with ugly protrusive profile, and Mongoloid features, the hair being arranged at the back of the head in a sort of "pig-tail." The Amaur or Amorites, on the other hand, are a handsome people, tall, and dolichocephalic, with large sub-aquiline noses, and a short pointed beard at the end of the chin. The defenders of "the fort of Amaur" are represented as having been burnt a light pink-red by the action of the sun. Otherwise the skin is white or "sallow."

We learn, then, from the ancient monuments of Egypt that a portion of Palestine was occupied by a white race before its conquest by the Israelites. And they further inform us that this white race continued to exist in the country after the conquest. The physical characteristics of the captives taken by Shishak in the time of Rehoboam from the cities of Judah have Amorite and not Jewish features. There is nothing in common between them and the tribute-bearers of Jehu, who are depicted on the black obelisk from Nimroud, now in the British Museum, with faces of a most typically Jewish cast. In the tenth century before our era, consequently, the bulk of the population in the southern part of Judæa must have been of Amorite origin.

It is not wonderful, therefore, if we find traces of the same population still surviving in Palestine. There is no need of explaining their existence by a theory of their descent from the Crusaders. The survival of the ancient white race of Palestine is parallel to the survival of the ancient white race of Northern Africa, now generally known among French writers under the name of Kabyles. The Kabyles were at one time imagined to be the descendants of the Vandals, but we now know that they have inhabited the southern coast of the Mediterranean since the later Neolithic age. They are the Libyans of antiquity, represented on the Egyptian monuments, like the Amorites, with white skins, blue eyes, and dolichocephalic skulls, and similarly described by classical writers. They extended into Teneriffe and the Canary Islands, and their long-headed skulls have been disinterred from the dolmens of Northern Africa.

To the traveller who sees them for the first time the Kabyles offer a striking appearance. Their clear white skins, covered with freckles, their blue eyes and light hair, remind him of the so-called "Red Kelts" he has met with in an Irish village. They bear a high reputation for physical courage and love of independence, though at the same time they seem to be an orderly people. But they have two characteristics which they share with the white race of Northern Europe. They are mountaineers, the climate of the African plains being apparently too hot for them, and they are distinguished by their tall stature.

grass

These were equally the characteristics of the Amorites of ancient Palestine. The Jews declared that their "height was like the height of the cedar," the Semitic tribes by the side of them seeming to be but " hoppers," and the iron couch of Og, the Amorite king of Bashan, preserved at Rabbath, afterwards the capital of Ammon, excited the wonder of later generations on account of its size.

The Amorites also occupied the whole of the mountainous district of Syria and Palestine from the neighbourhood of Kadesh in the north to the desert southward of Judah, and on the eastern side of the Jordan they founded the two kingdoms of Bashan and Heshbon. In the mountains of Moab and Seir they formed the aboriginal population, partially dispossessed by the Semitic tribes of Moab, Ammon, and Edom, and the name of Horite under which they went in Edom is best explained as meaning "white," in contradistinction to the Semitic Edomite or "red-man." A passage in the Pentateuch (Numbers xiii. 29) expressly states that along with the Hittites and Jebusites they inhabited the mountainous region, while the Canaanites dwelt on the coast and the

valley of the Jordan. That Jebusite simply means a cross between Hittite and Amorite is clear from the statement of Ezekiel (xvi. 3, 4, 5) that Jerusalem, whose old name of Jebus gave rise to that of Jebusite, was born of a Hittite mother and an Amorite father. The Egyptian monuments bear witness to the same "interlocking of Hittite and Amorite.

There is yet a third characteristic which has been ascribed to the white race of Northern Europe. It has been brought into close connection with the dolmens which cover so large a part of its territory. Faidherbe and others have traced a continuous line of dolmens of similar construction along the northern coast of Africa, through Spain, Portugal, and France, into the British Isles. No one, indeed, who has examined the famous dolmens of Roknia, in Algeria, can fail to be struck by their resemblance to the sepulchral cromlechs of our own country. If they are really due to the genius and influence of a single race, it would seem that the race moved from north to south, since the objects found in the dolmens of the south of France betray a more advanced stage of culture than those found in the north.

