234 Biochemical NewSj Notes, and Comment 



sity of reforming Oxf. was generally recognized by those in charge 

 of the univ. as well as by Outsiders. The resident staff favored the 

 abolition of compulsory Greek, but the alumni of the univ., especi- 

 ally the country clergy, voted repeatedly against any modification 

 of the ancient regime." Independent : School and Society, 1916, 



iii, P- 353- 



Science in the public schools and the civil service. 



From the welter of the billows which have recently beaten about the 



place of science in educ, in the columns of the periodical Press, two 



main points stand out, namely, those of the dominance of classical 



and literary teaching in our great Pub. Seh., and its influence upon 



the older univ's and the Public Services. Our polit. leaders and 



adminis. of State dep'ts are in the main trained in these schools, 



where vested interests preserve the prime places in the curriculum 



for ancient learning, and scient. subjects are discouraged for stu- 



dents who hope to obtain univ. scholarships or appointments in the 



highest ranks of the Civil Service. . . . We want to see a . . . 



recognition of the need of scient. knowledge on the part of the 



humanists of today, in the place of that attitude of obscurantism 



which they present to it. We want to make science the keynote of 



our Pub. Seh. and Univ. system, as Humboldt and others did in 



Prussia at the beginning of the iQth cent. when Ger. was under the 



heel of Napoleon; for to it are due the position and power gained by 



that country since then. . . . Are we to await like defeat before 



taking the necessary steps to ensure that our legislators, gov. offi- 



cials, and others who exert the highest influence in the State, receive 



the scient. educ. which modern life demands? Editorial: Nature, 



1916, xcvi, p. 671. 



English neglect of science. No unofiicial war document 



thus far published can compare in importance with the manifesto 



issued yesterday on the subject of our national neglect of science. 



The signatories include many of the foremost scient. names of the 



day. The argum.ents are crushing in their conclusiveness. Best of 



all, if it is permissible so to speak, the manifesto is issued at a time 



when we are face to face with the most lurid of object lessons. The 



bulk of our failures in the war have been a consequence of our 



neglect of that scient. energy, strenuousness, and Organization, of 



