NOTES 665 



them the position which Natural Science ought to take in the educational system 

 of Great Britain and the Civil Service Examinations respectively, and Lord Crewe 

 has appointed a Committee to inquire into the matter. The following statements 

 issued by the Committee show how moderate are the demands of the scientists, 

 and completely refute the unfounded charge made by some advocates of the 

 classics that Science wishes to banish Greek and Latin entirely from the 

 curriculum : 



1. That their essential object is to secure for the teaching of natural science a 

 position of no less importance, as an essential component of a liberal education, 

 than that which is now held by the teaching of languages and history. 



2. That, although they make no proposal to displace these subjects from the 

 curriculum of Public Schools (the Schools represented at the Headmasters' Con- 

 ference), they recognise that for the attainment of their object it is necessary that 

 time now spent on the study of Latin and Greek grammar and composition and of 

 Roman and Greek history must be greatly diminished. 



3. That it is necessary that the position of a boy on entering the school, and in 

 later years, should no longer be determined mainly, as it is now in many schools, 

 by his proficiency in " Classics." 



4. That the classical teachers should not be more numerous nor more highly 

 remunerated than those engaged in teaching the natural sciences ; in fact, a good 

 form master should be able to teach boys both natural sciences and literary 

 subjects. 



Neglect of Science 



Prof. Ernest Glynn of the University of Liverpool makes some interesting 

 notes on the neglect of science in his pamphlet Microbes and the War, with 

 Comments on the National Neglect of Natural Science (C. Tinling & Co., 

 Liverpool, price 3d.). Dr. Glynn begins by regretting that so many of our industries 

 have gone to Germany in past years, and cites the notorious case of apparatus in 

 use in bacteriological laboratories. " Indeed," he says, " I am inclined to think 

 that the only articles of British manufacture of any importance found in the 

 laboratory were soap — Sunlight, and the Daily Mail ! " That the British people 

 fail to realise that science is a vital factor in life is shown from the following 

 illustrations. " During the present war the Research Department of the Royal 

 Woolwich Arsenal advertised for university-trained research chemists at wages 

 of £2 os. 6d. per week ! " " In the whole history of the British Government there 

 has been only one Cabinet Minister who was a trained professional man of 

 science— the late Lord Playfair." " The esteem in which science is held may be 

 measured by the suggestion in Lord Dunraven's scheme for the reform of the 

 House of Lords, that in the future it should consist of 400 members, whereof two 

 should represent art, literature, and science." In his section on "Vested Interest 

 in Classics," he brings forward many facts and figures to show that the number of 

 posts in the Government, Fellowships in the universities, and positions in the 

 schools given to men versed in the classics, far exceeds those given to men with a 

 knowledge of science. Discussing the Foreign Office he remarks : u How much of 

 the Turkish muddle and the Balkan muddle is due to our idiotic and unscientific 

 educational methods ? Neither the late British Ambassador at Constantinople 

 ' nor any of the staff spoke the language of the country except one man —he was 

 recalled ! " Speaking of Darwin and Lister he says : " The lives of such leaders of 

 modern science are as ennobling to study as those of the greatest men of ancient 

 Greece and Rome." Worshippers at the shrines of dead languages will doubt- 

 less receive a salutary shock when they learn from Dr. Glynn that the original 

 raison d'ttre for the study of Latin was chiefly that the Latin " language was 



