326 



NATURE 



[May 4 



optically active- con»tUuei«<« by fractional cry»tall5»atlon of 

 tho .ilkvl Htrychnine phthnlatM. R.().(:C).C:,H,.C().O.X, or 

 similar' salts, in which K is th.- nl.ohol radical and \ ih 



a Nuitnbic alkaloid; uf tli> 



had proviouidy Ix'cn obtain' 



Thi- labour involved in r- 



Eoiinds can scarcely l)c ii| 

 avp taken part in similar 



ly one 



rm. 



. . uf com- 



i by thow; who 



nt in the prcnont 



castf the effort hai b<rn well nnvaid.^ l<y the production of 

 mat<rial of unrivalled value for elucidating* all the variou* 

 problems involved in the study of optical rot;i! 

 The complete .series of alcohols from CH,.CH< > 



CH,.<^'ll<>n.(:,,H„ shows a p.rf- •'■ •■ular j,: uf 



properties, except in the case ot 1 memljcr. which 



shows an exceptionally large d ' rotatory power 



with rise of temperature. 



As illustratinn the extreme sensitiveness of rotatory power 

 to small changes of conditions, it mav be noticed that ethyl- 

 hexvlcarbinol, C,H,.CHOH.C.H,„ in complete contrast to 

 methvlhexvlcarbinol. rH,.CHOH.C,H,„ or the methyl- 

 heptvlcarbinol, CH,.CHOH.C:H,„ with which it is 

 isomeric, has a positive instead of a negative temperature 

 coefficient . the rotatory powers of the isomeric alcohols 

 being equal at 76°, but diverging when the temperature 

 is raised or lowennl. An even mor<- drastic change 

 of properties is observed on passing from phenylethyl- 

 carbinol. C,H..CHOH.CJl„ to phenylmethylcarbinol, 

 C,H,.CHOH.CH„ or from methvlbutylcarbinol, 



CH,.CHOH.C«H„ 

 to the isomeric methvii'sobutvicarbinol, 



CH,.CHOH.CH,.CH(CH,)„ 

 whereby the rotatory power is almost doubled in each cas*. 



THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE IN 

 SECONDARY SCHOOLS.' 



THE following notes on the subject of science teaching 

 in grant-earning secondary schools in England art- 

 based on the reports and observations of certain of the 

 Board's inspectors, who were instructed to pay special 

 attention to this matter during the past year. While an 

 attempt will be made to note the principal changes that 

 have occurred in recent years, to point out certain direc- 

 tions in which improvements have taken place, and to 

 direct attention to some existing defects, the time has not 

 yet come when a detailed and systematic survey of the 

 state of scientific instruction in English secondary schools 

 could profitably be undertaken. Since 1902, when the 

 schools of science or " organised science schools " of the 

 Science and Art Directory became the Division A Schools 

 of the Regulations of that year, the number of secondary , 

 schools recognised for grant has risen froni 348 to its 

 present figure, 841. The earlier portion of this period w'as 

 one which saw a gradual transformation from curricula 

 which were predominantly scientific and mathematical tc 

 curricula in which a more even balance of studies was 

 secured ; and the whole period of growth and transition I 

 has been characterised (quite apart from the effect of ■ 

 alterations in the Board's Regulations) by notable change* i 

 in the methods, and to some extent also in the aims, of 

 science teaching. 



Changes in the Board's Regulations. 

 A comparison of the Regulations which in 1902 applied 

 to the 221 schools in Division A (consisting in about equal 

 proportions of municipal schools and higher grade board 

 schools on one hand and schools of the endowed-school 

 type on the other) with the Regulations now in force will 

 show the magnitude of the change which has been 

 brought about in the conditions under which the teaching 

 of science in this section of the grant-earning schools is 

 carried on. Thus in 1902 not fewer than thirteen hours a 

 week were assigned to the obligatory subjects — mathe- 

 matics, physics, chemistry, drawing, and practical geo- 

 metn.' — of which not more than five hours might be 

 assigned to mathematics. Even in the 127 schools belong- 

 ing to the " Division B " of the Regulations of 1902, nine 



^ From the Report of ttie Board "f Education for the year 1909-10 

 London: Wyman and Sons, Ltd.). Cd. 5616. Price M. 



