In the latter part of this pamphlet arguments are stated and opinions quoted in favour of raising the age for Indian Civil Service Candidates.

In reference to the general subject dealt with, we should like to be informed whether a Society organised in 1883 for the encouragement of Mohammedan education, by Mr. Syad Ali, Acting Deputy Collector of Vizagapatam, and Mr. Syad Abdul Aziz Khan Bahadur, has prospered. Mr. Metcalfe, Principal of the Rajahmundry College, and President of the Committee of the Mohammedan Education Aid Society, acted as Treasurer of the Fund. The objects of the Society appeared to be excellent, and we should be glad to receive their latest Reports.

HOME EDUCATION CLASSES OF THE

MADRAS BRANCH OF THE NATIONAL INDIAN ASSOCIATION.

We have received the following proceedings of the Director of Public Instruction, Madras, dated May 2nd, 1885:

Read the following letter from the Inspectress of Girls' Schools, Northern, Southern, and Central Ranges, to the Director of Public Instruction, dated Madras, 20th April, 1885, No. 930:

"I have the honor to submit my report on the Home Education Classes of the Madras Branch of the National Indian Association, examined on the 26th and 29th March, 1885.

"2. There are some changes in the superintendence and in the staff of teachers since last year. Miss Carr, one of the Honorary Secretaries of the Association, now takes the general supervision, and Miss Nixon, who holds a first-grade normal certificate, has been appointed as Assistant Superintendent, on a salary of Rs. 100 a month. Miss Nixon entered on her duties on the 1st February, 1885. Miss Martyn, who was absent on sick leave for six months, has resigned, and her place has been filled by Parvathiammal, who holds a third-grade normal certificate. Atheammal, who was on the staff last year, has completed her normal certificate, and made it perfect by passing in school management, and in English language. Home education was begun among Mussulman ladies during the year, by Miss Cripps, but her services are now wholly required for the Hobart School,

and she gave up the work in December. No grant was drawn for her as a home teacher. The Committee have appointed another teacher acquainted with Hindustani to carry on this work. No grant has yet been applied for for her, but I hope that before long her work will be brought under inspection, and will be reported on next year.

"3. There have been many changes among the pupils this year, and the numbers have fallen from twenty-nine to twentyfour. Some of those who have left are absent from Madras, and intend to resume their studies when they return. The standard has also slightly fallen, there being no pupil under instruction this year who has passed the Special Upper Primary Examination. One pupil attended the Special Upper Primary Examination in December, but failed. This pupil and two others are now preparing for that examination, and it is hoped that they will attend it next December. At the inspection, no pupils were presented for Upper Primary certificates. Six were presented for Lower Primary certificates, and three obtained them. The three who failed could easily gain them in two months' time, if they work well.

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4. The magazines, Janavinodini and Suguna Bhodini, are taken in almost all of the houses where the pupils are sufficiently advanced to read them. This year there are, among the pupils, an unusual number of beginners, but most of these are intelligent and promising pupils.

"5. Needlework still requires much attention. With a few exceptions, the plain work was only moderate. The ornamental work was very fairly done, but the colors and designs were faulty. Two pupils obtained certificates of honourable mention and merit at the Needlework Exhibition of the Association, but generally the needlework is not as good as it should be. The Assistant Superintendent had, during the short time since she began work, supplied the pupils with patterns and better materials; and I hope much from her superintendence of the needlework during the year. She had also supplied all the pupils with good exercise books, and had shown them how to arrange them in an orderly way, and to keep them neat.

"6. The attendance and other registers were in order, and were very neatly kept. The Assistant Superintendent has prepared good time-tables for the teachers, and has arranged her own so as to meet them at each class at least as often as once a fortnight. Every day, except Friday, she meets two of the teachers.

"7. The Assistant Superintendent has also undertaken to give special instruction in English and in needlework.

"It has been found possible to conform to all the revised

rules laid down in article 53 of the code, except rules (3), (5), and (6).

"(3) Some of the pupils are beginners, and therefore cannot yet study all the subjects named.

"(5) The number under instruction varies constantly. At the time of inspection, only one teacher had ten pupils.

"(6) Only one pupil was younger than ten. She is a little Brahman girl, who would not be allowed to go to a public school."

The above report shows that the work of the Home Education Classes in connection with the Madras Branch of the National Indian Association has been carefully conducted, and much may be expected from the superintendence of Miss Carr, who is now helped by Miss Nixon, and three native female teachers, all holding normal certificates. It is gratifying to note that home education has been begun among Muhammadan ladies.

