February 9, 191 1] 



NATURE 



495 



atheniatics, 14-4; botany, 47-8; zoology, 28-8; and 

 geology, 14-3. The corresponding numbers in the B.Sc. 

 examination of 1909 were : — chemistry, 585 ; physics, 

 30-5; pure mathematics, 35-4; applied mathematics, 421; 

 botany, 33-3 ; zoology, 143 ; and geology, 14-3. The prin- 

 cipal is asked to bring these and other points for considera- 

 tion before the Senate and Council for External Students, 

 since, in the opinion of the association, a serious injustice 

 is being done to students and teachers. 



We learn from Science that the bequests from the 

 Kennedy estate for educational and public purposes are 

 even larger than had been anticipated. Columbia Uni- 

 versity receives 472,000?., New York University 190,400/., 

 and Robert College, Constantinople, 360,000/. ; the 

 bequests to the New York Public Library and the Metro- 

 politan Museum of Art are about 560,000/. Barnard 

 College and Teachers College, Columbia University, each 

 receive 20,000/., as do Hamilton College, Elmira College, 

 Amherst College, Williams College. Bowdoin College, Yale 

 University, Tuskegee Institute, and the Hampton Institute. 

 Lafayette College, Oberlin College, Wellesley College, 

 Berea College, and Anatolia (Turkey) each receive 10,000/. 

 Science also states that Mr. Carnegie's latest gift of 

 760,000/. to the Technical Institute in Pittsburgh is to be 

 used approximately as follows : — 460,000/. for increase of 

 present endowment, 275,000/. for new buildings, 20,000/. 

 for additional equipment, and 5000/. on grounds. The 

 residue of the estate of the late Dr. Seesel, valued formally 

 at " not more than 50,000 dollars," is divided between 

 Yale and the University of Leipzig. With the income 

 there is to be founded at each institution the "Theresa 

 Seesel Fund ". in memory of his mother, to be used for 

 researches in biology. 



The first volume of the report for the year ended June 

 30, 19 10, of the U.S. Commissioner of Education has been 

 received from the Bureau of Education at Washington. 

 As usual, the publication of purely statistical information 

 is postponed for the later volume. The commissioner. 

 Dr. Elmer Brown, in his introduction to the volume ably 

 summarises the tendencies and advances in the various 

 grades of education which may be regarded as the out- 

 standing features of the educational work of the year 

 under review. The part of the introduction dealing with 

 higher education is of special importance. Dr. Brown 

 points out that by its higher education the place of the 

 United States in the world's civilisation and its prestige 

 before the more enlightened nations are largely deter- 

 mined. " It is," he says, addressing his countrymen, " a 

 patriotic duty of the highest order that our colleges and 

 universities, in all of the States, should get away from 

 the more injurious forms of competition and enter into 

 more effective cooperation." He enumerates many weak- 

 nesses requiring correction. He urges that an agreement 

 among the colleges with respect to admission require- 

 ments, which should do away with minor differences that 

 harass the preparatory schools, would rid the educational 

 situation of some of its most serious embarrassments. 

 There is, he continues, a great deal of possible division 

 of labour, particularly as regards instruction and research, 

 which is not yet realised. Much has yet to be done in 

 the way of a general survey of the present provision in 

 American institutions of higher education for advanced 

 instruction with the view of determining where enlarge- 

 ment is needed. The excessive variations in the worth of 

 American academic and professional degrees is still, says 

 Pi' ^''o^"> s cause of reproach abroad, and involves much 

 injustice among Americans at home. 



