3 i8 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Public Houses and the substitution of cafes on the continental system — open-air 

 ones as much as possible. The argument that our climate is too rainy will not 

 hold, because open-air cafes are numerous in Holland and Belgium, where the 

 rainfall is much the same. The open-air cafe allows Bacchus to remain a god, 

 but the secret drinking den makes him a sot ! Those who can have a glass of 

 beer or a cup of coffee in the open obtain rest and fresh air at the same time ; but 

 in England the poor literally have nowhere to sit down in the streets except in the 

 stinking bars of public-houses, where tired labourers are obliged to resort in order 

 to obtain a little rest. In my experience, in no country are the poor so seedy and 

 weedy as in Britain— partly owing to slums and partly to the drink evil. Another 

 suggestion is that many more of our beautiful woods and fields should be laid 

 open to the public than at present. Boards denoting that "trespassers will be 

 prosecuted " are seen everywhere, even in places of which the owners can never 

 make any real use except for shooting. I would suggest a special tax on lands 

 kept private far from dwelling houses. Still another suggestion. At present, 

 owing to the fact that all the schools break up for holidays at about the same date, 

 there is a wild rush at that moment for the seaside, with the result that hotels and 

 lodging-houses are overcrowded and that the owners can charge extravagant 

 rates for them. But if arrangements could be made whereby schools should 

 commence their summer holidays on different dates, say from June i to August i, 

 this crush would be avoided, and people could also send their children to the 

 schools which break up on dates which they prefer. This would materially affect 

 hotel charges, which are now excessive — with the result that country hotels remain 

 almost vacant all the year round except for a few weeks in summer and a few 

 days near bank holidays, when the owners have to charge double and treble 

 rates in order to enable them to keep their hotels going at other times. A greater 

 measure of fresh air for the whole people of Britain is such an important matter 

 that these subjects ought to receive careful attention from Government. Another 

 point which I would like to see attended to is the purification of the stage, the 

 press and novels. It is merely a matter of discipline, and when the war has 

 taught us some of this forgotten virtue, we may possibly be able to enforce it in 

 civil life. 



Three small but important books on Education have recently been issued. 

 They were received too late for review, but I would advise the reader to buy 

 them. Mr. V. Seymour Bryant (Wellington College) deals with the Public School 

 System in Relation to the Coming Co?iflict for National Supremacy (Longmans, 

 Green & Co.). Lord Raleigh contributes a Preface, and the contents consist of 

 Education and the Preparatory School, the Public School Curriculum, the Role of 

 Science in the Educational Scheme, and the Advantages and Defects of the 

 Public School System, and concludes with a chapter on Constructive Policy. It 

 is the work of a practised teacher on scientific subjects and not merely a set of 

 generalisations. Prof. John Burnet's book on Higher Education and the War 

 (Macmillan) is ably, but in my opinion casuistically, written. It argues the case 

 for the so-called humanistic ideal of education, and reminds me of a certain 

 mathematical book of great length which seems chiefly to be concerned with 

 proving that two and two make four — with this difference, that I think Prof. Burnet 

 aims at proving that two and two make five. In my opinion the best book on 

 education which I have seen since the one of Herbert Spencer is that of Dr. Charles 

 A. Mercier, called The Principles of Rational Education (Mental Culture Enter- 

 prise, 329, High Holborn). This work deals with the subject in a scientific spirit 

 and deserves a full review. 