NO. 2166, VOL. 86] 



h<Mir«i a w>^k, or aitcrnat«ly a third of th« total oumt 



d the iJMi' 

 u of the " I' 



bui )fiUi4.<tt«rd ihti oyUubuit lu b« fulluwcd in the vur;> 

 »uhj>Tto of th«t " .-idvanced txturatA " taken by 



to the time to be assigned to the : 

 curriculum. Side by side with 



which has b«.-en given to the i>chooU lUvtu lia», m a '•■ 

 been a considerable reduction in the amount of t. 

 allotted to science in schooU of the " Division A '* typ- 

 and to some degree also in schools of the " Division B*' 

 type. In schools of the former class the time given ha" 

 commonly been reduced from some seven or eight hour* 

 a week to four or five in the upper forms, while in th< 

 lower forms the proportionate reduction has been gfatcr. 

 This has entailed considerable modification in the txllabu?- 

 of work and. in general, a lowering •' ^ihl. 



standard of attainment. 



Subjects Studied. 



In practically all boys' schools the subjects t.i 

 chemistry and physics, while in the majority < 

 schools botany is the main science subject, a imu'jmy 

 taking either physics or more often chemistry. It is 

 usual both in boys' and in girls' schools to find the study 

 of one or other of these subjects preceded by a course of 

 " experimental science " in which the formal separation 

 into chemistry and physics is deliberately avoided. A con- 

 siderable number of girls' schools, however, still exist in 

 which botany is the only subject taken, or in which the 

 attempt is made to teach botany concurrently with 

 " experimental science " — a plan which, owing to the 

 limited amount of time available, is rarely found to work 

 well. 



Hygiene, taught as a science subject, finds a place in the 

 courses of a relatively small number of girls' schools and 

 of a certain number of mixed schools, the subject being 

 taken by the girls only. The inclusion of hygiene in the 

 course is, as a rule, justified primarily on ethical grounds, 

 i.e. with a view to the inculcation of hygienic habits. 

 It is perhaps scarcely necessary to observe that there are 

 wide differences of opinion as to the extent to which it is 

 necessary or practicable to give this ethical teaching a 

 formal scientific basis. The number of schools in which 

 other science subjects, e.g. geology, astronomy, and 

 zoology, are taught is exceedingly small, though there is 

 some incidental teaching of the two former subjects in 

 connection with the work in geography, while zoology 

 very occasionally appears, and then for examination pur- 

 poses, in the courses taken in the upper forms. Nature- 

 study, a conveniently elastic term which covers work of 

 the most various kinds, is ordinarily included among the 

 subjects taught in the junior departments of both boys' 

 and girls' schools. The subject is best taught when it is 

 in the hands of a teacher (not necessarily the teacher of 

 science) who is an enthusiast on natural history. In too 

 many girls' schools in which botany is the main science 

 subject the mistake is made of limiting the work to a pre- 

 liminary study of plant life supplemented, it may be, by 

 the making of weather records. In a few schools the 

 plan of closely associating the early work in geography 

 with nature-study has been tried with encouracfinf r.^nlte 



Courses of Work. 



(a) The differences which exist, and still more perhaps 

 the differences which ought to exist, between the curricula 

 of different grant-earning secondary schools make it prac- 

 tically impossible to comment in general terms on the 

 character of the science work attempted and the standard 

 reached in the several subjects taken. The probable after- 

 careers of the pupils, the facilities for teaching individual 

 subjects offered by the school and its environment, and the 

 time which it is found possible to devote to science teach- 

 ing are determining factors on which the choice of sub- 



