it may be allowed to one who has taught science in schools during five-and-thirty years, and is now about to retire, to give his views, so far as they can be expressed within the short space you can afford him.

The teacher should, I think, start from the fact that boys are good observers and bad theorists. They are fond of observing the habits of animals, and delight in anecdotes respecting them; they take every opportunity of witnessing and performing experiments, not forgetting those of the fifth of November; their tops, marbles, kites, and squirts, to say nothing of cricket and racket, are all experimental, and gratify their love of active observation. I don't know how it is, but as boys grow up into men, they become worse observers, and not always better reasoners. But taking it for granted that boys love experiments, and hate the explanation, we have, I think, a clue to the nature of the boy's mind and the mode of operating upon it in the way of scientific teaching.

The lecturer ought, according to my view, to adhere strictly to the Baconian, or if you like, to the Comtean method of dealing only with phenomena and their laws. Let him say nothing of theory: let him avoid the causes of things, and not seek for the origin of light and electricity: let him avoid all those subtle notions connected with heat, and the convertibility of force: let him eschew molecular motions and molecular changes, and never give as a law what is only an hypothesis.

I know it is difficult to do this, because our knowledge advances by trying what we suppose to be true by what we know to be true. This is fair work for societies, transactions and journals; but it should be carefully kept out of schools. There is a vast, but pleasant field for the earnest teacher to travel over with his pupils, if he strictly confine himself and them to the laws of phenomena.

Science is constantly engaged in solving three great problems-1st, given the phenomena to find the law; 2d, given the law, and some of the phenomena, to find those quantities which are to serve as data for the prediction of other phenomena; 3d, given the law and these data to foretell the phenomena. Now it is the first only of these problems that can ever be completely solved, and it is this only that we should introduce into schools. If this be well done, it will lead a few out of many boys to seek out at a later period the means for following up the other two. They may even do so to some extent while at school, if the mathematical master happen to sympathise with experimental science.

The lecture should be experimental; only the simplest numerical data being used. The leading points should be exhibited in clear writing on a large sheet of paper. The lecturer should guide his class in the difficult art of taking notes, and every boy should send up a written account of each lecture. This will not only tend to fix the teaching, but will give the boy a wholesome exercise in writing English about what he knows, instead of the ordinary subject of themes, such as "love of country," &c., of which he is ignorant. If the written accounts are too numerous, the masters of the school may assist the lecturer in reading and correcting them. The lecturer should be deliberate and distinct in his utterance, and avoid eloquence with as much horror as a sensible man avoids fine writing. Moreover, he should encourage his pupils to ask questions, and to request the repetition of such or such an experiment.

Much more might be said, but as I do not intend to trouble you with a long letter, I conclude.—I am, &c.,

King's College, May 16th, 1868.

C. TOMLINSON.

Names Versus Symbols in Text-Books.

To the Editor of the CHEMICAL NEWS. SIR,-As you have opened your columns to letters upon the difficult subject of teaching science, I beg to be allowed space for a few remarks upon the Names versus Symbols used in the text-books on chemistry recommended to beginners.

It may be taken for granted that what is generally understood as the binary theory of salts is the one adopted in this country to express the composition of chemical compounds. That this theory is imperfect we are all doubtless well aware, but at the same time its imperfection is of no consequence in practical teaching, since it is consented to by chemists because it is as good and useful a theory as any with which we are at present acquainted. I take the chief point in this theory to be, that the symbolic representation of all chemical compounds shall be analogous to that of common salt-NaCì. If the above be true it is the duty of every teacher of chemistry, to endeavour by all the means at command, to suit his nomenclature and method to the theory he is about to communicate.

Are the text-books, or rather is the momenclature they contain, in thorough accord with the theory they profess to teach ?—I think not.

The reason why they are not, is, I believe, in great measure due to the fact that writers of text-books and teachers of the science have never worked in unison; have never come to any kind of agreement as to the terms best adapted to express certain facts. Each has taken his own view of the subject, and written what seemed sufficient to suit his own purpose. They have never, I think, duly considered the influence of old ideas upon persons who do not make chemistry their chief study, nor have they clearly stated the entire change which has taken place. Thus we have a mixed nomenclature, giving rise to conflicting notions upon what, whether right or wrong, should be distinctly stated.

I do not propose to lay before you anything new, neither do I pretend to unfold any panacea for our evils; I am fully alive to the difficulties of the problem I wish to solve, and am aware that many great and scientific men are, and for a long time have been, occupied with the revision of our nomenclature, and it is only my long and sad experience in teaching, which induces me to venture in bringing the subject before you.

