JANUARY 12, 1 92 2 J 



NATURE 



57 



The association has been growing steadily in size 

 and influence, and in recent years more than one im- 

 portant development in scientific education has taken 

 iis origin in the deliberations of its assemblies. Unless 

 we are mistaken, we may expect to see, as a result 



' this meeting, a serious endeavour to introduce the 



iidamental principles of physical chemistry in the 



Illy stages of science teaching. Brig. -Gen. H. 

 Plartley made this suggestion both in the interests 

 of intellectual economy and of clear thinking. It 

 was time, he said, that they tried to simplify for 

 ihcir pupils the memorising of the ever-growing mass 

 ot known chemical facts by showing them at the 

 outset how these are co-ordinated ; thus would pure 

 memory work be reduced, being replaced bv reasoning 

 ■which was well within the powers of the students. 

 Prof. J. C. Philip, who, in common with other 

 sp>eakers, strongly supjxjrted this view, emphasised 

 the importance of introducing the physico-chemical 

 ideas into the ordinary chemistry courses in prefer- 

 ence to teaching physical chemistry as a separate 

 subject at the start. It was further explained that 

 neither expensive apparatus nor extraordinary mathe- 

 matical ability on the part of the pupils is necessarv 

 in the early stages of such instruction. It is rare to 

 find in a big gathering such unanimity of opinion 

 that a change of this sort in traditional teaching is 

 both desirablo and possible. In all probability more 

 will be heard of it. 



During the course of the meetings, which extended 

 over two days, there were several other discussions, of 

 which the following general impressions were ob- 

 tained :— First, as regards the teaching of dynamics ; 

 this is still, with rare exceptions, m a chaotic condi- 

 tion in our schools. The subject is often left in the 

 hands of mathematical masters, and divorced from 

 the teaching of science. In any case, the presentation 

 of mechanics is usually far too formal, with the result 

 that it makes little appeal to beginners. 



Geography seems to be in a better way. Some 

 attempt was made at the meeting to define, perhaps 

 to limit, the activities of the specialist teacher of geo- 

 i^raphy. But it was fairly generally agreed that he 

 liad made good, and that science has much to gain 

 and nothing to lose by the growing importance which 

 is being attached to tlie modern geographer's methods. 



Major E. R. Thomas, in opening a discussion on 

 post-certificate science for the non-specialist, spoke of 

 the importance of emphasising the cultural value of 

 the subject. For This class of student especially it is 

 desirable to bring into prominence the historical, bio- 

 graphical, and philosophical aspects of the subject. 

 This kind of teaching is now being widely adopted, 

 and is already being reflected in the work of those 

 who are specialising in science. For many years the 

 association has done its utmost to save the vouth of 

 the country from the materialistic tendencies which 

 may follow from the study of natural science if it is 

 narrowly conceived and inadequately expounded. 



The discussions will be fully reported in the next 

 issue of the School Science Review, which Mr. 



G. H. J. Adlam will continue to edit. During the 

 coming year Sir Ernest Rutherford will be the presi- 

 dent of the association, of which Major V. S. Bryant 

 (St. Piran's School, Maidenhead) and Major C. E. 

 Sladden (Eton College) are the secretaries. 



The annual meeting of the Association of Science 

 Teachers was held at University College, London, on 

 January 3 last. At a business meeting in the morning 

 the following resolution was unanimously passed : — 

 "That this meeting of the Association of Science 

 Teachers deeply regrets the action of the University 

 of Cambridge, in that, alone among British universi- 

 ties, it continues to exclude women from member- 

 ship. The association believes that such exclusion 

 must be prejudicial to the higher education of women 

 in general, and especially in natural science, for the 

 study of which Cambridge can offer exceptional 

 advantages." 



A very useful discussion on practical examinations 

 in science, initiated by a resolution concerning general 

 elementary science as a subject in the General School 

 Examination of the University of London, was made 

 more valuable by the presence of Mr. Lea, represent- 

 ing the University. The general sense of the meeting 

 was in favour of the retention, or even extension, of 

 practical tests in science as a part of the First 

 Examination. 



In the afternoon Dr. Winifred Brenchley, of the 

 Rothamsted Experimental Station, lectured on "The 

 Effects of Competition on Plant-life." She pointed 

 out that competition is prevalent both above and 

 below ground. In the soil the deficiency of any con- 

 stituent of plant-food may beconie a limiting factor 

 in the growth of the plant, and the elements which 

 act most frequently in this way are nitrogen and phos- 

 phorus, and to a less extent potassium. Tests on 

 this point are made by pot-cultures, in which the com- 

 position of the soil can be controlled. By such tests it 

 can be shown that with scanty nourishment one plant 

 will increase as much in dry weight as a number of 

 plants crowded into the same amount of soil. 



Above ground the limiting factor is light, leaf 

 mosaics and other leaf arrangements being an adapta- 

 tion to this condition. The effect of light is not 

 alwavs obvious, as crowded plants are taller than 

 '• spaced " ones, but a comparison of dry weights 

 shows that the "spaced " plant increases 50 per cent, 

 more than the crowded one. 



Plants are adapted to live in communities on a 

 limited amount of soil by varying root depth, e.g. 

 during the drought of last summer bird's foot trefoil 

 flourished exceedingly because it had deep roots. 

 Cultivated plants cannot -exist at all in comj^etition 

 with weeds. Investigations undertaken at Rotham- 

 sted have shown the extraordinary vitality of weed- 

 seeds, and work is now proceeding on a survey of 

 weeds of various districts. In this matter Dr. 

 Brenchlev seeks to enlist the help ot schools in various 

 parts of the country, and will be glad to send details 

 as to the data required to anyone who can help in 

 this wav. 



Problems of Animal Breeding. 



A N interesting series of articles on research in 

 •^~*- animal breeding appeared in the .Vpril-July 

 issues of the Journal of the Ministry of Agriculture. 

 In the first two papers the author. Prof. R. C. 

 Punnett, traces the results of crossing red with black 

 and polled with horned cattle, and in this wav illus- 

 trates the Mendelian principles underlying all breed- 

 ing methods. Mendelism not onlv enables the 

 breeder to understand why red calves sometimes 

 NO. 2724, VOL. 109] 



appear even in the most highly pedigreed Aberdeen, 

 Angus, or Holstein cattle, but it also supplies the 

 knowledge which can be used to prevent their ever 

 appearing again. The factors with which breeders 

 are concerned are rarely as simple as in the black- 

 red case of cattle, where the possibilities form a 

 simple alternative pair, and in both cases one of the 

 characters is completely dominant to the other, black 

 being dominant to red "and polled to horned, k more 



