CLASSICS IN SCHOOLS. 275 



is " a joy for ever," but what I denv is that these objects can be 

 gained by the hasty cramming methods which circumstances com- 

 pel Classical teachers to adopt in this country. For us there are 

 only two alternatives : either to give up Latin or to compel those 

 who take the subject to devote at least four years of regular study 

 to it. If educationists after investigation and due consideration 

 should come to the conclusion that a thorough teaching of Latin 

 is possible even in a school where Mathematics and Science form 

 the educational basis, and where, besides English and Dutch, one 

 or two foreign languages like French and German have to be studied, 

 I should rejoice exceedingly, although even then I would prefer to 

 await results before coming to a final decision on the matter, but 

 for the present I must be allowed to adhere to the motto : multiim, 

 non multa, and to the belief that thoroughness in teaching and 

 overcrowded curricula do not go together, and that cramming for 

 examinations and true education exclude one another. 



It is on these grounds that my conclusion rests that we must 

 come to a separation between mainly literary and mainly scientific 

 schools, and that Classics ought to form the basis of the formi 

 type. 



ORNITHOGALUM THYRSOIDES. — At the March 

 meeting- of the Pharmaceutical Society of Cireat Britain, Dr. 

 F. B. Power and Mr. H. Rogerson communicated the results 

 of a chemical examination of entire plants of Ornithogalum 

 thyrsoidcs, Jacq., carried out by them at the Wellcome Chemi- 

 cal Research Laboratories. Complete absence of any alkaloid 

 was ascertained in respect of the bulb as well as of the over- 

 ground portions of the plant. In addition to the dihydric 

 alcohol ipuranol, a dark green resin, amounting' to about 4 

 per cent, by weight of the dried plant, was extracted. The 

 reputed poisonous properties of the plant were fully confirmed, 

 inasmuch as the administration of 5 grammes of the ground, 

 air-dried material to guinea-pigs was followed by fatal results. 

 The symptoms produced were stated to be in entire agreement 

 with those which have been recorded as typical of the poison- 

 ing produced in horses by fodder with which the ornithogalum 

 had been mixed. Apparently the resin was the chief seat of 

 the toxic principle, and especially a portion of the resin which 

 was soluble in ether. Although attempts to obtain a definite 

 active principle were unsuccessful, it was apparent that there 

 were several poisonous substances present. All the extracts 

 obtained by the successive treatment of the resin with various 

 solvents proved to be physiologically active with the exception 

 of the portion extracted by light petroleum. 