The chief objection hitherto raised against ascribing these dolmens to the white race with whom they are associated has been that similar megalithic monuments exist in Palestine. Over 700 have been discovered in Moab on the eastern side of the Jordan. Major Conder has drawn attention to others in the basaltic region in the neighbourhood of the ancient Dan, and though none have as yet been observed in Judah, this is probably due to the fact that the attention of travellers has not been called to them. I have myself come across a fine specimen on a hill to the south of Jenîn which had been overlooked by the Palestine Survey, and that megalithic structures once existed in Judah is evident from the occurrence in the Old Testament of names like Gilgal or "Stone-circle," and Ai or "cairn" (Joshua viii. 29). It will be noticed that they are especially plentiful on the eastern side of the Jordan, where the two chief Amorite kingdoms once flourished. Just as the dolmens of Northern Africa were the burial-places of the ancestors of the Kabyles, so tradition affirmed that the Amorite king of Ai had been buried beneath a cairn of stones.

The discovery that the Amorites of Palestine were racially allied to the ancient Libyans opens up ethnological and archæological questions of considerable interest. These cannot be touched upon here, but must be reserved for a future occasion. It is sufficient for the present to have drawn attention to a new and curious ethnological fact. A H. SAYCE.

AT

ENGINEERING SCHOOLS.

T a time when so much is being said about the need for technical education, especially in engineering, the following letter will be read with interest :

Engineering School, Trinity College, Dublin,
June 1888.

DEAR LORD ASHBOURNE,-As you have requested me to draw up a statement of the claims of engineering schools to be recognized by the Civil Service Commissioners as affording part at least of the technical training required of candidates for engineering Civil Service appointments, I send you the following account.

Allow me, in the first place, to state that I am not advocating the claims of our Engineering School here as in any way distinct from that of many other excellent engineering schools that exist. For instance, the Indian Government is so fully convinced of the absolute necessity for a proper technical school training for engineers that it requires all candidates for Indian engineering appoint

ments to go through Cooper's Hill Engineering School; and yet the Home Civil Service do not in any way even recognize the very same technical training given to other students who stay at home as of any value at all.

The instruction given in engineering schools is of two kinds :

I. Lectures and demonstrations in mathematics, mechanics, physics, chemistry, geology, &c.; and in the theory and practice of engineering, surveying, &c., &c. II. Practical training

(a) Practical work in laboratories and workshops in mechanics, machines, physics, chemistry, and field-work in geology.

(b) Drawing and office work, including designing, making out specifications, taking out quantities, &c., &c. (c) Practical surveying, and all manner of field work. (d) Inspection of works in progress.

It will be observed what a large and important part of the training given in a school cannot be obtained in an office at all. All the instruction in mathematics, mechanics, physics, chemistry, geology, &c., and in the theory of engineering, and all the important practical laboratory training in these subjects, can only be obtained in a school; and unless an engineer has been properly and practically taught these things before entering on his profession, it is almost certain that he will never learn them. In the other more especially engineering parts of the course there are several great advantages in the school course over the office course. In the school, in the first place, the student is under the constant instruction of teachers whose time is devoted to instructing the student, and explaining to him the principles upon which his work depends; and, in the second place, the course of instruction covers as wide a range of subjects as is consistent with teaching each properly. In the office, in the first place, the apprentice has to pick up what instruction he can, and is generally content with a rule-of-thumb knowledge, that may desert him at any really critical juncture; and, in the second place, in any one office the work is yearly becoming more specialized, so that an apprentice will have experience of only a small range of subjects, and, not being acquainted with the theory of even these, will be incompetent to engage in other work.

