sources must be in the Albert and Victoria N'yanzas or their extensions; in the new lake of Col. Long; at the head waters of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and in the sources of the feeders of the Blue Nile and the Atbara." We will dismiss the "new lake of Col. Long," but remind Mr. Southworth that he has omitted the most powerful of the White Nile affluents-the Sobat-N. lat. 9° 21′ !

There can be no doubt the Victoria N'yanza is a mighty reservoir or principal source of the Nile, and the friends of the lamented Capt. Speke will rejoice in the triumph of his discovery now rendered certain by the survey of Mr. Stanley. The Albert N'yanza has never been visited by any Europeans except Sir Samuel and Lady Baker in February 1864; thus nearly twelve years have elapsed since its discovery, and yet no European has been able to reach its shores, although its waters were again sighted by Sir S. Baker during the expedition of the Khedive of Egypt.

There can be little doubt that Col. Gordon will succeed in exploring the Great Basin of the Nile, which will prove to be not only a source, but the general reservoir or basin that receives all equatorial affluents.

Although Mr. Southworth's travels do not include any new ground, his book affords much useful information, which will be received with more than ordinary interest at the present moment, when Egyptian affairs are prominently before the public.

OUR BOOK SHELF

Discoveries and Inventions of the Nineteenth Century. By Robert Routledge, B.Sc., F.C.S. With numerous Illustrations; pp. 594. (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1876.)

IN this book "an attempt has been made to present a popular account of remarkable discoveries and inventions which characterise the present century." "The instances selected have been those which appeared to some extent typical, or those which seemed to have the most direct bearing upon the general progress of the age." "The author has endeavoured to indicate, if not to explain, the principles involved in each discovery and invention."

These extracts from the preface sufficiently explain the object of the work before us. Anyone who attentively reads this book must admit that the author has succeeded in fulfilling the promise of his preface. He has produced a work teeming with useful and exact information presented in a singularly lucid and taking style. Of course this book cannot in any way take the place of the acknowledged manuals on the several subjects of which it treats, but it is admirably adapted to awaken an interest, especially among the young, in those wonderful advances which natural science has made in the present century; and to supply such a general knowledge as shall convey a correct idea of the principles on which the application of science to arts and manufactures are based, along with a sufficiently detailed account of these manufactures themselves.

Books, the general plan of which resembles that of this work, have been too often produced by men who had no scientific knowledge of the processes they attempted to describe, and have therefore shown a lamentable deficiency in exactness of detail and accuracy of theory. That the book before us should have escaped these faults, faults for which no brilliancy of diction or popularity of style can atone, is to be traced to the fact that its author has evidently determined, and has been able to carry out his determination, to make the book a scientific one; to show, as far as could be consistently with the general tone

of the work, that theory is necessary for correct practice, and that correct practice reacts upon theory. The contents of the book include an account of steam engines, iron, tools, railways, steam navigation, fire-arms, printing machines, light, the spectroscope, electricity, photography, aquaria, india-rubber, explosives, mineral combustibles, coal gas, &c. A very interesting chapter is devoted to New Metals, in which a clear and succinct account of the discovery and present method of producing sodium, potassium, aluminium, and magnesium is given. The gradual diminution in the cost of these metals, and therefore their increasing application in manufactures as chemical science has discovered easier methods for their preparation, is an argument in favour of the study of pure science which must appeal, one would think, even to the Philistines.

The title which the author has chosen for the closing chapter of his book, viz. "The greatest discovery of the age," might lead one to look for a glowing account of

some new invention to economise labour or to annihilate pain, but when we find that the chapter is devoted to a sober account of Dr. Joule's experimental determination of the mechanical equivalent of heat, and to some of the consequences deduced therefrom, we are but the more convinced that this book must rank among the few popular works which are sure to be of service in spreading a knowledge of the incalculable benefits which science has bestowed upon the human race. M. M. PATTISON MUIR

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] Scientific Research for the Promotion of Science IN NATURE, vol. xii. p. 470, there are some valuable summaries of evidence taken before the Government Science Commission; but among them I was surprised to meet with the statement (by Captain Galton, R. E.) that, as one of the varieties of administration of several existing scientific institutions, "you have the Observatory at Edinburgh as part of the University of Edinburgh."

