82 NATURAL SCIENCE. Feb., 



rational system of education ; one that does really lead out and train 

 up the natural faculties of the race and of the individual, instead of 

 coldly crushing them. 



Much, however, remains to be done — in the teaching of Natural 

 Science, quite as much as in other subjects. We must not make a 

 bogey of Nature, but a friend, one with whom our children can 

 converse, whom they can question for themselves, and whose tales 

 they may delight to hear. Of course, the old way was easier — for 

 the teacher. The new way takes time, and its results will at first be 

 hard to estimate in either marks or money. At the outset teachers 

 must be taught and examiners instructed ; we all want a guide. 



With the hour has come the man. Our guide waits for us in the 

 person of Mr. Hugh Gordon, the science demonstrator to the London 

 School Board; while as a guide-book we have his " Elementary Course 

 of Practical Science," of which part i. has just been issued by 

 Messrs. Macmillan at the price of one shilling. This is a book to 

 excite enthusiasm in the heart of every teacher worthy of his post. 

 Slight though it be, it is a step, and a long step too, in the right 

 direction. Mr. Gordon's method is the method of Nature ; he would 

 educate the child as Nature has educated the race. Take nothing for 

 granted! Ask " W^hy ? " Try for yourself! Prove each step! Be 

 clean, careful, accurate I Check your results ! Such are the precepts 

 that Mr. Gordon shows us most admirably how to put into practice. 

 Exactly how he does this we do not intend to divulge. The book, 

 though it would take many weeks to work through, can be read in 

 less than an hour ; and no hour could be better spent by all who, 

 whether as parents or teachers, have the inestimable privilege of 

 bringing young minds into touch with this wide and wonderful 

 world. 



Mathematical Biology. 



A DISTINCTION is often drawn between the exact sciences and the 

 natural history sciences, on the ground that only the former are 

 capable of mathematical expression and demonstration. Attempts 

 have of course been made at different times to subject the growth or 

 the form of animals and plants to mathematical analysis ; but, as a 

 rule, the amount of variation that is so characteristic of living beings 

 has baffled the enquirer. Now, however, observers are attacking the 

 elusive quantity itself, and endeavouring to define it in terms of 

 mathematical precision. The last number of the Proceedings of the 

 Royal Society contains two remarkable papers bearing on this subject. 

 The one is "On certain Correlated Variations in Carcinus nicenas" by 

 Professor W. F. R. Weldon; the other, "Contributions to the Mathe- 

 matical Theory of Evolution" by Professor Karl Pearson. 



It is recognised that no two animals are exactly the same, and 

 that their organs vary irregularly. Professor Weldon has, however. 