There are, of course, certain things, such as facility in numerical calculation, and perhaps in the use of fieldinstruments, acquaintance with the details of specifications in a particular class of work, familiarity with prices at a particular time, and an opportunity of seeing designs carried into execution, which cannot be as well obtained in school as on works The object of a school being to teach, and of works being to pay, neither can completely supply the place of the other. As a course of technical training for a young engineer, the school course is out of all proportion the more important. What can be learnt from the office course will certainly be acquired, while what can be learnt from the school course will hardly ever be acquired, unless learnt before beginning the practice of his profession. In this age of technical education it is practically certain that in a few years no engineer will be recognized as such unless he has had a proper technical school education, just as in the medical profession it has long ago been recognized that, without a proper medical school education, it is impossible for a doctor to learn the many sciences upon which the successful practice of his profession necessarily depends.

Eminent engineers who have had experience of students taught in engineering schools hold opinions similar to those here enunciated. Our late Professor of Engineering, Mr. Crawford, whose engineering experience is worldwide, is of this opinion. Mr. Bindon B. Stoney, Engineer to the Dublin Port and Docks Board, is of the same opinion. Both these have had experience of schooltrained students, and think that the proper course for a young engineer to pursue is to go through a course of

instruction in a properly-equipped school, and then to go for a year on works. They consider that a year on works is required to complete the education of an cngineer, and they think that a short time on works is quite sufficient for a student who has already gone through an engineering school. Mr. Stoney, for instance, takes students who have been through an engineering school as apprentices for one year, although he will not take untrained apprentices for so short a term.

Foreign Governments in general require all who profess to practise as engineers to go through a proper technical school training, and it is a serious difficulty in the way of English engineers who endeavour to obtain employment on the Continent that, even though they may have been trained in an excellent school, yet this is not recognized by foreign Governments, because our engineering schools are in no way recognized by our own Government.

The Civil Service Commissioners should endeavour to encourage the proper scientific training of the engineers they receive into the public service, and they can do so by recognizing the years spent in an engineering school as equivalent to the same number of years of the technical training that is now required. In the more important appointments, which at present require five years' technical training, the candidate would have to supplement his school course by an office course of at least two years; and this, in the opinion of eminent engineers, as quoted above, would be amply sufficient. In the case of the less important appointments, the school training is probably much better than what satisfies the Commissioners at present; but if it is thought that the special qualifications of an office-trained apprentice are essential, they can be easily secured by requiring in every case at least one year's office experience.

The Civil Service Commissioners should, before recognizing any engineering school as giving the instruction qualifying a candidate to compete for an appointment, inspect the school, and see that it is properly equipped, and has the means and teachers required to teach what it professes. For instance, in some schools there is no special instruction in architecture, and this special teaching should be required of any school that was recognized as qualifying candidates for specially architectural appointments. Similarly, in the case of mechanical engineering, some schools have not the means of teaching it properly, and these schools should not be recognized as qualifying candidates for specially mechanical engineering appointments. A school that teaches civil engineering should be recognized as such, and only as such; and similarly, one that only teaches mechanical engineering should be recognized only as such. In the case of medical appointments, the State recognition of schools is already fully carried out, so that there can be no insuperable difficulty in doing the same in the case of the engineering appointments.

If the Civil Service Commissioners require further information as to the instruction imparted in engineering schools, it would be well for them to inspect University College, London, the City and Guilds of London Institute, and Cooper's Hill, all of which are easy of access from London; and if they require further information they had better appoint some competent Committee to inspect and report to them generally as to the training given in engineering schools, and as to whether they give a technical training that the Civil Service Commissioners would recognize as equivalent to some years spent in an office; and, if not, how the schools should modify their courses so as to give this instruction. Statements as to the nature and value of instruction made by those interested in it and responsible for it are not so valuable as independent testimony.

In conclusion, I would earnestly press upon the Civil Service Commissioners the very great desirability of their encouraging scientifically-trained candidates to apply for

no good reason to dispute, the field experience of those who have had the best opportunities of forming an opinion on the subject would tend to support the probability that his conclusions are in the main correct. WALSINGHAM.

NOTES.

