70 



NATURE 



[Septemblr id, 1915 



The production of acid is stated to alter the electrical 

 forces at this situation. This electrical charge in- 

 volves a change of surface tension, and it is this 

 change of surface tension which brings about the 

 mechanical deformation of the muscle. Mines also 

 has brought forward good evidence that the produc- 

 tion of. lactic acid is responsible for the change of 

 tension. As to how the lactic acid is set free, and of 

 what nature the system of high potential present in 

 muscle may_ be, we require much more information. 

 The absence of evolution of carbon dioxide when 

 oxygen is not present shows that no oxidation takes 

 place in the development of tension. There are other 

 difficulties also in supposing that this system present 

 in resting muscle is of a chemical nature. If the 

 energy afforded by the oxidation of carbohydrate in the 

 recovery stage is utilised for the formation of another 

 chemical system with high energy content, the theory 

 of coupled reactions indicates that there must be some 

 component common to both systems. It is difficult 

 to see what component of the muscle system could 

 satisfy the conditions required. On the whole, some 

 kind of system of a more physical nature seems the 

 most probable. If it be correct that the oxidation 

 of substances other than carbohydrate, fat, for 

 example, can afford the chemical energy for muscular 

 contraction, as appears from the results of meta- 

 bolism experiments, a further difficulty arises in re- 

 spect to a coupled reaction. But the question still 

 awaits investigation. 



On the whole, I think that we may conclude that 

 more study of the phenomena at phase boundaries will 

 throw light on many problems still obscure. It would 

 probably not be going too far to say that the peculiari- 

 ties of the phenomena called "vital" are due to the 

 fact that they are manifestations of interchange of 

 energy between the phases of heterogeneous systems. 

 It was Clerk Maxwell who compared the transactions 

 of the material universe to mercantile operations in 

 which so much credit is transferred from one place 

 to another, energy being the representative of credit. 

 There are many indications that it is just in this 

 process of change of energy from one form to another 

 that special degrees of activity are to be observed. 

 Such, for example, are the electrical phenomena seen 

 in the oxidation of phosphorus or benzaldehyde, and 

 it appears that, in the photo-chemical system of the 

 green plant, radiant energy is caught on the way, as it 

 were, to its degradation to heat, and utilised for 

 chemical work. In a somewhat similar way, it might 

 be said that money in the process of transfer is more 

 readily diverted, although perhaps not always to such 

 good purpose as in the chloroplast. Again, just as in 

 commerce money that is unemployed is of no value, 

 so it is in physiology. Life is incessant change or 

 transfer of energy, and a system in statical equilibrium 

 is dead. 



SECTION L. 



educational science. 

 Opening Address by Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, 

 President of the Section. 

 When I look at the names of many of my prede- 

 cessors in this presidential chair, when I read their 

 addresses, or when I consider' what the work of the 

 Section ought to be, I feel that an apology is needed 

 for my being here at all. 



Let me say at once, however, that it is not because 

 of my being a woman that I feel this. It Is true 

 that I am the first woman who has had the honour 

 of presiding over Section L. But it is obviously very 

 fitting that a woman should sometimes do so; and 

 this not only because women are as much concerned 



NO. 2394, VOL. 96] 



with the results of educational science as men are — 

 that might be said about all departments of science ; 

 nor only because the material on which education 

 works — the human material to be educated — is 

 approximately evenly divided between the sexes. A 

 more important consideration is that women have the 

 largest share in the work of education. This is clear 

 if we take education in its widest and fullest sense, 

 and include in it what is done in the home as well 

 as in the school, beginning as it must with the earliest 

 infancy. But it is also true if we limit the meaning 

 of the word education — in the way that is constantly 

 done, and is I think usually done in the discussions 

 that take place in this Section — to that part of it with 

 which the professional educator, the school or college 

 teacher, is concerned. For the fact that the school 

 teaching, not only of girls, but of the younger children 

 of both sexes, is mainly in the hands of women, results 

 of necessity in there being a larger number of profes- 

 sional teachers among women than among men. 



May it not be added that in some departments of 

 education women have appeared to take their profes- 

 sion more seriously than men so far as this can be 

 measured by the trouble taken in training for it? 

 For I think I am right in saying that among persons 

 proposing to teach in secondary schools more women 

 in proportion than men have hitherto availed them- 

 selves of opportunities for professional training. 



From another point of view, too, the education oJ 

 women and girls has an interest which, though not 

 different in kind, is greater in degree than that of the 

 other sex. I mean in the rapidity of its growth and 

 development since the middle of the last century. The 

 development of school and university education and 

 of technical education has, of course, been very great 

 for both sexes. Much attention has been devoted to 

 improving its quality, and perhaps even more to 

 increasing its quantity, by making it more accessible 

 to all classes of people. But in the case of girls and 

 women the progress has been greater and more 

 remarkable than in that of boys, for it started from 

 a lower level, and notwithstanding this it would, I 

 think, be difficult to point out in what respects the 

 educational opportunities of women are now inferior 

 to those of men. I say this, of course, in a general 

 sense, and without prejudice as to controversial ques- 

 tions of detail such as the merits of the methods and 

 curricula deliberately adopted for different schools. 



The Report of the Schools Inquiry Commission pub- 

 lished in 1868, in what it says about girls' education 

 at that time, gives us a standard of comparison and a 

 means of estimating the progress made. It has often 

 been quoted, but may bear quoting again. The Com- 

 missioners say : ^ 



"The general deficiency in girls' education is stated 

 with the utmost confidence, and with entire agreement, 

 with whatever difference of words, by many witnesses 

 of authority. Want of thoroughness and foundation ; 

 want of system ; slovenliness and showy superficiality ; 

 inattention to rudiments ; undue time given to accom- 

 plishments, and those not taught intelligently or in 

 any scientific manner; want of organisation — these 

 may sufficiently indicate the character of the com- 

 plaints we have received, in their most general aspect. 

 It is needless to observe that the same complaints 

 apply to a great extent to boys' education. But on the 

 whole the evidence is clear that, not as they might 

 be, but as they are, the girls' schools are inferior in 

 this view to the boys' schools." 



This was what could be said of schools in 1868, and 

 is certainly in striking contrast to what could be said 

 now. And if we turn from the schools to higher 

 education we find this was practically non-existent for 

 women at that time. Its absence was indeed one 



Report of the Schools Inquiry Con; 



p. 548. 