Now, inasmuch as I have for the last thirty years held the Directorship of the Edinburgh Observatory, by virtue of my appointment thereto signed by her Majesty, I should know something of the real facts of the case; and they oblige me to state that the Royal Observatory (the only Observatory) in Edinburgh is supported, in so far as it exists at all, by Government. It is responsible, moreover, solely to Government, in the person of the Principal Secretary of State for Home Affairs; it has never at any time received a farthing from the University of Edinburgh, whether for instruments, salaries, general maintenance, or particular services; and does not form any part of, nor belong to, nor did ever belong to, the said University in any manner whatever.

But the efficiency of the Observatory has been crippled from versity; and as that offers a practical answer to the question the beginning by the connection of its Director with the Unimuch discussed in your pp. 429 and 470, touching whether there is, or is not, any difference in kind, nature, interests and feelings between institutions for the promotion of science by original observation on one side, and on the other the usually much larger and more numerous institutions for education,-I trust you will allow me a little space wherein to describe our actual and long-continued experiences here.

Built by the members of the late Astronomical Institution of

Edinburgh between 1811 and 1830, this Observatory was, after many public petitions to that end, graciously taken up by Government in 1834, and its future utilisation secured by arrangements for the appointment thereto of a Royal Astronomer with an assistant, and a small allowance for ordinary working expenses. The first Astronomer so appointed was the late Thomas Henderson, the best man by far for such a post whom Scotland has ever possessed; and as he had at that time just returned from being Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good

Hope, and had there secured and brought home the most astounding amount of both useful and even super-excellent astronomical observations that ever one man made in twelve months, there was no apparent reason why he should not at once have been allowed to step straight into this new Observatory appointment, and commence its laborious duties forthwith. But that was not to be; for he was privately informed that he must first and preliminarily be appointed a Professor in the University of Edinburgh. He started at and resisted the idea; he said he did not want to be a Professor, and would not be one; it was an occupation wholly foreign to his tastes, and entirely incompatible with the full and conscientious devotion of himself to being a working astronomer within the Observatory. Pressure, however, of powerful friends was brought to bear upon him; and he was made to understand that Government could not, or would not, whatever the secret reason, create and set agoing the new appointment for the Observatory on the Calton Hill, of "Astronomer Royal for Scotland," without first connecting it with a certain old and shameful sinecure in the University of Edinburgh, called the Professorship of Practical Astronomy.

He was indeed assured that he would, and should, never be called on to lecture in the Professorship; that it was a mere name and nothing more; and his form of appointment to the strangely and unnaturally duplex post of the old Professorship and the new Astronomer Royalship, was made out in words assigning clearly enough the work in the Observatory, of "with zeal and diligence making observations for the extension and improvement of astronomy, geography, and navigation, and other branches of science connected therewith," to be his only circle of duties and his only claim to salary, viz. 300l. per annum. But then how were those promises fulfilled; or rather, how were they neglected and overborne when the multitudinous heads of the great educational University of Edinburgh had once got poor Thomas Henderson, the first Astronomer Royal for Scotland, safe within their thrall as being also a Professor before them?

:

Why thus they immediately began treading on his toes from every side; and with the most magnificent disregard that he had anything worthy of notice to do in the Observatory, they forced on his attention, both in season and out of it, "that while they were working so hard in the great educational hive, he was a mere drone, and yet was in receipt of a salary of 300l. per annum, an absolutely larger salary than any of themselves who bore the brunt and burden of the tuition of all the students." For the complainers, be it remarked, left out of view, that if their incomes did not mount up to 300/. in the shape of salaries, it was because they came to them chiefly in the form of students' fees; and in that phase sometimes reached 1,000/., 1,300/., and even 1,600l. per annum.