MEN of science will be glad to learn that, at a meeting recently held at Dr. George Johnson's house, it was proposed to make Sir William Bowman some acknowledgment of the appreciation in which he is held on account of his high character, and professional and scientific attainments. A portrait of himself was suggested, and also, possibly, a reprint of some of his publications. Dr. George Johnson, Mr. J. W. Hulke, and Prof. Burdon Sanderson undertook to see Sir William Bowman, and ask his acceptance of the proposal. This consent having been received, a Provisional Committee was at once constituted, at whose invitation a number of eminent men of science formed themselves into the first list of the "Committee of the Bowman Testimonial Fund." As this body is already large and widely scattered; the practical carrying out of the scheme has been relegated to a Sub-Committee, consisting of the Treasurer (Dr. George Johnson), the Secretaries (Dr. W. A. Brailey and Dr. W. H. Jessop), Mr. Power, and Prof. Klein. It is not proposed to place any limit in either direction to the amounts of individual subscriptions, though the Committee are generally of opinion that large subscriptions will be found unnecessary, and that the compliment is a greater one when paid by a longer list of comparatively small subscriptions. They also hope that the funds will allow the distribution of a good reproduction of the portrait to subscribers of at least two guineas. Mr. Frank Holl, whose sudden death is deeply deplored by all who interest themselves in English art, had undertaken to paint the portrait.

IN the House of Commons on Tuesday Sir H. Roscoe asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the astronomical instruments for the international photographic survey of the heavens, recommended by the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh and the Board of Visitors of the Greenwich Observatory, the estimates for which had been forwarded from the Admiralty some months since to the Treasury, were yet ordered; and, if not, whether, in view of the fact that all the thirteen other sets of instruments were ordered by foreign and colonial Governments last year, and consequently the British Observatories would be placed at a serious disadvantage, Her Majesty's Government would be prepared to put the necessary amount on the Estimates in order to avoid further delay. To these questions the Chancellor of the Exchequer returned the following answer :-"The astronomical instruments required for the international photographic survey of the heavens have not yet been ordered, and the House will soon be asked to vote the necessary funds. It is, I believe, the case that thirteen instruments have been already ordered by different Powers and public bodies, but the hon. member is mistaken in supposing that all the Powers whose co-operation is contemplated have as yet ordered their instruments. On the contrary, two of the Great Powers, so far from ordering their instruments, have not yet definitely declared their intention to take part in the work. I do not think there is any cause to fear that Great Britain will be behindhand in the matter."

AMONG the Civil List pensions granted during the year ended June 20, 1888, were the following :-To the Rev. F. O. Morris, in recognition of his merits as a naturalist, 100; to Mr. William Kitchen Parker, F. R.S., in recognition of his services to science as an investigator, 100; to Mrs. Balfour Stewart, in recognition of the services rendered to science by her late husband, £50.

THE summer meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers was opened at Dublin on Tuesday. In his Presidential address, Mr. Carbutt did not confine his remarks to purely mechanical subjects, but drew the attention of the members to some statistics relating to the population of Ireland and to Irish agriculture and industries. Mr. Carbutt expressed a decided opinion to the effect that more money should be spent in Ireland on education, and especially on technical education. "What I mean by technical training," he said, "is teaching children to use their hands and eyes, and also giving them such practical acquaintance with the applied sciences as may bear upon the industrial employments in their district. I hope the valuable speech on the need of technical education, made by the Marquess of Hartington at our annual dinner in May, will be widely read. I may refer to the work done in the agricultural school at Glasnevin, three miles out of Dublin, of which Mr. Carrol is the head. To this school is attached a farm of 180 acres for teaching practical farming. The Munster dairy school, started in 1880 with a farm of 126 acres, is quite full, and frequently has to refuse pupils. The Government grant to these two schools is £2671. The Baltimore industrial school, the Public Works Commissioners state, will practically be a technical school of fishing. The Belfast technical school is very successful in training pupils in flax cultivation and spinning. Dairy schools have been established twenty years in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Normandy. Let me give an example of what the result has been in Denmark. A Report on agricultural dairy schools has been lately presented to Parliament from a Departmental Commission presided over by Sir R. H. Paget, M.P., which states that in 1860 the British Vice-Consul at Copenhagen reported that the butter made in that country was execrably bad. What has happened? Denmark has now ten State-aided dairy schools, with the result that her exports of butter to the United Kingdom have increased as follows:

In France theoretical and practical lessons in agriculture are now given every week in the primary schools; and a circular has been issued inviting the municipalities to provide for every dis. trict a demonstration plot of not less than half an acre for the purpose of applying the principles taught in the school."

