March 9, 191 1] 



NATURE 



cative of the ordinary course of events. The pre-Lepto- 

 cephali and the Leptocephali are just as much pelagic 

 animals as, for example, the larvae of the cod or haddock, 

 and occur in the upper layers not exclusively in the 

 Messina Straits, but everywhere in the various deep basins 

 of the Mediterranean, as well as in the Atlantic. 



W'ith regard to the actual spawning of the eels, it is 

 still undecided whether this takes place on the bottom or 

 bathypelagically in great depths of the ocean. In our 

 1906 cruise we found the Leptocephali of the common eel 

 in great numbers far out in the Atlantic over depths of 

 4000-5000 metres. Further, the largest quantity of 

 muraenoid eggs I have taken were found near the surface 

 in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea over about 3500 

 metres. There is the possibility, therefore, that the eels 

 seek out to these great depths in order to spawn bathy- 

 pelagically, irrespective of the bottom, but unfortunately 

 it will be very difficult to decide this question one way or 

 the other. 



Our present knowledge of the life-cycle of the eels may 

 be summarised as follows.^ 



The eel-fishes spawn in great depths, how far from the 

 surface we do not yet know. The eggs occur pelagically 

 in the surface layers, and there give rise to the pre- 

 leptocephalous stages, which also belong normally to the 

 uppermost layers over great depths. Their whole 

 'organisation also shows that the pre-Leptocephali, as well 

 as the Leptocephali, are true pelagic organisms. The 

 Leptocephali likewise belong to the upper layers (high up 

 at night, lower down in the day time), but there is the 

 difference that during their prolonged existence they spread 

 ■over greater distances and are also found over shallower 

 waters than the pre-Leptocephali. 



The first stages in the transformation also proceed 



pelagically, but thereafter the different species behave 



differently. Whilst some species during transformation 



go deeper down in the sea [e.g. Synaphobranchus), others 



i,e.g. Conger and the common eel) undergo most of their 



I metamorphosis in the upper layers. In their later life the 



I former live in great depths, the latter in shallower water 



I near the coast, and even in fresh water. When the time 



I for reproduction arrives, all descend again into the oceanic 



depths whence they came, spawn but once, so far as we 



know, and never return. Johs. Schmidt. 



Copenhagen, February 8. 



REPORT OT THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION. 



i 'T^HE fifth annual report of the president of the Carnegie 



[ Foundation for the .'\dvancement of Teaching covers 



the year ending September 30, 19 10. The report is divided 

 into two parts. Part i. pertains to the current business 

 of the year ; part ii. is a discussion of the relaiion of the 



j college and the secondary school. 



' The report shows that the trustees had in hand at the 



end of the year funds amounting to 2,222,811/., consist- 

 ing of the original gift of 2,000,000/. par value of 5 per 

 cent, bonds and 200,000/. accumulated surplus. The in- 

 come for the year was 108,776/. During the year sixty- 

 four retiring allowances were granted, of which forty-six 



i were in accepted institutions and eighteen in institutions 

 not on the accepted list. 



In the first part of the report the president of the 

 foundation follows up the bulletin on medical education 

 by a paper on the relation of the university to the medical 

 school, in which he directs attention to the responsibility 

 attaching to any college or university which undertakes 

 medical education. 



The second part of the report is a careful attempt to 

 state the existing causes of friction between the secondary 

 school and the college, and the loss of educational efficiency 

 in the present methods of bringing pupils from the school 

 to the college. The complaint of the college against the 

 secondary school, and the complaint of the secondary- 

 school against the college, are set forth. 



An extremely interesting part of the report is a state- 

 ment of the observations of Oxford tutors upon the pre- 

 paration of the Rhodes scholars. The strong points in the 

 American youth's preparation are readily seen by these 



1 Four species of Leptocephali, one of Tilurus, and first «nd foremost the 

 two Conger species (C. vulgaris and C. myita.x) form the basis of this 

 ■summary. 



NO. 2158, VOL. 86] 



trained teachers, and the weaknesses which they find point 

 directly to the superficiality and diffusion of the work done 

 in the American secondary school and college. 



The president of the foundation urges that this whole 

 question be approached by secondary-school men and 

 college men in a spirit of cooperation. Neither the certifi- 

 cate method of admission nor the piecemeal examination 

 method have in his opinion solved the problem. He urges 

 that the college must find a solution which will test better 

 than the certificate or the piecemeal examination the 

 fundamental qualities of the student, and which will at 

 the same time leave to the high school a larger measure 

 of freedom. He recommends a combination of certificate 

 and examinations, the latter of a simple and elementary 

 character, but calling for a high quality of performance, 

 without which the candidate will not be admitted. For 

 example, under this plan the boy who cannot write good 

 idiomatic English would not be admitted to college at all, 

 but would be sent back to the secondary school. The 

 entrance requirements recently adopted at Harvard are 

 quite in line with these recommendations. The president 

 of the foundation urges a cooperation between the 

 secondary school and the college, not as unrelated institu- 

 tions, but as two parts of a common system of education. 

 He argues that the interest of the great mass of high- 

 school students must not be sacrificed to the interest of 

 the minority who are looking toward college. He Insists 

 on a larger measure of freedom for the secondary school, 

 but, on the other hand, he argues that the interest of the 

 boy who goes to college and of the boy who goes from 

 the high school into business are alike conserved by learn- 

 ing a few things well, not by learning many things super- 

 ficially. The boy who has obtained such intellectual dis- 

 cipline is a fit candidate for college, whether he has 

 studied one set of subjects or another ; without this intel- 

 lectual discipline he is unfit alike for college or business. 

 It is therefore, in the opinion of the president of the 

 foundation, the plain duty of the college, at the present 

 stage of American educational development, to articulate 

 intimately with the four-year high school and to leave to 

 the secondary school the largest freedom so that it may 

 educate boys, not coach them, but at the same time to 

 require of the candidates for admission tests which rest 

 upon high performance in the elementary studies and 

 which mean mastery of the fundamentals. In such a pro- 

 gramme lies the hope of scholarly betterment and of civic 

 efficiency both for college and high school. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Birmingham.— The legacy of 20,000/. bequeathed by the 

 late Mr. John Feeney has been applied to the endowment 

 of the chair of metallurgy, which is henceforth to be 

 known as the " Feeney Chair of Metallurgy." 



The Hu.xley lecture for this year is to be delivered by 

 Prof. Henri Bergson, lecturer in philosophy at the 

 University of Paris. 



In addressing the Court of Governors at the annual 

 meeting, the Vice-Chancellor referred with satisfaction to 

 the recent grant of an additional halfpenny rate by the 

 City Council, " which they all acknowledged had been 

 generous." The principal {.Sir Oliver Lodge) in his 

 speech, which followed that of the Vice-Chancellor, de- 

 fended the University against the charge of extravagance 

 which had been brought against it in some quarters. He 

 pointed out that " in this country' we are behind in educa- 

 tional matters, and have been excessively economical 

 when we ought to have been lavish in outlay." He stalled 

 that certain departments are better equipped in other 

 modern universities in England, and that it must not be 

 assumed that what Birmingham had done was " to be 

 regarded as something out of the way and extraordinary." 

 He also expressed the opinion that " it was highly 

 important that un-iversities, whatever aid they received, 

 should not become appendages of State departments of the 

 Civil Service. All our modern universities were experi- 

 ments started by the nation in higher education, and no 

 Government office or official was competent to control the 

 highest education in the country. The only reasonable 

 way was to trust the institutions and the experts called 



