Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 13.djvu/779

Rh of research and the material aid which are necessitated by the rapid and ever-accelerating advances of knowledge for which we are indebted to them; to secure the endowment of new schools of science, the more complete organization of older schools, and liberal provision of apparatus and material for every investigator.

4. That we seek to improve our methods of instruction in science, to introduce into our educational systems a better scientific curriculum and far more extended courses, both of pure and of applied science, and to make the position of a teacher of science, viewed from the world's standpoint, a far more desirable one than it has yet become.

5. To make the organization and the operation of our academies of science, and of our societies for the advancement of science, far more thoroughly effective.

6. To endeavor to exhibit to both classes the fact that there exists between the man of science and the man of business a community of interests; the fact that he who accumulates wealth is largely indebted for his success to him who is unselfishly revealing to him the laws by which wealth is increased and business prosperity secured.

Proposed Silk-School Farm.—Certain capitalists in Philadelphia have signified their approval of plans of a silk-school, farm, and village, proposed by Mr. Samuel Chamberlain, and a company is to be formed for the purpose of putting the project into execution at an early day. In a communication to the Polytechnic Review, Mr. Chamberlain writes that the plans provide for legal interest on the investment, independently of the silk produced. They provide for a return of the capital by means of improved real estate, and for a profit beyond legal interest by retaining intermediate sections of the land, which, it is expected, will later be sold at a great advance, in consequence of the improvements. They provide growers of trees, silk-worm eggs, and silk, in addition to those to be produced by the school, namely, the renters of forty cottages, each surrounded by an acre of mulberry trees. They provide cottage culturers, and in a few years teachers of cottage culture, who will show by precept and example how silk may be raised in the midst of family duties. The danger of strikes is obviated by the fact that the renter of a cottage may in the end be an owner, and thus become directly interested in the uninterrupted progress of the work. In the school young persons will be trained to those habits of care, patience, and watchful attention, which are necessary for the successful raising and reeling of silk. The work is light and easy, and, when skill is acquired early, is highly profitable. It is peculiarly suitable for the deaf and dumb, whose misfortune cuts them off from so many occupations. When one such school shall have shown the way, like establishments will arise in many places; and in this way it is hoped to help in turning back into the country the tide of population now flowing into our cities. The failure to introduce silk-culture in 1840 was chiefly due to want of perseverance. The three years of actual trial were not enough to carry it on to success. But a school, farm, and village, whose continuance will be maintained sixteen to twenty years, will secure a permanent source of knowledge, example, and instruction, from which the culture will extend year by year.

Water for Domestic Uses.—The question of pure water-supply has been taken up for discussion by the London Society of Arts, and circulars have been sent out to civil engineers, sanitary officers, and other persons whose callings would appear to make them familiar with the conditions of the problem, inviting from them suggestions and plans for insuring to the whole population of England a sufficiency of pure water for domestic uses. A "Congress," too, has met in London, at which a number of papers, prepared by some of the most competent engineers and sanitarians, were read. In one of these papers, written by Mr. Samuel C. Homersham, the qualities of water fit for domestic uses are stated as follows: 1. Such water should be wholesome, free from animalcules or other organisms, animal or vegetable, either living or dead, and at no time or season of the year, or in periods of epidemics, liable to propagate disease or cause the death of those who drink it. 2. It should be soft and pleasant to use with soap both for washing the person and clothes, for baths and other detergent