Two rather striking speeches on education were delivered at the Sorbonne on Monday at the distribution of prizes to the suc cessful students of the great secondary schools of Paris. M. Blanchet, Professor of History at the Lycée Charlemagne, while expressing a high opinion of the value of the ancient classics in education, urged that methods of instruction should be adapted to the actual wants of the present day. He quoted the following passage written by Fleury at the end of the seventeenth century: "It seems to me that we ought to accommodate our studies to the present state of our manners, and to study those things which are of use in the world, as we cannot change this use SO as to accommodate it to the order of our studies." "Truly," said M. Blanchet, "these old pedagogues were great revolutionists. What is new in the history of French pedagogism is not the spirit of innovation and progress but that of routine." M. Lockroy, the Minister of Public Instruction, spoke in a similar tone. It was essential, M. Lockroy pointed out, that Frenchmen should know what was said and written beyond their frontiers. Science was progressing everywhere, and they should be able to follow its progress abroad, especially in Germany and England. That was one reason why the modern languages had such a strong claim on the young of this generation. M. Lockroy protested against the notion that anyone thought of destroying Greek and Latin studies. But these studies were not the only solution of the very complicated problem of modern educa

tion. Accordingly, he had thought it right to take an opportunity of stating that the problem was receiving close attention. The University was anxious to study it, and would bring to the work its high sentiment of duty, and its passion for the public good.

ON Monday Mr. Howorth asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the continuous and deplorable destruction of the ancient monuments of Egypt by travellers and others, and of their incomparable value and interest, it would be possible to appoint some Engineer officer to make a survey of those monuments and to have custody of them in future. Sir J. Fergusson replied that it rested with the Egyptian Government to take the necessary measures. Special Committee had been appointed to consider what ought to be done in the matter, and it had been decided to levy a small fee for seeing the antiquities. This would to some extent increase the sum which it was possible to devote to the preservation of ancient monuments.

A

THERE is no difference of opinion as to the great variety of uses to which aluminium might be applied if it could be produced in sufficient quantities at a reasonable cost. Hitherto it has been produced, almost entirely in France, by the Deville process; and this process involves so con-iderable an expenditure that the results have been by no means satisfactory. About seven years ago, Mr. H. Y. Castner, of New York, began experiments in that city with a view to improve the Deville process and cheapen the cost of aluminium by reducing the cost of producing the sodium from which it is obtained. Two years since, Mr. Castner erected experimental works at Lambeth, where he succeeded, after nearly eighteen months of further experimentation, in satisfying a number of men of science and others that he could produce sodium at one-fifth and aluminium at one-third of the cost previou-ly incurred. A company was thereupon formed in order to take up and work the Castner patents. In October last the foundation-stone was laid of new works at Oldbury, near Birmingham, for the production of both sodium and aluminium on a large commercial scale; the works were virtually completed, and the successful manufacture of these products was begun about a fortnight ago; and a large number of gentlemen were invited to visit the works on Saturday last, and witness the processes in actual operation. Among those who accepted the invitation to be present were the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, M.P., a trustee for the debenture-holders; Sir Frederick Abel, C. B., F.R.S.; Sir Henry Roscoe, M. P., F.R.S.; Lieut.-General Sir Andrew Clarke, G.C.M.G., C. B.; Prof. C. Roberts-Austen, F.R.S., of the Mint; Prof. Dewar, F.R.S.; Dr. Crookes, F.R.S.; Dr. Hugo Müller, F.R.S.; Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S.; Prof. Huntingdon, and others. According to the Times, only one opinion was expressed by the gentlemen who visited the works-some of them among the highest authorities on the subject-as to the practical success of all the operations witnessed, and the admirable arrangement of the plant employed. Mr. Castner was freely complimented on the skill and success with which he had developed his system.

