member of society, while the idiot (sometimes even with the best possible physical development) is generally in an almost irremediable state as regards his mental faculties. These distinctions are yet but little known in this country, and much ignorance prevails on the subject, an idea being entertained that "Cretinism has something to do with goitre," while numerous continental investigators, and more particularly those of the Sardinian Commission, have convincingly shown that only about one-third of the Cretins are affected with goitre. We recommend this subject to the consideration of the Irish authorities; it is one of immense importance, when we take into account the possibility of effecting a permanent restoration to the use of reason of even a small proportion of those who are now known as "Idiots."

We regret much that our limits will not permit us to enter further into the consideration of this valuable report on the "Status of Disease" in Ireland. The sections on temporary diseases are ably drawn up, and should be consulted by all interested in the statistics of disease. We have here a basis of comparison for the results obtained in other countries and in subsequent times, and the value of such a standard cannot be too highly estimated.

ART. III.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.-A Practical Treatise on Mine Engineering, by G. C. GREENWELL, Colliery Viewer. 4to. Parts 1 to 12. Price 2s. 6d. each. M. and M. W. Lambert, Grey-street, Newcastle-uponTyne. 1853 and 1854.

Ir is a singular circumstance that up to the present moment there does not exist in the English language a good scientific and practical treatise upon mining; indeed, until very recently, there did not exist a work of any kind upon the subject. The same may be said of the equally important branch of industry, metallurgy. Hitherto this want was not sensibly felt, for, in the first place, the majority of the persons engaged in these departments have been, and are still to a great extent, men almost wholly unacquainted with science, and who work by a blind routine. And in the second place, the immense mineral resources of England, their admirable geographical position, and that of the country itself, relatively to other nations, gave to England such advantages over other countries, that rigid economy of production could be disregarded. The reverse of this was the case on the Continent. Science conferred so many benefits on industry in France during the first French Revolution, that its importance as an element in industry was at once recognised on the Continent. Another cause has largely contributed to bring about this result-namely, the comparative poverty in mineral resources of most Continental Nations as compared with Great Britain, and the absence of that happy combination, which, joined with its unrivalled geographical position, has placed the latter country at the head of all commercial nations. Skill and science had to make up for the want of natural advantages, and this they have so effectually done,

that France, Germany, Belgium, have at length become formidable rivals of British trade.

The extraordinary growth of material civilization now taking place, and the basis of which is mineral wealth, has created a still greater demand for coal and the various metals, and impressed upon the public mind the necessity of economy of production. Men are beginning to understand that in order to obtain a certain quantity of coal, it is not necessary to waste a still greater quantity; that in order to work deep mines, it is not necessary to destroy the strength of the workmen in climbing hundreds of fathoms of ladders, or making them breathe a stifling, noxious atmosphere. Societies have been formed for the promotion of knowledge connected with mining, and schools for the special education of miners are beginning to be established. Among the former we may specially mention the "North of England Institute of Mining Engineers," at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, under whose auspices several valuable contributions have been made to mining knowledge. In connection apparently with this institute, a College of Industrial Science has also been established at Newcastle, in which lectures are given upon chemistry, mining, &c.

The lectures upon mining were given in 1852, by Mr. G. C. Greenwell, and these he has now made the basis of a large illustrated work, which is being published in parts at 2s. 6d. each, under the title at the head of this notice. The object of the author is to provide a manual for the use of mining students and of mining engineers, who have not had an opportunity of acquiring previously a scientific education, which he from experience justly considers of the highest importance. It is because of this laudable object that we notice the book, and because it is a pleasing indication of the progress which is taking place among the mining classes. More than this we cannot say of the book, for although rather expensively got up and profusely illustrated with plates of sections (each number has four), it is not the kind of book which we had expected. The first chapter, which occupies more than six numbers out of about fifteen of which it is to consist, is devoted to the application of geology to mining, is written in a very rambling and unconnected style, and shows very little acquaintance with the present condition of science. The statistical data are borrowed from writers who have lived half a century ago. The third chapter is altogether upon metallurgy, and that too of so elementary a character that much more information might be obtained from Chambers's Information for the People. Mr. Greenwell is evidently a practical man, and accordingly much information of value is to be found in the fourth chapter "on boring for coal," occupying part of No. 9, and the whole of Nos. 10, 11, and 12. Even here, too, there is a want of system and logical arrangement, which is much to be regretted. Judging from what has been published, the work will be more likely to be finished in 100 numbers than in 15.