There can of course be no objection to a chemist using any system of nomenclature in a scientific paper intended for chemists, or to the employment of any formulæ, not excepting the graphic, or even to his mixing different names and formula for the same substance; but in a text-book intended for beginners, we ought to confine ourselves rigidly to one, and heaven knows the labour of teaching only that one, to the generality of students.

The particular terms in our nomenclature to which I wish to draw attention, are those of acid, base, salt and radical.

Our idea of acid is borrowed from the taste of vinegar and unripe fruit; it has grown up with us from the nursery, and is an inheritance carrying with it its own lesson and associations. In chemistry, do we teach boys that all acids are sour? Certainly not. Do we mean to state that an acid is a body capable of uniting with a base to form a salt?--Certainly not! Do we mean to state that an acid is a body possessed of diametrically opposite properties to a base?No. But many boys cling most pertinaciously to the idea, that lump sugar is the great representative of the class of bodies called bases. Do we imagine that mere words are sufficient to make a boy believe that flint is an acid, or that water is a most potent and active dibasic acid?-We may try, but we don't succeed. The only way to convince him is, in the laboratory, to melt a carbonate, and when it is calmly fusing to add dry flint, and show him the escape of carbonic acid, and even then while admitting the fact he does not believe you, but says "you call it an acid." Again, water, which far more deserves the name of acid than flint,

does not receive that appellation. It is only hinted at occasionally and indirectly in our text-books. But if H2SO4 is a bibasic acid, because it has two proportions of replaceable H; then H2O is a dibasic acid for the same reason; and if H2SO, is to be called dihydric sulphate on account of the two proportions of replaceable H, then H2O is dihydric oxide for the same reason.

But who, in a laboratory, would ever dream of asking his fellow for the dihydric sulphate; or tell his pupil to add an additional proportion of distilled dihydric oxide to his solution, &c., &c.? If, then, from old association, we never apply these new names in practice, ought we not to do our utmost to save beginners from the danger of receiving wrong ideas? Now, it is granted on all hands, that to give exact principles to beginners you must use clear and definite language, thus supplying them, as far as possible, with correct means from which to form those ideas; and further, that until you get a youth to think chemistry in correct terms, you cannot expect him to produce exact answers; and even when correct terms are given, I am afraid, from past experience, it is hopeless to expect a boy to use them unless he finds others doing so too.

In our class-books we find such a term as dihydric sulphate given to the body HSO4; but in the same page it is called sulphuric acid, and in a third place, oil of vitriol. So, also, authors who adopt hydric chloride as the proper name for HCl, almost invariably in the text write about hydrochloric acid. Is it fair to ask a boy in his reading to think in such terms as hydric chloride, and to be examined in them, while in his text-book, and in the laboratory, he has practically never heard it called anything but hydrochloric, or even muriatic acid. These names matter nothing to the chemist, neither do the formulæ, whichever, say of the 20 recognised ones, you choose to use for common vinegar. The chemist would most likely know what you meant, without caring much for your names or symbols; but not so the boy, or the beginner. To such a one, a name means something, and a formula is supposed by him to be a sort of representation of the composition of a body. He requires therefore, first, a formula for vinegar to be given without comment that it is wrong, or that there are 19 others, all of which, according to their authors, are more correct than the one he is learning. Further, all the recognised text-books should give the same recognised formula for the same body, leaving it to more advanced books to deal with the differences of opinion respecting them. If boys are to believe in chemistry, they must find the same names and the same facts recorded in all their text-books; and this at present is not the case. It is therefore proposed, for the consideration of all persons who have the school-teaching of chemistry at heart, whether it would not be better to exclude altogether the terms acid and base from elementary text-books.

Should you, Sir, deem these remarks worthy of a place in your valuable Journal, I shall be happy, at some future time, to consider the other terms, namely, salt and radical. The present letter is, I fear, already too long to discuss them now.-I am, &c.,

Laboratory, 28 Grove Street, Lisson Grove, N. W.

THOMAS WOOD, Ph.D., F.C.S.

Science Teaching in Schools.

To the Editor of the CHEMICAL NEWS.

SIR, The excellent letter of Mr. Tomlinson in your Journal of May 22nd (Am. Repr., July, 1868, page 53) must be my excuse for troubling you with a few lines upon the subject of Science Teaching in Schools.

I have, on the average, 150 pupils going through the courses of chemistry and physics necessary for the various competitive examinations during each six months, and as each member attends two lectures in the week, I may

perhaps be allowed, after nearly seven years' experience, to add my tribute to Mr. Tomlinson's assertions.

