66 



NATURE 



[September 8, 192 1 



to go a lot more easily than the last. Precision of 

 language and finish are out of fashion and super- 

 fluous ; as they would say, they have no use for 

 them. A narrower range suffices. Any deep back- 

 ground of knowledge is only a source of per- 

 plexity. Richness and abundance are uncongenial 

 to modern pragmatism. A simpler diet, consist- 

 ing largely of ready-prepared and familiar sub- 

 stitutes, such as home provides, is preferable. 

 All this is very curious and most interesting to 

 observe. The world may become more contented, 

 but it is likely to be duller, and that simultaneously 

 with these changes a revival of interest in the 

 classics can occur seems highly improbable. 



The Report betrays a consciousness that the 

 subject dealt with is one wider than the nominal 

 problem of classical education, and the members 

 of the Committee know that they are in reality 

 pronouncing on a great social question. They 

 are haunted by timidity and obsessed with the 

 democratic nostrum of equal rights and oppor- 

 tunities ; but, though fighting for their lives, they 

 dare not make a firm stand. They should have 

 declared boldly that learning, classical and 

 natural, though comprising many parts, is one in- 

 divisible whole. Never was it so urgently neces- 

 sary that the unity of the intellectual world should 

 be maintained and strengthened. The natural and 



permanent division of society is between them and 

 the rest. Instead of seeing in science a com- 

 petitor, the classical advocates should have wel- 

 comed natural knowledge as an indispensable and 

 essential part of complete education. Spontaneous 

 curiosity is, as they truly say, the only salr 

 foundation for the continuous life of any study ; 

 but curiosity is a function of active minds, which 

 alone are entitled to the privilege of direction. 

 Freedom of choice is a counsel of perfection ; r 

 mere vanity unless the choosers have themselve.- 

 wisdom, and the knowledge by which choice must 

 be guided. In default, the decision must be made 

 by informed authority, and must be enforced bv 

 compulsion. 



If the continuity of civilisation is to be pre- 

 served, there can be no question of abandoning 

 the classics, but in the name of truth and advance- 

 ment no less must science be presented to all .who 

 pretend to complete education. They must 

 acquire a "widespread knowledge, however 

 elementary, of the ancient world," and an equally 

 widespread knowledge of the elements of natural 

 truth. The rudiments of classics, of natural 

 science, and of a modern language can be easilv 

 mastered by any boy of ability before he is seven- 

 teen. The feebler will no doubt drop behind. 

 They will find their place below. 



Notes. 



A Committee has been appointed by the Home 

 Secretary to re-examine, more particularly in the 

 light of the further information which has become 

 available since the inquiries of the Departmental 

 Committees appointed in 191 1, the question of the 

 danger from the use of lead paints to workers in the 

 painting trades, and the comparative efficiency and 

 cost, and the effect on the health of the workers, of 

 paints containing lead and leadless paints i espectively ; 

 and to advise whether any modifications of the con- 

 clusions and recommendations of those Committees 

 have become necessary. The members of the Com- 

 mittee are : — Sir Henry Norman, Bart, (chairman), 

 Mr. G. Bellhouse, Dr. O. J. Kauffmann, Dr. T. M. 

 Legge, Mr. A. E. Munby, Dr. A. Scott, and Mr. 

 H. O. Weller. The secretary is Mr. C. W. Price, 

 of the Home Office, Whitehall, S.W.i, to whom any 

 communications should be addressed. 



The Air Ministry has accepted the ofTer of Sir 

 Ernest Shackleton to carry out meteorological inves- 

 tigations and to gather topographical information 

 during the forthcoming expedition in the Quest, and 

 is affording all necessary assistance to the expedition 

 in order that as complete information as possible may 

 be collected. The expedition has been furnished with 

 instruments and equipment necessary for carrying 

 out meteorological observations, and the Quest has 

 been constituted an official reporting ship of the 

 Meteorological Office. The vessel has also been sup- 

 plied with photographic apparatus and with kites 

 similar to those employed in the investigation of the 

 NO. 2706, VOL. 108] 



upper air over the Atlantic during the voyage of the 

 s.s. Montcalm before the Transatlantic flight of the 

 R34 in 1919. It is further proposed to take records of 

 the temperature and pressure of the upper air by 

 using a seaplane which is to accompany the ex- 

 pedition. 



News from the Mount Everest Expedition in Col. 

 Howard Bury's dispatch to the Times is dated from 

 Kharta, August 4. The northern and north-western 

 sides of the mountain appeared to offer no practicable | 

 means of ascent, and the southern side is flanked by 

 great precipices. In the hope of finding a way on 

 the eastern side the expedition- moved its base from 

 Tingri to Kharta. The route was by Netsogu, Rebu, 

 across the Doyala River to Chongpu, where a region 

 of luxuriant vegetation was reached. The new camp 

 appears to be in the Arun Valley and is placed on 

 an old river terrace with fine views up and down the 

 valley. Its altitude is about 12,300 ft. A mile below 

 the camp begin the deep gorges of the Arun. Mr. 

 Mallory and Mr. Bullock rejoined the expedition en 

 route, bad weather having compelled them to give 

 up their plan of trying to reach Kharta by the high '• 

 pass north of Mount Everest. On August 2 they , 

 began the exploration of the eastern approaches of the \ 

 mountain. The weather In August was bad, but 

 better conditions were expected in September. Yet, 

 in spite of these difficulties, more than 9000 miles of 

 new country have now been mapped. 



The report of the Science Museum at South 

 Kensington for 1920, which has recently been pub- 



