All are agreed that some education is necessary; but what? The great proportion of those having the direction of our educational system and facilities in charge still cling to a system which was established long before the first mechanical operation came into existence. Before the present system of man's relation to man, socially, industrially, politically, or commercially, was heard of, and notwithstanding the revolutions and advancement in all other things, there is a determined resistance to any attempt at revolution in what shall be considered education.

There is an effort to establish compulsory education; but what is the child to be taught? As if in league with the false theories of the rights of labor, these efforts take the apprentices from the shops, force them away from where they would learn something, and confine them inside a school house to learn—what? Certainly nothing of the materials, or tools, or pursuits by which they are to obtain their livelihood. The child knows nothing of when or by whom the compass was discovered, the printing press, the use of powder, electricity, of steam, or of any one of the thousand mechanical operations now controlling every department of life. Does any school boy know how many kingdoms there are in the natural world, or whether an animal, a vegetable and a mineral all belong to the same or to different ones? Will he know that from instinct the young of animals seeks its food and expands its lungs, as by the same instinct the root of a seed sucks up its nourishment from the soil and sends its leaves up to breathe the air? Will he know anything of the nature or requirements of the soils or the plants that grow in them? Will this compulsory education teach the boy anything of the iron furnace, the foundry or rolling mill, or the uses or handling of any of their products? Will it teach him anything of woods and their value, or for what and how they are useful to man?

Will this knowledge, for which the powers of the State are to be required to force him to know it—will it teach him anything of the nature or uses of metals, of metal working, or the business depending upon them? Will it teach him anything of gold or silver, copper or brass? Anything of pottery, of bone, ivory, celluloid, etc.? Will he learn anything of hides, leather, or the production of these necessary articles? Will he know whether the word textile applies to anything but a spider's web or the wing of a butterfly? Whether the United States make, import, or grow cotton, wool, silk, flax, and hemp?

Will he know anything of commerce, railroads, telegraphs, printing, and the great number of clerk labors in the larger towns? Will he have learned a single thing which will assist him in his work of life? Will not every boy thus taken out of the shop and placed at the compulsory schooling find after he has mastered all it has to give him that he yet knows nothing; that he must then commence where he was and serve his apprenticeship; that instead of compulsory education his past years have been wasted in obtaining but a compulsory ignorance?

The Charge for Insertion under this head is One Dollar a line for each insertion; about eight words to a line. Advertisements must be received at publication office as early as Thursday morning to appear in next issue.

Lubricene.—A Lubricating Material in the form of a Grease. One pound equal to two gallons of sperm oil. R. J. Chard, New York.

Assays of Ores, Analyses of Minerals, Waters, Commercial Articles, etc. Technical formulÆ and processes. Laboratory, 33 Park Row, N. Y. Fuller & Stillman.

Manufacturers of Improved Goods who desire to build up a lucrative foreign trade, will do well to insert a well displayed advertisement in the Scientific American Export Edition. This paper has a very large foreign circulation.

Cutters, shaped entirely by machinery, for cutting teeth of Gear Wheels. Pratt & Whitney Co., Manufacturers, Hartford, Conn.

18 ft. Steam Yacht, $250. Geo. F. Shedd, Waltham, Mass.

Electrical instruments of all kinds. One Electric Bell, Battery, Push Button, and 50 feet Wire for $4.00. Send for catalogue. H. Thau, 128 Fulton St., N. Y.

Wheels and Pinions, heavy and light, remarkably strong and durable. Especially suited for sugar mills and similar work. Pittsburgh Steel Casting Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Boilers ready for shipment, new and 2d hand. For a good boiler, send to Hilles & Jones, Wilmington, Del.

Best Steam Pipe & Boiler Covering. P. Carey, Dayton, O.

Foot Lathes, Fret Saws, 6c., 90 pp. E. Brown, Lowell, Ms.

Sperm Oil, Pure. Wm. F. Nye, New Bedford, Mass.

Power & Foot Presses, Ferracute Co., Bridgeton, N. J.

Kreider, Campbell & Co., 1030 Germantown Ave., Phila., Pa., contractors for mills for all kinds of grinding.

