526 



NATURE 



[February i6, 191 i 



The first part of the meeting on the Saturday morning 

 was occupied in a severe criticism of the Board of Educa- 

 tion. The association has frequently had to complain in 

 previous years of the late issue of the regulations, but this 

 last time the Board issued the regulations only just before 

 the commencement of the session, and at the same time 

 it suddenly insisted upon the substitution of a new and 

 complicated system of registration for the systems which 

 had previously been used by local authorities throughout 

 the country. Strong letters of protest were sent by the 

 council of the association to the Board, and at the meet- 

 ing on Saturday a discussion upon the subject was opened 

 by Mr. Crowther (Halifax), who pointed out that the 

 multiplication of registers which the Board's regulations 

 required rendered accurate registration almost impossible, 

 and it appeared as though they considered educational 

 efficiency a matter of small moment so long as statistics 

 were obtained. Other speakers followed, all condemning 

 the Board's action, and the meeting unanimously passed a 

 resolution approving of the action of the council and of 

 the request made by the council that the Board should 

 receive a deputation upon the subject. 



During a discussion which followed upon the Course 

 System, speakers from different parts of the country showed 

 that, by insisting upon the junior students taking projierly 

 organised courses, although at first there was usually some 

 diminution in the number of individual students, this was 

 more than compensated for by the better work and the 

 greater, regularity of attendance which always followed. 

 Very striking statistics were furnished by ' more than 

 one) speaker. Mr. Reynolds, of Manchester, said that local 

 education authorities, who bore not only the lion's share 

 of the expense, but the lion's share of the hard work, 

 would not submit to the Board's ukase in these 

 matters. Local effort was the very essence of success in 

 educational administration. He had no sympathy with the 

 idea that a boy or girl who had been irregular in attend- 

 ance at one class of a particular course should be required 

 to discontinue the whole course. The difficulties and 

 exigencies of life were such that it was often very difficult 

 for boys and girls to maintain a continuous attendance. 

 Educationists must fight for the principle that boys and 

 girls between the ages of fourteen and seventeen should 

 work a limited number of hours a week in order that they 

 may be able to continue the education which up to the age 

 of fourteen had cost the country so much. He was 

 strongly opposed to insisting upon any rigid course system 

 in the case of adult students. At a school of technology 

 there were so many varieties of students that it was 

 impossible to force them into courses. Several other 

 speakers emphasised this point of view, and at the close 

 of the discussion the following resolution was moved by 

 Dr. Clay and carried unanimously :— 



" While it is desirable that, as a rule, young students 

 should be required to take systematic courses of 

 study, the enforcement of similar courses in the case of 

 adult students is strongly to be deprecated, and a 

 large discretion should be left in the case of all courses, so 

 that special conditions and local circumstances may receive 

 due consideration." 



The members of the association were entertained at 

 luncheon by the Stationers' Company on Friday, Februarv 

 10. The master acted as host, and proposed the toast of 

 the Association, to which Dr. Glazebrook, the retiring presi- 

 dent, replied. Sir Philip Magnus, in proposing the toast 

 of the Board of Education and Local Education .Authori- 

 ties, remarked upon the great development of the Board's 

 work which had occurred during the time in which Sir 

 Robert Morant had been in charge, which he said had 

 increased by some four-fold. Sir Robert Morant, and Mr. 

 Hastings Jay, the chairman of the London County Council 

 Education Committee, replied. 



PROGRESS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTI- 

 TUTION.^ 

 J^URING^ the past year the institution's activities have 

 been increased to some degree by gifts for the pro- 

 rnotion of certain special lines of study, particularlv in 

 biological research. Among the important works 'that 



1 From the report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Insttution, 

 Dr. C. D. Walcott, for the year ending June 30, 1910. 



NO. 2155, VOL. 85] 



might be undertaken, I would especially direct atteni 

 to the great advantage to the United States and to . 

 world that would result from the establishment of 

 national seismological laboratory under the direction 

 the Smithsonian Institution. 



Proposed National Seismological Laboratory. 



The immense destruction of life and property by certnin 

 large earthquakes emphasises the importance of investi^ 

 tions which may lead to a reduction of the damage 

 future earthquakes. The science of seismology is in 

 infancy, and it is not always evident what lines of inve- 

 gation will yield the most important results, hence i 

 importance of developing larger knowledge of seismok. 

 in all directions. As an example : It was not at . 

 realised that the accurate surveys of the Coast ai 1 

 Geodetic Survey in California would demonstrate that the 

 great earthquake there in 1906 was due to forces set up 

 by slow movements of the land which have probably been 

 going on for a hundred years. We have learned that slow 

 movements of the land must precede many large earth- 

 quakes, and monuments are now being set up In Cali- 

 fornia to enable us to discover future movements of the 

 land, and thus to anticipate future earthquakes. This, I 

 think, is the most important step so far taken toward t' 

 prediction of earthquakes. 



Seismological work is too large to be prosecuted succ< - 

 fully by the universities, but requires some central office 

 under Government supervision to encourage theoretical andf 

 observational studies and to collect and study information 

 from all available sources. The seismological laboratory 

 would serve as a clearing house for the whole country. 

 It would also be the link to connect seismological work 

 in the United States with the work done in other parts 

 of the world. 



The work of the laboratory would thus be : — (i) Coll- - 

 tion and study of all information regarding earthquakes 

 in the United States and its possessions. The preparation 

 of maps showing the distribution of earthquakes and their 

 relation to geological structure. (2) The study of special 

 regions which are subject to frequent earthquakes to 

 determine, so far as possible, where future earthquakes 

 are likely to occur. (3) The study of the origins of earth- 

 quakes occurring under the neighbouring oceans. (4) An 

 organisation of commissions to study in the field the 

 effects produced by large earthquakes. {5) The study of 

 proper methods of building in regions subject to earth- 

 quakes. This will require experiment. (6) The improve- 

 ment of instruments for recording earthquakes. (7) Other 

 theoretical studies. (8) The dissemination of information 

 regarding earthquakes by bulletins or otherwise. 

 Smithsonian African Expedition. 



In the last report there was given an account of the 

 setting out of the expedition to Africa In charge of Colonel 

 Theodore Roosevelt, and of the results accomplished prior 

 to June 30, 1909. This expedition, which was entirely 

 financed from private sources through contributions by 

 friends of the Smithsonian Institution, landed at Mombasa 

 on April 21, 1909, and arrived at Khartoum on March 14, 

 1910. The collections made by it reached Washington 

 in excellent condition, and are now deposited in the 

 National Museum. The series of large and small 

 mammals from East Africa is, cbllectively, probably mopt 

 valuable than is to be found in any other museum of th^ 

 world. The series of birds, reptiles, and plants are al» 

 of great importance, and the study of the material repre* 

 senting other groups will furnish Interesting resul'- 

 Colonel Roosevelt reports on the work of the expedit; 

 as follows : — 



" We spent eight months in British East Africa. ^^ 

 collected carefully in various portions of the Athi ar 

 Kapiti plains, in th6 Sotik and around Lake Nalvash 

 Messrs. Mearns and Loring made a thorough biologic 

 survey of Mount Kenia, while the rest of the party skirted 

 its western base, went to and up the Guaso Nyero, and 

 later visited the Uasin Gisbu region and both sides of th" 

 Rift Valley. Messrs. Kermit Roosevelt and Tarlton w^- 

 to the Leikipia Plateau and Lake Hannington, and D: 

 Mearns and Kermit Roosevelt made separate trips to t! 

 coast region near Mombasa. On December 19 the expcti 

 tion left East Africa, crossed Uganda, and went down th 

 White Nile. ... 