DR. HANS REUSCH, of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, who is engaged in collecting particulars of the earthquakes which occur in Norway yearly, has issued his report for 1887, from which it appears that earthquakes are far more frequent in Norway than has hitherto been imagined. Reports were received of twenty-three, all of which were faint, except three. One occurred on the night of May 7 in the Bömmel Islands, on the west coast, and was accompanied by subterranean detonations, another in the Islands of Værö and Röst, at the extreme point of the Lofodden Group, where doors and windows clattered and the slates on the roofs were pitched off. Again, on November 5, a severe shock of earthquake was felt at

Bodö, on the north-west coast. Of the minor shocks those which frequently occurred on the Ytterö are particularly remarkable, as this island lies far out in the ocean, off the coast of Sondfjord.

THE International Meteorological Committee will hold its fourth meeting at Zürich on September 3. This will be the final meeting of the Committee as so constituted. For various reasons it has been found impracticable to organize an International Meteorological Congress, more than one Government having declined to take part in such an assemblage. It is probable that, in future, occasional meetings will be held of a body to be composed of the chiefs of the various existing meteorological services, to whose meetings nothing of a diplomatic character will attach. The arrangements connected with such Conferences have yet to be made.

IN the American Meteorological Journal for June, Mr. A. L. Rotch describes the meteorological organization of Austria and the independent observatories in connection with the Central Institute (not including those of the Hungarian service). There is a regular telegraphic weather service, but no storm warnings are issued; an agricultural service, however, exists in the summer season. The pressure at the high mountain stations is reduced to the level of 2500 metres. Mr. G. E. Curtis contributes an article on the trans-Mississippi rainfall, with reference to the popular belief that the rainfall is increasing in the Middle and Western States, the increase being attributed to the building of railroads and the extension of cultivation. Whether the amount of rainfall has actually increased or not does not appear to be proved; the author points out, however, that the breaking-up and tillage of the soil have increased its moisture, and with the growth of vegetation there have come an increased humidity of the atmosphere and a more general diffusion of rainfall. As an evidence of this result it is stated that the streams have a much more even flow than formerly. Dr. A. Woeikof offers an explanation of the different views of Mr. A. Hazen and Dr. Hann as to the general "inversion of temperature" in areas of high and low pressure. Mr. Hazen objects that the statement that, during the passage of anticyclones, the temperatures on high mountains are high in winter, is not applicable to Mount Washington, and thus no law at all. Dr. Woeikof supports Dr. Hann's views, and explains that the exception pointed out by Mr. Hazen may be due to the different type of weather in the Eastern States and in Europe, and to the greater rapidity of the passage of anticyclones in the former locality.

ANOTHER Contribution to the chemistry of the rare earths, by Drs. Krüss and Kiesewetter, will be found in the current number of the Berichte. The somewhat startling results published a year ago by Drs. Krüss and Nilson, involving as they did the announcement of the existence of a large number of new chemical elements, appear to receive additional confirmation by this subsequent work undertaken by the two former chemists. They are not yet in a position to announce the complete isolation of any one of these new elements, but so much progress has been made in this direction that a mixture containing only two of them in any quantity has been arrived at. The task of separating these elementary constituents from the minerals which have hitherto been examined appears, in the face of the fact that their properties are so similar-their known salts being almost equally soluble, and the basicities of their oxides so nearly alike-well-nigh impossible. But the results of the examination of a large number of Scandinavian minerals show that Nature herself, with her infinite resource of time and circumstance, has partially, possibly in some yet unknown instance completely, performed this long and laborious operation for us. Different minerals from the same place, and even the same mineral from different localities, are shown by the absorptionspectra of their nitrates to consist of different constituents in