February 15 191 2] 



NATURE 



531 



INDIAN FOSSILS^ 

 'X'HE Geological Survey of India has done good service 

 both to stratigraphical geology and to palaeontology by 

 entrusting to Messrs. Cossmann and Pissarro its collection 

 of Mollusca from the Ranikot beds of Sind, These are the 

 only undoubted Lower Eocene strata hitherto discovered in 

 India, and an authoritative comparison of their fossils with 

 those of the corresponding European formations is of great 

 interest and importance. Most of the specimens described 

 are from the zone of Nummulites planulatus, and a large 

 proportion of them were collected by Mr. E. W. Vreden- 

 burg, who contributes some preliminary stratigraphical 

 notes to Messrs. Cossmann and Pissarro 's memoir. The 

 corals of the same formation were determined many years 

 ago by Prof. Martin Duncan, while the Echinoids were 

 described by Duncan and S laden. 



The general geological results obtained from the new 

 study of the Mollusca accord closely with those reached 

 by these earlier authors from their examination of the other 

 groups. There are numerous specimens of Velates, a genus 

 which specially characterises the Lower Eocene of Europe. 

 Some species of Calyptrophorus are closely similar to those 

 from the Eocene of North America, and there are many 

 interesting forms of Volutilithes, Ampullina, and Rimella. 

 There are also several specimens of Styracoteuthis 

 orientalis, a curious dibranchiate cephalopod previously 

 known only by a single example from the Eocene of Arabia. 



The second part of the late Prof. Victor Uhlig's memoir 

 on the Ammonites of the Spiti Shales (Upper Jurassic) of 

 the Himalaya consists mainly of technical descriptions of 

 species, illustrated by a fine series of lithographed plates. 

 There are, however, interesting discussions of possible lines 

 of development among the genera, subgenera, and species 

 of the Hoplites group and the Macrocephalites group. 

 Many genera of Ammonites found in the Spiti Shales exhibit 

 no very close relationship to those of Europe, but among 

 the species of the genus Hoplites it seems possible to 

 recognise a series of well-known European types. More- 

 over, it is remarkable that these species in Europe are 

 partly Lower Neocomian, and even range upwards to the 

 lowest zone of the Middle Neocomian. In the Macro- 

 cephalites group Prof. Uhlig identifies species of Simbirs- 

 kites, which is also a Lower Cretaceous genus in Russia, 

 North Germany, and England. The large majority of the 

 so-called new species are represented only by a single 

 imperfect specimen, and the differences between many of 

 them are so difficult to appreciate that the wisdom of 

 multiplying names in such cases may be doubted. The 

 study of Ammonites is obviously making great progress, 

 but much of it is obscured by injudicious nomenclature. 



JUVENILE EMPLOYMENT AND CON- 

 TINUATION EDUCATION. 

 lURING recent years the efforts of reformers of our 

 national system of education have been concentrated 

 to a considerable extent upon two great problems, namely, 

 the early age at which education ceases for most boys and 

 girls, and the entry of so many boys into " blind alley " 

 industries, resulting a few years later in their being thrown, 

 unqualified and unskilled, upon the labour market. With 

 regard to continuing elementary education to a later date, 

 but little progress has been made of recent years. Un- 

 fortunately, Mr. Runciman's Bill of 191 1, dealing with 

 questions such as the raising of the " leaving age," the 

 abolition of " half-time," and compulsory attendance at 

 continuation schools, was not pressed through, and no 

 intimation has yet been given that the Government intends 

 to bring into operation, if possible, even one of the reforms 

 covered by the Bill of 191 1. 



Considerable progress is being made, however, in the 

 direction of attempting to lessen the evils of the " blind 

 alley " industry. It is obvious this can best be done by 



1 " PaleontoloRia Indica, being Figures and Descriptions of the Organic 

 Remains procured during the Progress of the Geological Survey of India." 

 New series, Vol. iii., Memoir No. i., The Mollusca of the Ranikot Senes, 

 Part I., Cephalopoda and Gastropoda, by M. Cossmann and G. Pissarro ; 

 Introductory Note on the .Stratigraphy of the Ranikot Series, by K. W. 

 Vredenburg. Pp. iv + xix + Sj + viil plates. Price Rs. a or aj. Srf. Scries 

 XV., Himalayan Fossils, Vol. iv., The Fauna of the Spiti Shales. Fasciculus 

 2, by Prof. Dr. V. Uhlig. Pp. 133-306 + plaies xix-xlviiia, and Ixxvii-xci. 