A NATIONAL conference will be opened at the Guildhall 

 on February 28, at 3.30 p.m., by the Lord Mayor, with 

 the object of securing a national system of industrial train- 

 ing. The conference has been organised by a special com- 

 mittee of the elected representatives of the chief associa- 

 tions of employers and workers and educational authori- 

 ties. The intention is to urge upon the Government to 

 supplement our present system of elementary education by 

 providing by legislation a complete system of industrial, 

 professional, and commercial training. Several resolutions 

 will be submitted at the conference, among which may be 

 mentioned the following : — " That this conference views 

 with grave concern the large number of children annually 



NO. 2154, VOL. 85] 



I leaving school without practical training for definite voca- 

 tions, and resolves that a national system of industrial, 

 professional, and commercial training should be estab- 

 lished, to which the children shall pass as a matter of 

 course (unless the parents are prepared to undertake their 

 future training) and without interval, for a definite period, 

 to be thoroughly trained for entry to the particular call- 

 ing for which they are best fitted, such training to be 

 under fully qualified instructors. That the Government be 

 urged to provide by l^islation such a complete system of 

 training, free to all scholars, and the expenses thereof 

 defrayed from the National Exchequer." The National 

 Industrial Education League, which it is proposed to 

 establish at the meeting, will be composed of 2500 

 organised bodies of workpeople engaged in trade union, 

 cooperative, and educational work, and, so far as can 

 be at present ascertained, they represent more than three 

 millions of workers, comprising 365 trades and professions 

 in 421 cities and towns. Intending supporters of the 

 league can obtain further information on application to 

 the honorary secretaries, Craig's Court House, Charing 

 Cross, London, S.W. 



At the meeting of the Royal Society of Arts on 

 February 1, presided over by Lord Cromer, Mr. P. J. 

 Hartog read a paper on examinations in their bearing on 

 national efficiency. He raised the important question as 

 to whether it was not possible to test " general ability," 

 and to separate the ablest candidates by methods involving 

 less strain both on the successful and the unsuccessful 

 candidates? Would it be possible, without reintroducing 

 the evils of jobbery, to follow the lines laid down by Lord 

 Cromer in the Egyptian Civil Service, and by Lord Selborne 

 in choosing candidates for the Navy? He suggested the 

 appointment of a Royal Commission to deal with the 

 whole question, with a suitable reference, such as " To 

 investigate and report upon the methods and efficiency 

 for their purpose of examinations carried 6n by Govern- 

 ment departments and other public bodies in the United 

 Kingdom ; to inquire into the influences of examinations 

 on the previous education of candidates ; and to suggest 

 such changes as may seem desirable." The commission, 

 he said, should be a small one, presided over by a states- 

 man with experience of affairs, and there should be no 

 attempt to achieve the impossible by including in it 

 representatives of all parties concerned. Lord Cromer 

 opened the discussion which followed. He compared the 

 merits of competition and selection for securing the best 

 candidates for any office. The principle of selection, he 

 maintained, if only it can be properly carried out, possesses 

 merits superior to those of competition. The former may 

 or ought to result in the creation of leaders of men. . The 

 latter tends rather to produce a dull level of mediocrit}". 

 Of late years there has been a tendency, notably in the 

 military, naval, and diplomatic services, to adopt the prin- 

 ciple of selection in dealing with all the later stages of 

 the careers of public servants more thoroughly than 

 formerly. This movement, far from being arrested, should 

 be pushed still further. The case of first appointments 

 presents, naturally, greater difficulties. Some few years 

 ago it became necessary to create a Sudanese Civil Service. 

 In the first instance, the appointments were practically 

 made by Lord Cromer. He found it, he said, a difficult 

 task, but whatever success has attended the administra- 

 tion of Egypt during the last thirty years has been mainly 

 due to the care which was taken in selecting and pro- 

 moting officials. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Royal Society, February 2.— Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., 

 president, in the chair.— -Colonel Sir D. Bruce, F.R.S.. 

 Captains A. E. Hamerton and H. R. Bateman, and 

 Dr. R. Van Someren : Experiments to investigate the 

 infectivity of Glossina palpalis fed on sleeping-sickness 

 patients under treatment. — Colonel Sir D. Bruce, F.R.S.. 

 and Captains A. E. Hamerton, H. R. Bateman, and 

 F. P. Mackie : Experiments to ascertain if Trypanosoma 

 gambiense during its development within Glossina palpalis 

 is infective. — Captain R. McCarrison : Further experi- 