It is, in most cases, next to impossible to impart the theories for the production of heat or electricity, for example, to any except the senior divisious; and I most cordially agree with Mr. Tomlinson, "to say nothing of theory," except in special cases where the mind is well prepared by age and previous scientific training in lower classes to receive such impressions. I believe the true system to be, (1), gradually to rear the mind of the young student, commencing, for example, with the most elementary considerations of pneumatics and general properties of matters. (2). He should, as Mr. Tomlinson justly observes, be thoroughly instructed in that most difficult process of taking notes, and particularly of each experiment, and in some cases made to draw the essentials of the apparatus used. (3). A viva voce examination should be held upon the subject of the previous lecture; this I believe of great good, for by it you find out the weak points of which nine out of ten pupils are for some reason or other ashamed to tell you; and in junior classes it is well to invite questions after every experiment. (4). Scientific terms should be avoided as far as possible at the commencement, and even when they are used should be most thoroughly explained. A course of elementary technology, such as our leading manufactures, illustrated by specimens and diagrams, and experiments when possible, I find of much value and greatly appreciated.—I am, &c., T. BLOXAM.

The College, Cheltenham.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Technical Education.-We think the CHEMICAL NEWS may be justly proud of the fact that it was the first journal to introduce the subject to the English reading public. The question has been warmly taken up both by the medical, weekly, and ordinary daily papers, numerous articles have been written upon it, and a number of scientific gentlemen have formed themselves into a committee for advocating its adoption in England. For this really very considerable amount of progress we have to thank mainly the British Association for the advancement of Science; and if a scheme is promptly drawn up and as promptly carried out, for the fulfilment of the objects in view, the credit resulting to the Association will be one of the greatest in the series of its already great triumphs.

The public must do scientific men the justice of acknowledg ing that they have not been slow on their part in urging this matter. The result of its neglect every one now admits to be most disastrous; let us not, therefore, wait for something worse by letting these questions now die out by want of discussion. The recognition of a defect is the first step towards its remedy, and that the recognition has been given any one may judge from the daily press; we quote the following from a publication of great promise, Beeton's Journal, which is intended to obtain, and we believe has already done so, a wide circulation among the boys of our large colleges and schools:

"However soon we may set technical schools going, we cannot bring the knowledge so acquired to bear for many years. Our hope must be in the rising generation of Englishmen. They should think, think over these mechanical arts; they should view them as a noble study. Every fresh laboursaving machine means another class of men raised from degrading toil to healthy independence; from a position where the mind is robbed, it may be, of all chance of improvement, to one where the mind is employed and the body saved. And it means, moreover, a new source of wealth to the country, and a new vantage ground over foreign states.

"If the spirit of the great inventors is to slumber through the rising generation, then, when our great men do arrive, we shall probably be too far behind in the race to make good

our lost ground. But this ought not to be. The new generation sees the works of the giants of other days; it reads of their doings. It has not the same fear of leaving their beaten paths, of departing from their practice, which may be supposed to have deadened the inventiveness of the pupils of the great men themselves. There are great things waiting to be invented. There are fame and wealth to be won. But we want something altogether new and wonderful, something to set our hearts beating as our fathers' beat at the electric telegraph, not to set our brains calculating the dividends to be made by sending messages, something grand, and with an interest apart from money."

It should not be forgotten that the question of technical education for workmen and their employers must be regarded as inseparable from that of scientific education; in the higher classes of society, the one without the other is quite valueless It may be freely granted that technical education is encouraged abroad and neglected at home; the evil result is admitted to be of magnitude; but few results of this kind are due to one cause only--and a further cause, and in the main, not a less effective one, is the want of recognition that is awarded socially and politically to men of science generally. Science requires support by state grants, parliamentary representation, and introduction into schemes of general education, for its proper development in England. It is sufficient merely to indicate the ground that should be taken up by all scientific men, and we have endeavoured to supply them in this journal with the materials necessary for a clear expression of facts as they stand. When such materials are afforded as data, we can safely omit all comparisons, and there need be no fear that the verdict of all thinking men will be otherwise than a unanimous

one.

We begin, then, with the report that has been drawn up by Dr. Bahin upon the technical schools of France; we only wish that there existed in England an official blue book drawn up by competent commissioners.

