ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY. THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY was originally founded to encourage husbandry, and has from its first institution received large government grants in aid of its operations. It was associated with the Science and Art Department in 1854, and the professorship of agriculture, for many years attached to its operations, was in 1864 transferred to the College of Science. At the close of 1869 there were 1,254 members. Its operations consisted of: 1. Evening Meetings of the members for the discussion of subjects of applied Science and Art, were held on the third Monday of each month, which had an average attendance of 96 persons at each meeting. The papers read, and proceedings, were published in the Journal of the Society. 2. Scientific Lectures were delivered on the afternoon of every Saturday in March, April, and May, which were attended by 3,714 persons. The substance of the lecture was published in the Journal. 3. The Botanic Garden at Glasnevin, with its experimental grounds, its exchanges and donations of plants, flowers, and seeds, and its Botanical Museum, has been maintained in a high degree of efficiency, and visited by 50,936 persons on week-days, and 172,600 on Sundays. 4. The Museum of Natural History-rich in geological, palæontological, mineralogical, and zoological collections-was visited by 31,975 persons, and the Library was consulted by 18,375 individuals. 5. The Agricultural Department included four exhibitions:-(1,) of cattle in April; (2,) of horses in August; (3,) of sheep in September; and (4,) of fat stock, poultry, and farm and dairy produce, in December, attended in the aggregate by 21,184 persons:-encouragement for the cultivation of flax :-the Agricultural Museum, which was visited by 18,500 persons. 6. The Art Department, embraced in a School of Art, which in the day classes was attended by 293 students (64 males and 229 females), and morning and evening classes by 242 artisans (214 males and 28 females), an aggregate attendance of 535 students; an annual and competitive examination for prizes; an exhibition of works of art; lectures on the Fine Arts, and a course on anatomy applied to art, which was attended by 805 persons. 7. The provincial lectures, and the instruction by a special professorship in agriculture, have been transferred to the College of Science. ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. The Royal Zoological Garden, which receives a public grant of 500l., from payments of members 3431., and from the sale of tickets at the entrance gate, 1,046, was visited by 136,052 persons; and the lectures and discussions on comparative anatomy, and veterinary surgery, were largely attended. ROYAL HIBERNIAN ACADEMY. The annual exhibition of works of fine art (392), realized 2051. out of the sale of 16,001 tickets; and the School of Art was attended by 60 students. The Academy receives a special grant of 3007. MUSEUM OF IRISH INDUSTRY, This Museum was founded by the government in 1845, and has heretofore received an annual grant of 4,3367., a portion of which was expended on scientific lectures in the large provincial towns. A portion has been transferred to the Dublin Society, and another portion to the College of Science. SCIENCE IN LITERARY INSTITUTIONS-OLD AND NEW. It is only within the last twenty years that the claims of mathematics and the natural sciences in their application to practical life, and of the languages and literature of nations now controlling the destinies of the world, to an assured place in any and every course of liberal education, have been so boldly and widely asserted as to secure even a partial recognition. Even now a member of Parliament, and a prominent member of the Government (Hon. Robert Lowe), feels himself justified in using the following language in respect to the education given in the Public Schools and Universities of England : Our education does not communicate to us knowledge, it does not communicate to us the means of obtaining knowledge, and it does not communicate to us the means of communicating knowledge. These three capital deficiencies are undoubted; and what makes these so painful is the thought of the enormous quantities of things eminently worth knowing in this world. I have spoken only of modern history, of modern languages; but what are modern history and languages compared with the boundless field that nature opens out-with the new world which chemistry is expanding before us-with the old world that geology has called again into existence-with the wonderful generalization with regard to plants and animals, and all those noble studies and speculations which are the glory and distinction and life-blood of the time in which we live, and of which our youth remain, almost without exception, totally ignorant? It is not too much to say, that the man who becomes really well educated must begin his education after it has closed. After all had been done for him that the present miserable, contracted, and poor system can do, he has to begin and educate himself over again, with a feeling that he has wasted the best and most precious years of his life on things neither useless nor unprofitable in themselves, but which were the mere by-paths or appanages to the knowledge which constitute the mental stock of a man of erudition.