August 25, 1923] 



NA TURE 



30: 



he concludes that the cumulative effects of present- 

 day conditions need not be strained to bring the older 

 estimates up to the same order as those required by 

 current deductions from radioactive minerals. 



The remaining papers call for little comment. 

 Palaeontology presents faint hope of arriving at a 

 trustworthy or even approximate conclusion as to 

 the age of the earth, for no measure of the rate of 

 vital processes has yet been devised. The endurance 

 of an index species provides no firm basis for a 

 definite calculation of the duration of a zone, or 

 phase. Astronomical considerations have recently 

 afforded support to the figures suggested by radio- 

 activity for the age of the earth, but there is here no 

 discussion of the work and views of Eddington, 

 Jeffreys, or Shapley. Similarly the paper on the 

 " Radioactive Point of View " omits to mention the 

 interesting speculations of Joly, which are so ingeni- 

 ous that they will demand a thorough discussion in 

 the future, even though in the present stage of know- 

 ledge they may be coldly regarded by physicists. 



Arthur Holmes. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Cambridge. — Dr. P. Kapitza, Trinity College, has 

 been elected to the Clerk Maxwell Scholarship. 



The London County Council's programme for 

 1923-24 of lectures and classes for teachers com- 

 prises some 600 items grouped under the headings 

 art, domestic subjects, economics and political 

 science, languages and literature, geography, handi- 

 crafts, history, mathematics, music, pedagogy, 

 phonetics, physical education, science, miscellaneous. 

 The science group includes 52 items, namely, wireless, 

 5 (Prof. J- A. Fleming) ; history of science, to (Dr. 

 C. Singer) ; psychology of vocational guidance, 5, 

 and the neurotic child, 5 (Dr. Cyril Burt) ; bacteria, 

 moulds, and yeasts, 5 (Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan); 

 mental deficiency, 6 ; British weather, 6 (Sir Napier 

 Shaw) ; animal parasites and pests, 5 (Dr. Philippa 

 Esdaile) ; and Kew Gardens, 5 (Major Chipp). More- 

 over, the pedagogy group includes no lectures on 

 the teach mg of science. The lectures " are designed 

 to bring London teachers in touch with the latest 

 developments in educational technique and to give 

 them opportunities, as well, for coming into touch 

 with expert opinion on qiiestions of national and civic 

 importance. The lectures largely reflect therefore 

 'liose questions which are the subject of topical 

 discussion." The choice of subjects is liinited by 

 the fact that the scheme has to be self-supporting, 

 and this may be the reason why no provision is made 

 for lectures on civics, lionic-cK'onomics Cexcept a 

 course on domestic li.nidic laft), nature-study, or 

 general science. TIic !<■( lures are open tf) all teachers 

 actually emploN'cd in ica( hiii,!^ witliiii London at 

 a. fee of one shilling or less per Icdnrc, and (n Icachcrs 

 'rom outside at rates -,'• per (cnt. In'^licr, The 

 ittendance last year was .2o,o(jc). S<\cial s( ii ntific 

 ocieties place at the disposal of the London ( ounty 

 ' "onnril a certain number of ticKrIs of adnii.ssion to 

 licir ordiiiar\' iiicctin'^s for dist rilaition to teachers 

 of science in l.cjndon schools. 



British women students wisliini; to spend the 

 coming academic year stndNini; in Paris nia\- lik(> 

 to know that three residem.e s( liolarsliips for r.iitish 

 graduales s1 udying at the Sorbonne 01 .'thci in- 

 stitution of higher learning in Paris aie oiured 1)\- 

 the American I'nivorsitv Women's Club, 4 Kue dc 



Chevreuse. The value of each scholarship is 350 

 francs per month for nine months, and the rates 

 charged by the Club are such that each scholar 

 would need to pay an additional 500 francs a month, 

 i.e. about 60^. for the nine months. Applicants for 

 these scholarships should send their names, stating 

 their age, academic qualifications and proposed course 

 of study, to the Secretary, International Federation 

 of University Women, 92 Victoria Street, S.W.i, not 

 later than September 15. Each application should be 

 supported by at least two references permitted to 

 persons well acquainted with the candidate's career. 



The use of the local environment of the school as a 

 starting-point and source of material and interest in 

 that school without exploiting it for vocational 

 training is discussed in Rural School Leaflet No. 11 

 of the United States Bureau of Education, in which 

 an attempt is made to show in detail how this principle 

 should be applied in agricultural districts. It appears 

 that in 17 states the teaching of " agriculture " in 

 the elementary schools throughout the state has been 

 prescribed by law somewhat precipitately, without 

 regard to the fact that teachers with the requisite 

 special training are not available and without any 

 clear definition of objectives or methods. Such 

 precipitation is, the writer points out, the more to be 

 deprecated in view of the exceeding complexity of 

 agriculture alike on the side of natural science, every 

 branch of which it lays under contribution, and on 

 the side of practice, wherein it involves not only a 

 great variety of arts but a mode of living. At the 

 same time this very complexity makes a naive 

 experience of agricultural happenings invaluable as 

 a starting-point and source of material and interest. 

 Dealing with the social and economic aspects of the 

 subject, he contends that even in the elementary 

 schools teachers should not fail (as they have failed in 

 the past) to emphasise the necessity of the organisation 

 of farmers as a means of economy in distribution and 

 self-preservation in the struggle for existence in 

 competition with other organised groups. 



Developments in medical education in the United 

 States during the past 20 years, and especially during 

 the years 1920-22, are summarised by Dr. N. P. 

 Colwell in Bulletin 18 of 1923 of the U.S. Bureau of 

 Education. Since 1904, when the American Medical 

 Association started a campaign for raising educational 

 standards, the developments in respect of medical 

 school admission requirements, laboratory and library 

 equipment, number and calibre of whole-time 

 professors, and arrangements for clinical instruction, 

 have been such that these standards, formerly lower 

 than those of the principal European countries, can now 

 challenge comparison with any in the world. Simul- 

 taneously the number of schools has been reduced by 

 one-half — from 162 to 81 — and the number of students 

 from 28,000 to 13,000 in 1919, since when they have 

 increased to 18,000. Of 81 schools, 66, rated as class 

 A, require two years of college work as a condition 

 prececlent to entry on their four-years' course. 

 Although students' fees, which formerly covered the 

 cost of maintenance of the schools, have been largely 

 increased, they amount now to little more than one- 

 third of the cost. Alon.q \\ itii iniiMovenient in medical 

 .schools has gone a corresponding adxcuuc in the 

 standard of qualifications required by state medical 

 licensing boards, but the laws on the subject have 

 to some extent been stultified by the existence of 

 sectarian "schools" with low educational standards, 

 w liieli l)a\ e not been made subject to medical practice 

 laws aliiioiiuli their graduates assume the responsi- 

 bihtv of mulcrtaking to heal the sick. 



NO. 280S, VOL. I 12] 