As unpretending lectures the contents of the book would be of service, but as an expensive and pretentious treatise on Mine Engineering, we do not consider it, we regret to say, of much value, and think Mr. Greenwell has entirely failed to effect his laudable object.

JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PROGRESS.

ART. I.—On a general system of Art Education in Ireland.

WE have repeatedly had occasion to insist, in this Journal, on the general importance to every people of some systematic education in the principles and practice of the Fine Arts; and we have pointed out how especially fruitful any well ordered system of Elementary Instruction in Art would at once become in Ireland, in consequence of certain direct tendencies of the Irish mind, which, strongly disposed as it is to what is abstract in thought, but at the same time definite in expression, needs but the advantages of skilful and correct training, and a pure direction, to attain very high results in this department. We shall not here recapitulate the reasons upon which such an opinion and such expectations founded upon it are based. The taste of even the most uneducated of the Irish peasantry (and we should expect to find the same among their Celtic kinsmen of Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall) for the pure mathematics, ist very well known to all who have had any opportunity of observing it; and without going further at present, we may remark that it is precisely with such a taste we might expect to find a natural talent for drawing allied, since there is no study which better accustoms the mind and eye to definite and correct ideas of forms and proportions than that of the pure mathematics. If then the ancient Greeks were, and the modern French are, distinguished from among all their cotemporaries by their special delight and general proficiency in Geometry, we know them to be equally remarkable for ability in Drawing above all other nations, and we may reasonably assume that the people of Ireland would exhibit the same species of ability if their powers were equally cultivated, and their tastes were afforded equal opportunities.*

And it is not merely for the student who intends to become a professional artist, nor yet only for him whose easy circumstances in life may permit his making acquaintance with Art as a mere accomplishment, that

*The above remarks apply, of course, strictly to Drawing (what the French call dessin) and Perspective only, and not to the other branches of artistic education, such as Colouring, Composition, &c. But the foundation of all true success in the Fine Arts consists precisely of Drawing and Perspective, and in dealing with the subject of national education in Art, it is not thought necessary particularly to dwell on the superstructure of the system, where special branches of education would be provided in Academies for the small number of finished students, out of which the Profession of Painters would draw candidates for original reputation and lasting fame.

it is important for the nation to provide adequate means of accurate and tasteful education, though in the opinion of the present writer at least, it were well worth the pains and expense of a great national educational establishment, could even but a few true artists be the fruit in each generation. Outside the circle of candidates for professional rank, (who must be ever few,) outside the comparatively narrow circle of the affluent in search of mere accomplishment, a far more ample sphere extends, in which Education in Drawing is destined to lead to important practical advantages. Almost every trade, almost every manufacture, will derive from the practice of Drawing an accuracy and completeness now unknown to it, while from the ideas imbibed in the course of even an elementary education in the first principles of Art, (guiding as these must every form of Ornament and ornamental work-and what work is wholly free from some attempt at ornament?) the workman and his manufacture will draw something of taste and beauty, qualities now so very rare, yet, with a view to anything like real civilization of life and manners, so indispensably necessary. To the Carpenter and the Cabinetmaker, to the Builder and the Mason, to the Machinist, to the Artizan, in short to the workman in every department of manufacture, some suitable education in Drawing is absolutely necessary to the proper practice of his trade-how much more of such an educational element, and better than any now procurable in Ireland, would be requisite, if our artizans would in any way improve in their employment-how much more, and how much better still, if in point of elegance and good taste they would vie with the productions of neighbours provided with such educational advantages as the French, and even of so many other nations on the Continent.