2. The changes recorded against the pupils, and the fall in numbers, as well as standard, are somewhat discouraging, and so are the results of the public examinations; but allowances must be made for depression in a scheme which has not yet passed out of the experimental stage.

3. It is satisfactory to find that Janavinodini and Suguna Bhodini circulate in the pupils' households.

4. The classes consisted of twenty-four pupils: twelve Brahmans, six Vaisyas, and six Sudras. of officials, and eight of traders. "others."

Thirteen were the children
Three are entered under

5. The inspection results are very fair, but needlework certainly requires much attention. The Director is glad to find Miss Nixon so devoted to her work, and he trusts the record of the current year will be one showing substantial progress.

6. The fact that all the conditions of the article of the code under which aid is granted are not fulfilled is noted. But, if in time it is found impracticable to fulfil the conditions strictly, the question of continuing under this system of operation will of necessity come under consideration, as, considering its expensiveness, it will not be desirable to relax the article further than was done last year.

(A true copy and extract.)

(Signed) H. B. GRIGG,

Director of Public Instruction,

A VISIT TO THE GEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM.

The National Indian Association arranges for Indian students occasional visits and excursions to places of literary and scientific interest, which are of real benefit to them, both as directing their attention to sights which they might have missed, and as enabling them to see objects under circumstances more favourable than they themselves could command. Among the numerous advantages of study and observation which a stay in England necessarily affords, by no means the least is that of visiting its various Institutions, for the deeper insight which they give into the intellectual life of the people; and for the part the National Indian Association contributes to this end it deserves our best thanks and support.

A visit was lately paid to the Geological Department of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, under the guidance of Dr. Woodward, F.R.S., which afforded us an instructive view, of course of a general character, which would not have been otherwise possible without a study of several volumes. We were at once introduced into a world of centuries ago-nobody can say how many-when existed the beings whose remains we saw collected and carefully arranged on every side of us, which were now subjects of curious and patient study to some, and of amusement to others. The evidence which the fossil remains of animals have furnished of the successive changes the strata of the earth have undergone since the beginning of the creation was also very interesting to note. The stir which the science of Paleontology, as it is called, has created, not only as a "handmaid" of Geology, but in revealing the organic history of the world, is remarkable. It seems to pull down Man from the exalted position he has hitherto occupied in the popular belief as the earliest among created beings, and, in consequence, to change his historical place in the animal kingdom. It has revealed to us that thousands and thousands of years before he made his appearance the world was peopled, just as it is now, but by beings of various kinds, and in various forms of development, the first, in point of time, being the developed forms of life, and the last before him Birds and Mammals. The realisation of these facts, through the visit to the Museum, excited great interest, and for this we must thank Dr. Woodward, who had, in pursuance of a previous engagement with him, kindly undertaken to show us round the place. His lucid and interesting expository remarks enlivened

and brought within our comprehension what would otherwise have remained an uninteresting collection of bones, legs, teeth, and skeletons.

The second feature of interest in this visit-which, of course, follows from the first, already hinted at-was the fact of our minds being directed to the amount of patient research and persevering toil of the Western nations in pursuit of science. Of this the collection before us gave striking evidence. We found ourselves standing face to face with the results of the investigations of geologists who have devoted their whole lives to their work, and who have collected fossils from all parts of the world, thus laying the foundation of the science of Paleontology. A contact with such minds (and what contact could be closer than the one we were now having?) could not fail to produce a salutary effect. I have given this fact prominence because of the urgent need we have of recognising and bringing it home. to ourselves. In no time of their history have the Indians ever devoted themselves to the discovery of the practical truths of Nature, and in this lies their chief misfortune. If they are to advance as a nation in future, and benefit by contact with the English people, they cannot too seriously be impressed with the examples and labours of English men of science.

My object, as I have already said in the beginning, was to note down here only the impressions produced by the visit, and therefore I hope I shall be pardoned for not having gone into the description of the different things we saw there, which, even if I would, I could not do any justice to, for want of sufficient especial knowledge of the subject.

ONE OF THE PARTY.

INFANT MARRIAGES IN INDIA.

The Census Returns of India, for 1881, furnish valuable information for those who are advocating postponement of their daughters' marriages to a later age than is at present customary.

How heavily the women of India are sufferers is shown by the fact that in 1881, out of a population of 253,891,821, there were 20,938,626 widows, but only 5,691,937 widowers.

It is not the females of one race only who thus suffer, for, of the widows, 16,117,135 were Hindus, and a fourth of that number, viz., 4,003,981, Muhammadans.