-An Address at Edinburgh, Nov. 1, 1867, "On Primary and Classical Education." ENDOWED PUBLIC SCHOOLS. The endowed schools of the highest grade, and particularly the Public Schools, as Eton, Harrow, Rugby and a few others are called, in connection with the requirements for matriculation at the Universities, determine the studies and culture of the educated and governing classes of England, and influence powerfully in the same direction the studies of all adventure and private schools. Into the curriculum of these schools is put as much of the languages and liter ature of ancient Rome and Greece, their history, geography, and polity, as can be crowded into an industrious school life of eight or ten years, to be supplemented by four years of university labor, stimulated by every form of rewards and honors, scholastic, ecclesiastical and state, which the garnered endowments of centuries of individual beneficence, bestowed in reference to a state of learning, society, and government which has passed away, can produce. Under the influence of these endowments, and the habits and traditions which permanent schools of great reputation foster in families and the community,-mathematics, natural science and modern languages, with the literature, arts, and political constitutions and relations of the great nations of our own day, have been, to a great extent, excluded from the higher education of Englishmen-except of the small number who have educated themselves after leaving the public school or the university, or have enjoyed the advantages of the few great schools which have been forced into existence by the exigencies of modern society. UNIVERSITIES. Until quite recently the whole influence of fellowships, scholarships, prizes, and honors, and almost the entire teaching of the great universities of England, were exerted and felt in other directions than those of scientific education, or in training the men who became the leaders in the principal national industries as capitalists, engineers, and foremen in a practical knowledge of the prin ciples of science. But few representatives of these classes, except the first, thought of sending their sons to Oxford or Cambridge, with any expectation of their following the same profession or occupation, out of which not a few have emerged into great affluence and high social and parliamentary distinction. Cambridge. Prof. G. D. Liveing writes in 1868 to a member of the Select Scientific Committee, substantially as follows:-“The University has strained its resources to supply museums of natural science, chemical laboratories, and other facilities for the study of natural sciences, both practically and theoretically. The number of students in these sciences is small, but is gradually increasing, and the University recognizes such studies as a pathway to a degree or to honors, and several colleges (Trinity, St. John's, Caius, Sidney, Downing) have held out the offer of rewards in the way of scholarships for proficiency in the same studies. These measures will do something slowly to supply teachers and diffuse sound scientific knowledge, but will not reach soon, if ever, even the master manufacturers. At present the traditions and habits of the place practically exclude young men, whose parents design them to pursue their own occupation. The University ought to assist that class by opening the examinations in science to non-collegiate students, and to require a brief residence of those who desire to pursue special courses. We have great facilities here for treating science, the laws of nature and their relations to each other, in a philosophical way, and for teaching the several branches side by side; with the prevalence of mathematical study, an exactness and logical consistency in the scientific instruction can be attained more readily, than if this instruction was attained in the laboratory or workshop alone." Oxford. Under the discussions of the last ten years scientific instruction has made great progress in Oxford, and theoretically the class-man in science stands nearly on a par in competition for honors with the class-man in classics. A new building has been erected at a cost of 10,000l. for physics, a museum of necessary apparatus and appliances has been established with an annuity to provide for additions, a professorship of experimental philosophy with an assistant has been instituted, and opportunities of studying thoroughly mathematics, astronomy, geology, botany, zoology, and almost every science which admits of application to the great national industries, exist. The difficulty in the wayof the future engineer, machinist, chemical technologist, and practical manufacturer generally, is not the absence of instruction, but in the length and cost of residence, the modes in which the instruction is given, and the general tone and habits of university life. Before science teachers even will go up to Oxford to be properly qualified, there must be practical as well as theoretical equality with the language teachers in the conditions of study and promotion. University of London. The University of London was the first in exercising its function of conferring degrees, to introduce into its matriculation examination, and into its programme of study on which the degrees are obtained, a certain amount of science; and also to confer special degrees in science. The matriculation examination is the test of a good school education-the common trunk from which all the higher studies should diverge. Into that examination, the elements of natural philosophy, mathematics, as far as algebra and geometry, and chemistry, enter. For the present, a sound elementary knowledge of Latin and Greek, or for the Greek a sufficient knowledge of French or German to read a scientific work understandingly, is required. The Bachelor's Degree in science is given after an examination conducted by experts in mathematics, mechanical philosophy, animal physiology, botany, chemistry (either inorganic, or organic, or their applications), moral philosophy, and the science of reasoning. The programmes on which the examinations are conducted were drawn up, in chemistry by Faraday, and on organic science