But this difference the teaching Professors could not see; and so, if, as they knew perfectly well, there were no students applying for Practical Astronomy Lectures, they determined that the Practical Astronomy Professor should still be educationally utilised, and as an assistant to other Professors, if not as a Professor on his own account. Wherefore Thomas Henderson was talked at; and talked at, until for one winter he was prevailed on to give lectures in the University to the Mathematical Class during the illness of its Professor. Then he was induced to take up the onerous position of Secretary to certain University trusts. And then, while that was still going on, he was over-persuaded into giving lectures for the then Professor of Natural Philosophy during one of his retirements; and then,-why, then, Thomas Henderson, who was all this time struggling almost superhumanly by night and by day to keep up his observations as Astronomer Royal for Scotland in the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh,-why, then he died! Died too at the early age of forty-six years, and Scotland has not seen his like either before or since; for he was in fact the one and only high-class and complete practical astronomer whom his country and his nation have ever produced; and yet he was hurried to a premature grave, trampled on by an unsympathising educational University.

Of my own troubles in trying to fill this truly great man's place, I could tell a vast deal, but would rather merely refer to my last official Report to the Government-appointed Board of Visitors of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh; wherein, after showing forth the recent attempts of the University authorities actually to transfer" from the Astronomer Royalship of Scotland the whole of the salary originally appointed to that office by the Crown, and take it over to their own studentless Professorship, I have finally besought the Board to apply to

We must first distinguish two kinds of results-one directly given by the observation, the other by calculation.

In the first, we agree as far as is possible in considering the different methods of solving this question. He finds, indeed, tha: the intensity near the edge is o'638 of that of the centre, the outer zone being in the mean line 49" distant from the edge, and consequently large, 98′′ = 1′ 38′′. On my experimenting on a small area not exceeding one minute square, and distant from the centre 14'920 = 14' 55" 2 (and consequently distant in September from the edge 62"), I found o'5586. The difference is indeed not very considerable, being 00794. Now Plana has shown, in the Astron. Nachrichten, No. 513, that such a small difference may lead to a very considerable difference in the value of the absorption.

The value of the solar atmospherical absorption, according to Mr. Ericsson, cannot be greater than 0.144 of the radiant heat emanating from the photosphere (page 520), and he then quotes my results, in which it is stated that o SS is absorbed by the whole atmosphere. He proceeds to remark: "It is unnecessary to criticise these figures presented by the Roman astronomer, as a cursory inspection of our table and diagrams is sufficient to show the fallacy of his computations."

I beg leave to observe that the fallacies are not only my own, but those of Laplace and Plana as well, who from the numbers of Bouguer's have arrived at a conclusion very similar to my own. The fallacy, I think, is rather in Mr. Ericsson's method of calculating. In a problem of so great difficulty, and where the great analysts have established very complicated formulae, he makes use only of some very simple proportions, which are by no means justified, and with these he thinks his conclusion is very plain! I regret to say that such a method of computing in this case cannot be admitted, and consequently we are justified in attributing the difference of the results, not to the fallacy of our computation, but to the fallacy of those proportions assumed by Mr. Ericsson, unless he, or any competent mathematician, be able to show some great error in the formula of Laplace and of Plana.

Several objections besides may be made to his manner of experimenting, but of that on another occasion. In applying the numbers of Mr. Ericsson to the formula of Laplace and Plana, the result will be found to be not very different from mine. But at present I have no time to discuss these and other calculations, and also I wait for the new experiments which he has promised. I will only add that I do not share his opinion that the lenses and telescopes introduced in these researches by me do not give reliable results. P. A. SECCHI, Director of the Roman Observatory

Rome, Oct. 28

Sir G. B. Airy and the National Standards IN NATURE vol. xiii. p. 35, the following statement occurs :— "In the civic speeches which accompanied the ceremony [of conferring the Freedom of the City of London], great stress was laid on Sir G. B. Airy's services in connection with the Metric Standards."

