412 



NA TURE 



[March 23, 1876 



series of changes, in which the fish, Lepidosiren, perenni- 

 branchiate, and triton, are all represented. 



One would be inclined to infer from these metamor- 

 phoses, that, on tracing the Amphibia back in time, the 

 story of their origin should be told, but, as a matter of 

 fact, pateontological history tells a different story alto- 

 gether. Abundant remains of frogs and toads are found 

 in the Miocene deposits, some of which are of so fine a 

 character that even the tadpoles are preserved ; but these 

 tertiary frogs and toads do not differ, in any important par- 

 ticulars, from those of the present day, and the same is 

 true of the tritons and salamanders. Some of the latter 

 attained a very great size, and one of them — a near ally of 

 the great Japanese salamander of the present day — has 

 had a very singular fate, having been described, about the 

 middle of the last century, as a fossil man, by the German 

 naturalist Scheuchzer, who named it " Homo diluvii 

 testis," the man who saw the flood ! 



In the Wealden and Purbeck formations no Amphibia 

 have as yet been discovered, but, from the Lower Lias to 

 the Carboniferous they turn up again in remarkable num- 

 bers, and of great size, but differing from existing forms 

 in some important peculiarities, and affording no help 

 whatever to our inquiries as to the origin of the existing 

 or of the tertiary frogs, toads, and salamanders. Under 

 the throat, these gigantic Amphibia had a remarkable 

 shield of three bony plates, as well as a series of plates 

 along the belly. Their teeth were large and powerful, 

 and presented an extremely complicated structure, vjhence 

 the group has received its name of LabyriJithodonia. 



Thus, in tracing back the existing Amphibia, we find a 

 great break in the secondary period, and then come upon 

 a distinct group, the Labyrinthodonta, from which the 

 existing forms cannot possibly be deduced. These, again, 

 have been traced no farther back than the carboniferous 

 epoch. 



{To be continued.) 



PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS 



'T^HE beginning of a discussion on any great subject 

 J- elicits mainly differences of opinion ; its end should 

 be to establish agreement as to principles, and in great 

 measure as to details. The first half of this dictum has 

 been illustrated by the interesting letters in your columns 

 on Physical Science in Schools ; its entire confirmation 

 as the correspondence proceeds will confer on education 

 a benefit of the most timely kind. 



The moment is a critical one for scientific teaching. 

 Lord Salisbury's Bill will come to mean a revolution in 

 the educational structure of the Universities ; the Report 

 of the Science Commission proposes to re-cast the teach- 

 ing of the schools ; public feeling, unexpressed as yet on 

 other points, is distinct in wishing to see Science heartily 

 recognised and systematically taught. If Science Teach- 

 ers will agree as to what they want and press it vigo- 

 rously, the game is in their hands. 



I venture to lay down for consideration in NATURE 

 certain propositions on this subject in the hope that they, 

 or such others as may be preferred to them, may become 

 the basis of the agreement we all desiderate : — 



1. The business of a school is general education ; the 

 business of a University is special education. 



2. The principal subjects taught at a school should be 

 Literature, Mathematics, Science. 



3. Each of these subjects should be studied in fixed 

 relative proportions of time, from the very beginning of a 

 school course until its close. 



4. Scholarships offered for any one of these subjects to 

 the exclusion of the others at the entrance on University 

 life are mischievous in their effect on school teaching, 

 and ought to change their character of be abolished. 



5. Science should be taught to every boy in a school 



for at least six hours in the week ; holding a fair place in 

 Entrance Examinations, being encumbered with no pecu- 

 niary charges unimposed on other subjects, and having a 

 value in school-marks proportional to the time spent 

 upon it. 



Of these five theses, the first three and the fifth are in 

 exact harmony with the recommendations of the Science 

 Commission ; the fourth follows necessarily from the 

 others, as stigmatising a system whose continuance 

 makes general school teaching impossible, and whose 

 significance gains point from the curious admission of 

 one of your correspondents as to the intellectual cost of 

 a Balliol Scholarship. 



The feasibility of teaching science to the youngest 

 schoolboys, assumed in what I have said, demands a 

 word of comment. The evidence on this point scattered 

 through the Report of the Commission, and partly sum- 

 marised in Report VI., pp. 6 — 9, is, if not overwhelming, 

 so strong as to outweigh many-fold anything that has yet 

 been said against it. I desire to advance with humility, 

 but with great earnestness, my own experience, extending 

 over fourteen years, in support of the view there laid 

 down ; and Mr. West's admirable letter in Nature, vol. 

 xiii., p. 48, represents, as I well know, the conclusions of 

 many successful teachers. If grammatical analysis and 

 arithmetical numeration are taught every day to boys of 

 nine years old, why not the elements of science ? It 

 were well surely to inquire what parts of this vast subject 

 and what treatment of them have been found suitable to 

 younger minds ; for the statement on the part of any indi- 

 vidual that science cannot be taught to little boys means 

 nothing more than that he himself has failed to teach it. 



My object in writing is a practical one. I have stated 

 the principles which seem to me to underlie all school 

 science teaching worthy of the name, and I invoke a 

 judgment upon them, possibly a reversal of them, at the 

 hands of experienced teachers. If it be true, as we were 

 lately told, that the head-masters are awaiting instruction 

 from the public, let us prepare the pubhc to educate their 

 illustrious pupils. At any rate, let scientific men be ready 

 to answer the appeal which will be made to them when 

 the Report of the Science Commission comes before the 

 House of Commons, with such unanimity as only abun- 

 dant and unprejudiced discussion can generate. To let 

 slip this opportunity will be to find, I fear, with the Jew 

 of Malta, that " Occasion 's bald behind." 



W. TUCKWELL 



I notice in your columns that a discussion has been 

 conducted for some time past on that important subject. 

 Physical Science in School Teaching. Permit me, as 

 one possessing a deep practical interest in this matter, 

 and also as a science teacher of some years' experience, 

 to remark that in Scotland, generally, and in this great 

 educational centre in particular, the chief obstacle which 

 stands in the way of extended science teaching, is the 

 simple apathy of educationalists to the claims of scien- 

 tific instruction. It were well that, before disagreeing as 

 to the exact mode of teaching, the claims of one science 

 over another, and other points, science teachers should 

 thoroughly agree as to the nece'ssity for more openly 

 enforcing their claims upon the notice of those who sit in 

 high places in the world of educational management. I 

 gladly welcomed an opportunity afforded me by the Edin- 

 burgh branch of the "Educational Institute of Scotland," 

 in December last, to address the members of the Insti- 

 tute, consisting in the main of teachers of all subjects, 

 on the "Place, Method, and Advantages of Biological 

 Instruction in Ordinary Education." The substance of 

 that address will shortly appear in Frasei^s Magazine, 

 and to that medium I would respectfully refer those of 

 your readers who are interested in this question, for a 

 resume of a science teacher's work and method in the 

 northern metropolis. I would fain hope that the argu- 