"Of the many institutions in France devoted to technical education, the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures stands highest. It enjoys a world-wide reputation, as pupils flock to it from all parts of the civilised globe. It was founded in 1829 by a private Society of eminent scientific men, for the purpose of training civil engineers and managers of industrial work and manufactories. It has well sustained its reputation; from a private it has gradually risen to the importance of a national institution, by raising industry to the rank of the liberal arts, and by creating, as it were, a new faculty. The instruction provided here is not only theoretical, but eminently practical, as most of the professors are former pupils of the school, who, after devoting many years to practical work, return with this additional experience, to carry out those sound methods of instruction under which they themselves were formed. The pupils of this school are not all drawn from the richer classes, but are to a certain extent recruited from the workshops. The principle of assisting poor but deserving students forms a striking feature in its organisation. I quote the following words from the prospectus :-"To give to a young man, poor but talented, the means to develop his faculties, to endow the country with an industrious man who will know how to draw fresh wealth from it, is not only a good action, but a good investment." The government, the local authorities of the departments, and the Société d'Encouragement, have each contributed towards this noble work. The course of study extends over three years. Candidates for admission are required to pass satisfactory examination in elementary mathematics and composition. The studies of the first year are general and obligatory upon all pupils. They form a suitable preparation for the succeeding years, and enable each pupil to select the special branch of industry for which his taste and capacity best adapt him. The selection must be made at the beginning of the second year. The studies are then divided into four sections-1. Machinery; 2. Physical science; 3. Chemistry; 4. Mining and metallurgy. The pupils undergo special examinations during the year, and a general one at the end of each year, which serves to determine their fitness for passing

from a lower to a higher grade. Those who at the end of the course satisfy all the examination tests receive diplomas, and those who satisfy only a certain number receive certifi cates of capacity. These diplomas and certificates are the sure introduction to honourable and lucrative employment, affording thus a valuable criterion of the estimation in which the school is held, and of the importance of the work which is done in it.

Next in importance are the Ecoles Impériales des Arts et Métiers of Aix, Angers, and Châlons. These are essentially Government schools, established for the purpose of training foremen and managers of workshops and skilled artisans. Each school draws its pupils from a certain number of departments, of which it is the centre. Applications for admission must be addressed to the prefect of the department in which the candidate resides, accompanied by certificates of birth, health, good conduct, and general aptitude for some mechanical labour. Admission is obtained only after passing two examinations. The first is both oral and written, and comprises reading, writing. arithmetic, elementary geography, geometrical drawing, and the drawing of ornament; and, in addition, each candidate is required to execute some piece of work in wood or iron, in connection with the trade which he has been learning. The second examination is entirely oral, and limited to the subjects of the first. The following details are worthy of note:-Pupils are received only as boarders, at an annual payment of twenty-four pounds. The parents of poor but successful candidates, on addressing a formal application to the minister, are exempted from paying either the whole or a certain proportion of this sum, according to their means. The course of instruction extends over three years, and is both theoretical and practical. The former comprises arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, descriptive geometry, mechanics, drawing, and grammer. The latter is carried on in four workshops, and includes carpentry, smithery, casting, and fitting. Prizes are awarded at the end of each year to the most deserving pupils, and certificates at the end of the course to those who acquit themselves satisfactorily; and, if any specially distinguish themselves, they receive in addition a silver medal. In the eastern departments of France, which abound in manufacturing industry, the benefits of technical education have been widely extended. At Mulhouse, one of the principal centres, there are several important schools, founded and maintained by the munificence of the leading manufacturers.

The Ecole Professionnelle renders valuable services to the cause of industrial progress by the variety and extent of its educational programme. It comprises five divisions-1. An elementary division, in which languages, mathematics, and the principles of science are taught. 2. A special division, where, in addition to the higher branches of the above subjects, practical science is taught in the workshops, under the direction of an engineer and two foremen. 3. A commercial division. 4. An industrial division, where the instruction is chiefly practical, and carried out in the workshops, the chemical laboratory and the schools for spinning and weaving. 5 An upper division, serving as a complement to the second and fourth divisions, and preparatory to the Ecole Centrale. In the practical department of dyeing, printing, spinning, and weaving, the pupils are initiated into all the most recent improvements, and, under the guidance of an experienced professor, they pay periodical visits to all the great industrial establishments in the neighbourhood. There is also a special school at Mulhouse for teaching the theory and practice of power-loom weaving, established under the patronage of the Industrial Society. The school was called into existence for the express purpose of stimulating improvement in this branch of industry. Connected with it is a complete working establishment, to which the pupils are admitted, only after the satisfactory completion of their studies, either as working weavers or overseers. This establishment also becomes a valuable medium between inventors and manufacturers, by undertaking to examine and report upon all new inventions and improvements brought before it, and by helping to secure