MR. DONISTHORPE's ingenious construction of our numerals by corresponding numbers of lines (NATURE, vol. xii. p. 476) induces me to offer a few remarks on this subject, which has a literature of its own. There can be no doubt, I believe, that our forms were derived directly from the Arab series called Gobar; that the Arabs had them from the Indians, and the Indians from the Chinese. My esteemed friend Dr. Wilson, of Bombay, published a "Note on the Origin of the Units of the Indian and European numerals," in 1858,* in which he showed the derivation of some of our numerals from ancient Indian forms found on cave inscriptions of Western India, on the Builsa Topes, and on coins. My remarks are founded wholly on the forms given in this note, which is little known, I believe, in England.

Dr. Wilson obtains our first four numeral forms from the Chinese, traced through different Indian script characters nearly as supposed by Mr. Donisthorpe. One, two, three horizontal bars and a square for 4. He also finds the eight in the forms □□, ,, and on the cave inscriptions.

Before proceeding to the other numerals I wish to notice a rule which may be deduced from the consideration of the changes in the forms of numerals in passing from one people to another, that the same form may be turned through angles of 90° or 180°, and may be inverted or reversed without altering its value. Even the same people have used a form turned in different ways for the same numeral. The Arabs used their 2, 3, and 4 in two ways, making angles of 90° with each other; the 2, 4, and 5 of Sacro Bosco and Roger Bacon were the Indian script Modi (and ours) turned through 180°, or upside down; other examples will be noticed.

The most important derivation by Dr. Wilson is that from the Chinese ten; this is found on the Bhilsa Topes with a circle round it (Dr. Wilson thinks to distinguish it from the oldest form of K found on the cave inscriptions). The nine is found on the Bhilsa Topes as or one under ten, and on old coins thus: 8. The Indian caves give half of ten, , for five (as V is the half of the Roman ten, X). It is from this form that Dr. Wilson derives the Indian Modi and Nagari fives 4, 5, 7. It is here that I venture to differ slightly

from Dr. Wilson. One of the cave forms of four is , which Dr. Wilson interprets (as in the case of nine) one under five, or five less one; now this form without the under bar, as well as the other forms of five, are, it seems to me, the halves not of

the cross (+) merely, but of the cross and circle thus:

,,, which are as nearly as possible two half diameters and half circumference. The form is, I believe, the origin of our four, and not the Chinese or Indian square, as supposed. This I think will be evident when we compare the Arab four () with the Indian four above. The Arab four s also employed thus: , which inverted gives, a sufficiently near approximation to our four.

Dr. Wilson has not been able to find the origin of our seven,

but this is obtained from his Arab seven, by turning it and making one leg shorter than the other, nearly

round

See "India Three Thousand Years Ago." By John Wilson, D.D., F.R.S. (Bombay: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1858.)

On the Cup-shaped Joints in Prismatic Basalt THE difference between Mr. Mallet (NATURE, vol. xiii. p. 7) and myself is simply this. He asserts, as necessary to his theory, that the "convexities" should always project in the direction in which the cooling and consequent "splitting is proceeding" ("Proceedings of the Royal Society," No. 158, P. 182). I referred him to the beautiful specimen, in the hall of the Geological Society's Museum, of three columns, one of which exhibits an articulation in the shape of a double-concave lens ; the adjacent convexities consequently pointing, in this case, in opposite directions.

Mr. Mallet's reply to this is, that the cooling must have proceeded, in this instance, in different directions, and met in the biconcave-lens-shaped articulation. Now, inasmuch as this articulation is only a few inches (three or four) thick, and shows no sign of seam or separation across it, and Mr. Mallet himself declares (in the article mentioned above) that the plane which separates the part cooled from above, from that which cooled from below, "consists of irregular fragments," I maintain that his explanation is inadmissible and self-contradictory. Any geologist who takes sufficient interest in the question to examine the columns for himself will be easily satisfied on this point. Nov. 8 G. P. SCROPE

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN THE MINOR PLANETS.-The discovery of No. 154 by M. Prosper Henry at the Observatory of Paris, on November 6th, is announced in M. Leverrier's Bulletin and by circular with the "Astronomische Nachrichten;" and that of No. 155 by Herr Palisa at Pola on the 8th inst., in the Paris Bulletin of the 13th. They are of the same magnitude (twelfth) as the three previously detected during the present month.