by Huxley, Hooker, and Carpenter. The Degree of Doctor of Science is conferred on successful candidates, who, having become Bachelor, have gone through a general course of scientific study, and attained a certain amount of proficiency in several related branches, have devoted themselves to the thorough mastery of at least one science. The experience of the London University examiners for science and other degrees is of great importance in forming a correct judgment on the relative disciplinary values of different studies. Dr. William B. Carpenter says: I am perfectly convinced that elementary science is capable of being taught to pupils in all ranks of life, of both sexes, with very great advantage. It tends to develop faculties which are kept undeveloped and even repressed, by ordinary systems of culture. I am quite sure, from my own experience as a teacher, that the simple truths of science are built up very readily on a foundation of ordinary experience, in a child of ordinary apprehension. I have been constantly struck with the want of any ordinary scientific teaching in schools, and especially of the combination of pure science with the practical applications of it. The great value of natural history is in the encouragement of observation and correct description. The late Prof. Henslow devised a method of teaching botany which was remarkably effective in that respect with young boys and girls in a village school. The effect of it was, the girls in particular became livelier and brighter than other girls of the same age. The observing faculties of children from ten to twelve years of age are extremely active, and under a good teacher they readily apprehend the bearing of the facts they observe. Boys who are dull in the acquirement of languages will often be amazingly brightened up if they go into the chemical class; and will return with fresh zest and vigor to their classical studies. A small amount, a taste even for scientific knowledge, furnishes a basis to which more is easily added, and it developes the power of apprehension which makes it easy to acquire knowledge. Before the universities can do the higher work of scientific instruction, the pupils must be better prepared to receive and participate in it, in the secondary schools below. A beginning has been made in this direction by the introduction of elementary instruction in chemistry, geology, and botany, at Rugby, Harrow, and Eton, and more systematically into the modern schools of Cheltenham, Marlborough and Wellington. It will be found easier in many places to establish new schools like those last mentioned, than to modify essentially schools which are fortified against modern ideas by endowments. SCIENCE IN UNIVERSITIES OF SCOTLAND. It was a cardinal idea of John Knox, that boys should not leave school until they had devoted a proper time to "that study which they intend chiefly to pursue for the profit of the commonwealth." The four Universities of Scotland for many years have given more instruction in science than the Universities of England; and the instruction in them generally is better adapted to the demands of practical life. Hence they have a stronger hold on the people, and have a larger attendance in proportion to the population than in any other part of Great Britain. In 1868, according to Prof. Playfair, in his evidence before the Select Committee on Scientific Instruction, there was one university student for every 866 of the Scotch population, while there was only one for every 5,455 of the population of England, and one for every 2,894 of the population in Ireland. The parochial schools, which in the larger parishes are taught by graduates of the Universities, and the burgh schools, which exist in all the cities and large centres of population, are the natural feeders of the National Universities. In the University of Glasgow several of the most eminent engineers and practical chemists of the United Kingdom received their scientific training; and natural philosophy and mathematics have always received special attention. In the University of Aberdeen there are every year a few lectures on Agriculture, but no special professorship. In the University of Edinburgh there is a professorship of engineering, and another of agriculture and veterinary surgery, in each of which sciences there is now a scheme of graduation as follows: GRADUATION IN SCIENCE IN UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. The degrees of bachelor of science (Sc. B.) and of doctor of science (Sc. D.) are given in the following departments of science : Division I.-PURE SCIENCE.-Section A.-Physical and natural science. Section B.-Mental science. Section C.-Philology. Division II.-APPLIED SCIENCE.-This comprises: Section A.-Agriculture. Section B.-Engineering (civil and mechanical). Sec. C.-Veterinary surgery. DIVISION II.-APPLIED SCIENCE. All candidates for the degrees in Applied Science must give proof of having received a liberal education by being either 1.-B. A. or M. A. 2.-M. B. or M. D. 3. Sc. B. or Sc. D. 4.-Holders of two departmental certificates in the Faculty of Arts. 5.-Matriculated students of the University of London. Or failing any of these qualifications, the candidate must pass a preliminary examination in English, Latin, logic, arithmetic, the elements of mathematics and mechanics, and either Greek or two modern languages (of which French must be one), as an alternative for Greek. The examination will be the same as that required of medical students. A-Agriculture. B.-Engineering and mechanical science. C.-Veterinary surgery. A.-There will be two examinations for the degree of bachelor of agricul ture (Agr. B.), and one for that of master of agriculture (Agr. M.) The examinations will be both written and oral. |