 Price Ks. 12.4 or i6s. ^d. (Calcutta: Geological Survey Office, 1909 and 

 1910.) 



D' 



acquainting parents with the future prospects offered by 

 the various trades or callings into which the bov may 

 enter on leaving school, by personal advice as to the 

 necessity of attending continuation classes and the educa- 

 tional course it is best for the boy or girl to pursue when 

 attending evening classes. The first public recognition of 

 this was the Education Act of 1908 for Scotland, authoris- 

 ing the School Boards of Scotland to maintain voluntary 

 agencies which should advise boys and girls upon the 

 suitable employments open to them on leaving school. 

 Later in the same year clauses were inserted in the Labour 

 Exchanges Bill authorising the Board of Trade to establish 

 Juvenile Labour Exchanges. Somewhat later, the Educa- 

 tion (Choice of Employment) Bill gave powers to the 

 English and Welsh education authorities " to give boys 

 and girls information, advice, and assistance with respect 

 to the choice of employment." This duplication of powers 

 to the Board of Trade and the education authorities, re- 

 spectively, gave rise to some friction at first ; but this has 

 now been smoothed away, the Board of Trade only 

 exercising its powers independently if the education 

 authority decides not to put the Act in operation. 



Already a number of local education authorities have 

 prepared schemes for the exercise of their powers under 

 the -Act. The schemes provide for the cooperation of the 

 Labour Exchanges of the Board of Trade with local com- 

 mittees nominated by the education authority. The Board 

 of Education has formally approved of the schemes pro- 

 posed by the Liverpool and Birmingham Education 

 Authorities respectively. It is understood that about 

 twenty other authorities have submitted schemes for 

 approval, and that a number of other authorities are pre- 

 paring schemes at the present time. 



The success of the Act will depend mainly, of course, 

 upon the local committees appointed to carry out the duties 

 imposed upon them by the Act. Apparently these com- 

 mittees will contain a fair sprinkling of representative local 

 employers, social workers, elementary teachers, and the 

 like. It is important that due representation should be 

 given, if possible, to those with firsthand knowledge of 

 continuation and technical school work, in order that the 

 best possible advice be given respecting attendance and 

 courses of work at evening continuation and technical 

 schools. 



In further support of the agitation to limit the evils of 

 the " blind alley " occupation, a long letter appeared in 

 the daily Press on Thursday, February i, signed, among 

 others, by the Bishop of Hereford, Mr. Cyril Jackson, 

 Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, M.P., Mr. J. L. Paton. and Dr. 

 M. E. Sadler. In this letter attention is directed to such 

 facts as that van boys work, on an average, from 96 to 

 100 hours per week, and that only about 36 per cent, of 

 these boys secure positions later as carmen. .About 5; 7 

 per cent, of recruits from London for the Army began lif 

 as van boys and errand boys. It is clear from the Ion. 

 hours worked by van boys and the like that attendance : 

 continuation schools is impossible. The signators of tl 

 letter recommended that boys engaged in such callin- 

 those just mentioned should, between fourtef'n and f •. 

 years of age, be permitted to work only for thirty 

 per week, and be compelled to attend continuation schoi'i 

 for another twenty hours. 



Incidentally, it may perhaps be suggested that som 

 educational institutions such as university c 

 medical schools, and technical schools, arc not (i,,,, 

 guiltlpss on these questions of "blind alley industri*** 

 and the lack of facilities for continued education Riven t 

 the boys passing direct from the elementary schools to th 

 position of assistants in the laboratories or workshops > 

 the colleges or schools. J- WitsoN. 



THE PRESSURE OF A BLOW.* 



THE scientific analysis of a blow requires. '•■-' > 

 determination of tho actual pressures or f' 

 between the colliding bodies, and, secondly, an ir. 

 of the distribution of these pnssures and of their pliv-si. .il 

 effects. The pressure produce<l by n blow doos not differ 

 in kind from that produced by any other agency, such a^ 

 I Di«coiir»e delivered at the Ro);al Institution on Fridajr, J«ntt«r>" »' 

 l.y Prof. Heriram Hopkinson, K.R.S. 



NO. 2207, VOL. 88] 