The rapid increase in the number of small planets must soon occasion serious difficulty, not only in predicting their positions with sufficient approximation to allow of their being recognised without considerable expenditure of time and trouble, but likewise in securing observations, especially on the meridian, according to the system pursued for some years past at Greenwich and Paris, by

agreement between the Astronomer Royal and M.

Leverrier.

As regards the preparation of ephemerides, it is well known that the conductor of the "Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch," Prof. Tietjen, makes it a speciality of his work, with the aid of a numerous body of astronomers in various parts of Europe and in the United States, and hitherto he has succeeded in providing observers with an ephemeris of nearly every small planet detected to within a short time of publication. Thus, in the Jahrbuch for

1877, we find approximate places for 1875, of 134 out of 138 planets-materials for calculation not being available in four cases and accurate opposition-ephemerides are given where the elements have been perturbed to the year, and for those planets for which Tables have been prepared. The initiated in these matters will be aware that a work of this extent involves a vast amount of labour, which will be greatly increased with the present rate of discoveries of new members of the group of small planets.

In some few instances the perturbations have been determined with every possible precision, with a particular object in view, as in the case of Themis, the motion of which was rigorously investigated by Dr. Krüger, for a determination of the mass of Jupiter; and for those planets whose perturbations have been thrown into the form of Tables, it was also necessary to settle the elements with great accuracy, though the results have not been in every case so satisfactory as might have been expected. We have now Tables of Amphitrite, by Becker; of Iris, Flora, and Victoria, by Brünnow; Egeria, by Hansen; Metis, Lutetia, and Pomona, by Lesser; and of Parthenope, Eunomia, Melpomene, and Harmonia, by Schubert.

Even with approximate places of these bodies, so long as they are situated within about 3° from the ecliptic, the charts of small stars now in the hands of astronomers allow of their being identified without much difficulty with the equatorial, and the errors of the predicted places being determined by this instrument, their meridional observation is greatly facilitated. Still, rough ephemerides must be prepared, and a considerable amount of time will be involved in ascertaining their errors, and as observations made with this purpose in view may be so conducted as to give positions pretty nearly as reliable as those generally resulting from meridional observations, we shall not be surprised to learn that the latter are soon relinquished, except perhaps for the older minor planets and for such as attain the brightness of stars of the eighth or ninth magnitude, and are accurately predicted. The subdivision of labour as regards observations does not appear to have so far worked very efficiently, though proposed many years since-another effort, however, may be necessary in this direction, and it may at least be expected that those who by their discoveries are so rapidly increasing the list of planets, will keep them in view for a sufficient length of time to allow of their elements being well determined. Egeria, which has now about the brightness of an average star of the ninth magnitude, is favourably situated for observation; it has lately passed amongst the outliers of the Pleiades. The following places are for Berlin midnight :

R A. h. m. s.

N.P.D.

8553'3 65 47.8

Distance from earth.

1'478

I'479

65 42.6

1481

65 33'1 65 28.8

1.488

I'493

Lutetia, a bright eleventh magnitude, is approaching . opposition. Places, also for Berlin midnight, are:

N.P.D.

Distance from earth.

88 341

1*480

68 35'0

1'477

68 36'1

I'474

68 37'3

I'472

68 38.6 68 40'0

1'472 1'472

science to boys younger than those to whom that report refers, may be not without interest for some of your readers.