In this country, however, we have had almost no education in Drawing, and that which does exist is unfortunately meagre in extent, and miserably inferior in quality. Every Irish artist we know of has been either wholly or almost wholly self-taught, and the people at large have, of course, neither opportunity nor inducement to struggle into this kind of knowledge. In this country, therefore, it appears to us to be clearly necessary to make Elementary Drawing an invariable part of the Primary Education of the people. Already, indeed, the want of it has so far been felt, that this department of study has been partially introduced (generally under inefficient direction) into a few schools of the Christian Brothers, and, with somewhat better result, into the Dublin School of the Board of Education; and in both cases the motion is doubtless one in the right direction. But the wants of the country require a great deal more than this, nothing less, in short, than the introduction of Elementary Drawing into all schools of Primary Education throughout the island, and as part of, and inseparable from, the course of education practised in them. And this first step would be as easy, as in a late number of this Journal it has been shown would be the addition of the rudiments of Music to the ordinary course of instruction at these schools; for with the help of a good elementary treatise, (which may be very easily procured, provided we do not go to the Board of Trade for it,) the rudest village schoolmaster may easily direct the elementary essays of his scholars. This part of a general plan would be

the foundation of all the rest, and this part of it may be put in operation at any time by the existing Educational authorities, and without any additional expense to their present system.

Opposite in the scale to the Primary Schools, or those in which the first rudiments of Drawing should be taught, and as the ultimate development and completion of a national system of Artistic Education, would in a perfect system, stand a College or Academy devoted entirely to special instruction in the Fine Arts in those higher and more difficult branches, requiring the exclusive devotion of the student. It is in such an institution that the professional artist would seek, and ought to find, the last instructions in his Art; and after there concluding a complete course of study, he ought to be able-so far as education can ever make him ableto compete with the original artists of his day. Such an institution should supply the highest and most perfect training, and should be carefully and constantly conducted by the ablest and most accomplished artists in the country; but in Ireland, at present, the only substitute for such a College is the chartered "Royal Hibernian Academy," a body which is notoriously inefficient, if it is not indeed, as at present constituted, even absolutely incapable of ever becoming really effective.

The constitution of most " Royal Academies" has been found almost altogether unproductive of really valuable educational results, and these bodies have often been condemned by competent authorities on the subject, as tending rather to injure and retard, than to foster and direct the advance of general taste and the successful prosecution of professional studies, and as obstructing rather than promoting the spread of artistic education. It appears to us, indeed, that the general failure of the chartered academics arises, in some degree, from the abuse, rather than as a direct consequence, of their constitutions; but it is certainly true, that hampered as these bodies are by a variety of extremely ill considered, useless, and embarrassing restrictions, which, being incorporated with their charters, cannot be shaken off, it would often be difficult for them to realize any measures for the effective execution of the educational trust supposed to be reposed in them. Thus the Hibernian Academy (to take an instance, from ourselves) consists of Fourteen Academicians, among whom Sculptors must, and Architects may be, and generally are represented, to whom is committed the undivided property in and care of the establishment; but besides these fourteen Academicians, there are also Ten "Associates" of the Academy, and vacancies among the Fourteen can only be filled up from out of the Ten, who may thus be considered as probationary members of the Institution. The Academy (that is, the council of Fourteen) is a self-electing body, having the sole power of filling up its own vacancies; and it also alone appoints to vacancies among the Ten Associates. Again, when once any person is elected an Academician or an Associate, he cannot be removed, even though he should cease to live in the country, or to care for the establishment. The natural consequence of such a constitution is, that this close corporation ceases in reality to represent the profession at largethat it becomes accordingly "suspect" to the profession at large, and assumes an attitude apart from, if not in hostility to it-that its tendency