Punching Presses, Drop Hammers, and Dies for working Metals, etc. The Stiles & Parker Press Co., Middletown, Conn.

All kinds of Saws will cut Smooth and True by filing them with our New Machine, price $2.50. Illustrated Circular free. E. Roth & Bro., New Oxford, Pa.

"The Best Mill in the World," for White Lead, Dry, Paste, or Mixed Paint, Printing Ink, Chocolate, Paris White, Shoe Blacking, etc., Flour, Meal, Feed, Drugs, Cork, etc. Charles Boss, Jr., Williamsburgh, N.Y.

A Practical Engineer and Machinist, 24 years' experience. Best of reference, marine or stationary; forge; fit; repair. W. Barker, 433 2d Ave., N. Y.

Hydraulic Presses and Jacks, new and second hand. Lathes and Machinery for Polishing and Buffing metals. E. Lyon & Co., 470 Grand St., N. Y.

Nickel Plating.—A white deposit guaranteed by using our material. Condit, Hanson & Van Winkle, Newark, N. J.

Cheap but Good. The "Roberts Engine," see cut in this paper, June 1st, 1878. Also horizontal and vertical engines and boilers. E. E. Roberts, 107 Liberty St., N. Y.

The Cameron Steam Pump mounted in Phosphor Bronze is an indestructible machine. See ad. back page.

Presses, Dies, and Tools for working Sheet Metals, etc. Fruit and other Can Tools. Bliss & Williams, Brooklyn, N. Y., and Paris Exposition, 1878.

The Scientific American Export Edition is published monthly, about the 15th of each month. Every number comprises most of the plates of the four preceding weekly numbers of the scientific American, with other appropriate contents, business announcements, etc. It forms a large and splendid periodical of nearly one hundred quarto pages, each number illustrated with about one hundred engravings. It is a complete record of American progress in the arts.

Bound Volumes of the Scientific American.—I will sell bound volumes 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 28, and 32, New Series, for $1 each, to be sent by express. Address John Edwards, P. O. Box 773, New York.

For Solid Wrought Iron Beams, etc., see advertisement. Address Union Iron Mills, Pittsburgh, Pa., for lithograph, etc.

Pulverizing Mills for all hard substance and grinding purposes. Walker Bros. & Co., 23d and Wood St., Phila.

2d hand Planers, 7' x 30", $300; 6' x 24", $225; 5' x 24", $200; sc. cutt. b'k g'd Lathe, 9' x 28", $200; A. C. Stebbins, Worcester, Mass.

J. C. Hoadley, Consulting Engineer and Mechanical and Scientific Expert, Lawrence, Mass.

Best Wood Cutting Machinery, of the latest improved kinds, eminently superior, manufactured by Bentel, Margedant & Co., Hamilton, Ohio, at lowest prices.

Water Wheels, increased power. O. J. Bollinger, York, Pa.

We make steel castings from ¼ to 10,000 lbs. weight. 3 times as strong as cast iron. 12,000 Crank Shafts of this steel now running and proved superior to wrought iron. Circulars and price list free. Address Chester Steel Castings Co., Evelina St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Diamond Saws. J. Dickinson, 64 Nassau St., N. Y.

Machine Cut Brass Gear Wheels for Models, etc. (new list). Models, experimental work, and machine work generally. D. Gilbert & Son, 212 Chester St., Phila., Pa.

Holly System of Water Supply and Fire Protection for Cities and Villages. See advertisement in Scientific American of last week.

The only Engine in the market attached to boiler having cold bearings. F. F. & A. B. Landis, Lancaster, Pa.The Turbine Wheel made by Risdon & Co., Mt. Holly, N. J., gave the best results at Centennial tests.

Hand Fire Engines, Lift and Force Pumps for fire and all other purposes. Address Rumsey & Co., Seneca Falls, N. Y., U. S. A.

For Shafts, Pulleys, or Hangers, call and see stock kept at 79 Liberty St. Wm. Sellers & Co.

Wm. Sellers & Co., Phila., have introduced a new Injector, worked by a single motion of a lever.