There are at present about fifty boys in this school, varying in age from seven to fourteen, the majority of whom are going to one or other of the great public schools. In order to attain the high standard of classical work necessary, half the school-hours have to be given up to Latin and Greek. Enough time still remains, however, even after providing for the requirements of mathematics, French, and the usual English subjects, to enable every boy to learn either botany or chemistry. For this purpose the school is divided into three classes, the lowest of which contains about twenty boys, whose average age is nine. Class II. is composed of ten boys of an average age of twelve, while the first class contains twelve boys of an average age of twelve and a half. Class III. has two lessons in botany of three-quarters of an hour each, and one hour's lesson on physical geography in the course of the week. The boys in it are taught to distinguish the parts of a flower, and by the help of a chart similar to that given by Mrs. Kitchener in her "Year's Botany" to discover the order to which any plant belongs. The winter is employed in learning the chart, and in studying the characters of the different orders as shown on Henslow's Botanical Diagrams. Illustrations taken from Sir John Lubbock's and Mr. Darwin's books, of the relations between plants and insects, and facts bearing on the geographical distribution and economical uses of plants, add interest to these lessons. The second class also does botany, but is able to give two-and-a-half hours per week to it. The standard of knowledge aimed at is such as is contained in Prof. Oliver's or Mrs. Kitchener's books and the boys are expected to be able to find out any given plant in Bentham's British Flora. The boys in Class I. learn chemistry, and spend one afternoon of one-and-ahalf hours at practical work in a small laboratory. Another afternoon is employed in listening to a lecture founded upon Miller's Chemistry (Text-books of Science series). Two additional half-hours are given to getting up the portion of Miller lectured on, so as to be able to answer questions on it at the beginning of the next lesson. The boys have also to keep notes of the lectures and of the laboratory work. The standard aimed at is the power to discover a simple acid and base, and an acquaintance with the text-book. During the summer the chemistry boys have a botany lesson once a fortnight, in order that they may keep up what they had previously learned. In addition to this regular work, Classes I. and II. have occasional lectures either on chemical physics, "Erdkunde," or some such subject. As regards marks, all the various school subjects stand on an equal footing.

The science lessons are very popular with the boys, as is shown by their frequently referring to them out of school, and by their occasionally bringing home plants in order to make them out. But we hope that the boys will retain some considerable amount of knowledge beyond the mere power of making out the flowers given to them, or that of doing simple analysis, and though perhaps few of the younger boys would be able to pass a thoroughly satisfactory written examination, in either chemistry or botany, yet a good deal more knowledge might be questioned out of even them by an experienced examiner than they would be able to put upon paper. Mere knowledge of the facts of either science is not the object at which we have been chiefly aiming. These sciences were chosen less as subjects of study than as instruments of training in order to cultivate the powers of observation, and to encourage a habit of inductive reasoning. If the teaching of science in its early stages is thus regarded more as a means than as an end, there is no child, who has begun to learn anything at all, who may not be taught some branch of it with advantage.

At the same time there is a danger to be avoided.

When we first began teaching botany and chemistry here, I was so strongly impressed by the truth of this view of the proper place of science in education, that I started by making the boys examine flowers and do simple reactions without making them learn anything by heart, hoping to induce them to collect their facts and build up their science for themselves. The result was that they did not know what to do with the facts which they collected, and kept losing them as fast as they picked them up. But since the botany boys have been set to learn the chart by heart, and since the chemistry boys have been using a text-book, the progress made has been far more satisfactory. A young child's reasoning powers are so feeble that he needs to be constantly guided in the use of them, and before being set to observe he requires to be furnished with a "cadre" in which to arrange his battalions of facts.

It may be asked why botany and chemistry should be chosen in preference to other sciences, such as geology or physics, which might seem likely to prove more attractive to boys. Botany was chosen because it is purely a science of perception, of observation and co-ordination of existing facts, and because it calls into play and directs into a useful channel that natural propensity of boys to collect and classify which is seen in butterfly catching and stamp albums. A good deal more might be made of entomology than has hitherto been attempted, but it is rather a holiday than a school subject, the bases of its classification are too minute and even arbitrary, and it has the disadvantage of leading almost of necessity up to subjects too wide for boys to grasp. Chemistry was chosen because it is a science of reflection, and forms the best introduction to the experimental method. In chemical analysis a boy has first to produce the results on which he must afterwards exercise his reason; he has to reflect on and draw his conclusions from not only what he sees, but what he does. He thus learns never to do anything without knowing why he does it and what result he expects to obtain. Chemistry also has the advantage of giving a first insight into the practical applications of mathematics. That indeed is the part of the subject which the majority of boys find most difficult. It is rare to find a boy who will readily work out arithmetically even a simple reaction. In the only possible rival to chemistry-physics-the simpler phenomena are much less varied and interesting, the bond of union between them is less apparent, the reasoning from effect to cause less patent, and there are comparatively few experiments which a child could perform for itself. Physics form an admirable lecture subject, but even then the necessary mathematical reasoning is far beyond the capacity of an average boy of twelve. Such subjects as geology and astronomy may be made most interesting, and a great deal may be done by directing children's attention to the physical actions going on in the world around them, but they are what, from a schoolmaster's point of view, I should call informational rather than educational sciences, their phenomena are generally too vast for a child's mind really to exercise itself upon them.

It will have been noticed that in no case are we able to give to science the full six hours per week recommended by the Commissioners. I would gladly do so, but do not think that it would be possible unless the standard for the classical entrance scholarships at the public schools, which of necessity fixes that of the first class at private schools, were lower than it is now, and although the entrance scholarships have raised this standard considerably above what it was only a few years ago, yet I do not think that it would be desirable to lower it, at least in translation and grammar. In composition, and especially in verse composition, I think it is a matter for consideration whether classical scholarship really benefits by expecting so much from very young boys; whether they would not learn to appreciate the delicacies of style more

quickly and thoroughly if they did not spend so much time over artificial composition before they have gained that natural facility of expressing their thoughts in their own tongue which only practice and varied reading can give; and whether therefore some part of the time now given to that subject might not, in many cases at least, be more usefully employed on other subjects, such as science and English composition, or perhaps drawing, in which boys naturally take a keen interest, and which certainly tend to give breadth of view and largeness of mind, and what is equally important, "a ready wit." Even in translation boys fail much oftener from want of knowledge of English than from want of power to construe. At present the number of entrance scholarships in which science counts for anything is so small that they may be disregarded, and certainly nothing could be less desirable for the interests of science itself, or more productive of "cram," than for scholarships to be given to boys in science alone. Would it not, however, be possible for the classical composition standard to be lowered in a considerable number of scholarships, and for one-third or one-half of the marks in them to be given to science, including practical work? The remaining scholarships might keep to their present standard in every respect, a standard which is certainly not at all too high for boys who possess real literary power, and possibly not for average boys who do not seem to possess any special bias either towards the literary or the scientific side. A plan of this sort would avoid giving that encouragement to "modern sides" which would be given by special science scholarships, and that would be an advantage, for any bifurcating arrangement is always practically very difficult to work, and has never yet produced a satisfactory result either in science or in classics.

The Commissioners are, I believe, in the right in thinking that education should be brought under the great law of progress from the more general to the special, and that it will be quite soon enough for any ordinary student to begin to concentrate all his energies on that particular line of study which is likely to prove the most valuable to him in his future career, when he has entered the university, and ought therefore to be of such an age and discretion as to be able to decide for himself what will be the probable course of his future life. From this opinion it is true that Prof. Stokes dissents, on the ground that "a wider discretion should be left to the governing bodies or head masters as to the degree to which what has been called 'stratification' of studies should be carried out." Now I am convinced, not only from theory, but from practical experience, that though stratification is undoubtedly the right course for an adult to pursue, yet that the advocates of that system do not make sufficient allowance for the intense love of novelty innate in a child, nor for the incapacity of a brain not fully developed of sustained application to any one subject. We have been led here, little by little, to diminish the length of the lessons in every subject until now scarcely any lesson exceeds half, or at the most three-quarters, of an hour in length; and the masters all agree in saying that with fairly intelligent boys they can get quite as much work done in the shorter time as in the longer. No boy can fix his attention on one subject for long together, and the moment it flags he might just as well be out in the playground as in the school-room. But if, before he has got weary of one subject, another which interests him is brought before him, he will turn to it with as much zest as if he were just beginning work. It has more than once happened that a boy in this school has needed to give special attention to certain subjects. Formerly I used to take such a boy out of his less important classes, in order that he might give extra time to his special subject. But in no case have we found that such a boy at the end of the term has made any