November 12, 19 14] 



NATURE 



295 



w ere examined, and another to the celebrated Bacchus 

 Marsh district, where the chief points of interest were 

 i!ie Tertiary basaltic lava flows, the magnificent gorge 

 the Werribee River and the Permo-Carboniferous 

 lites which may be seen resting on grooved and 

 striated surfaces of slate, sandstone, and quartzite of 

 Ordovician age, the surfaces in some instances being 

 - fresh as those of Pleistocene age in Britain. 

 Svdnev was reached by rail on August 20, and here 

 it- sectional proceedings were opened by Sir Thomas 

 11. Holland's presidential address, which will be found 

 jjrinted in extenso in Nature of September 3, and 

 \\as followed bv an address on the geology of New 

 South Wales, bv Mr. E. F. Pittman. Other papers 

 read during the Sydney session included Prof. T. W. 

 Edgeworth David and Mr. W. S. Dunn on the Permo- 

 Carboniferous fauna; Mr. E. C. Andrews, "The Post- 

 Jurassic Geographv of Australia '" ; papers on artesian 

 water bv Mr. E. F. Pittman and Mr. S. Dunstan ; 

 on metallogenetic provinces of Eastern Australia, by 

 Mr. C. A. Sussmilch ; on the genesis of the diamond 

 in New South Wales, by Mr. L. A. Cotton ; on spilitic 

 lavas in New South \\'ales, by Mr. W. N. Benson ; 

 and on structural features of the coal-fields of Penn- 

 sylvania, by Prof. E. S. Moore. 



The geological excursions from Sydney were (a) to 

 the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves, and (6) to 

 West Maitland and Newcastle. The Blue Mountains 

 are capped by the sandstones of the Hawkesbury 

 series (Trias), which rests on Permo-Carboniferous 

 and Carboniferous rocks, which are exposed in many 

 of the valleys, and in turn rest with marked uncon- 

 formity on the Upper Devonian of Mount Lambie. 

 The Jenolan Caves, which are excavated in lime- 

 stones of Silurian age, are well known for their mag- 

 nificent stalactites. 



The Maitland district is chiefly of '"interest on 

 count of its workable coals, and the occurrence of 

 ds of tillite and other glacial beds in its Permo- 

 irboniferous series. 



The section of the Permo-Carboniferous system is 

 liie most complete yet described in any part of Aus- 

 tralia. The highest beds are those of the Newcastle 

 ries, which are of fresh- water origin, and contain 

 :ne thirteen seams with a thickness of 3 ft. and 

 upwards. These rest upon the Dempsey series, witn 

 ( riossopteris and Gangamopteris, which in turn over- 

 • ■< the Middle or Tomago Coal Measures with 

 eral important seams. 



rhe Upper Marine series which underlies the 

 imago consists of cherts, shales, and calcareous 

 iidstones, and rests upon the Greta Coal Measures, 

 iiich contain two principal seams, the upper varying 

 nm 14 ft. to 32 ft. and the lower from 3 ft. to 11 ft. in 

 thickness. Below the Greta Measures lies the Lower 

 Marine series. 



The glaciation appears to have taken place from a 

 radiant point situated in a now submerged region 

 tjetvveen Tasmania and Kangaroo Island, south of 

 Adelaide. 



rhe members who went to Brisbane divided into 

 > veral parties, some visiting the striking trachytic 

 necks of the Glass House Mountains, while others 

 investigated the geological structure and gold-mining 

 industries of Gympie and Mount Morgan. The Trias- 

 Jura coal-bearing beds of Ipswich, near Brisbane, 

 were also visited. The beds are considerablv folded 

 and rather heavilv faulted, and rest unconformably 

 on the Gneissose rocks of Brisbane. 



Excursions which had been arranged to New 

 Zealand and Tasmania were abandoned on account of 

 V war in Europe. 



A. R. D. 



XO. 2350, VOL. 94] 



EDUCATIOX AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 



THE section met in Melbourne and Sydney. The 

 programme had been carefully divided between 

 the two cities, but as it was impracticable to divide 

 the presidential address, the organising committee 

 arranged to give special prominence to the address 

 of Prof. Armstrong (vice-president), which was to be 

 given in Melbourne. It was a strong plea for the 

 further recognition of science in education and in the 

 State, and extracts from it have already been pub- 

 lished in N.VTURE (October 22, p. 213). 



Following upon Prof. Armstrong's address Mr. C A. 

 Buckmaster read a paper on State aid to science. It 

 was an interesting ret^-ospect of official experience 

 which it is scarcely possible to summarise here, though 

 we may express the hope that the paper will shortly 

 be published in full. Mr. W. D. Eggar discussed the 

 position of mathematics and sciences in a liberal educa- 

 tion. In his view the " mathematics required by uni- 

 versity qualifying examinations is either too little or 

 too much." From the point of view of use, it is only 

 men in scientific professions who require more than 

 plain arithmetic, and simultaneous quadratics is in- 

 sufficient to produce aesthetic appreciation of the sub- 

 ject in the educated man. Instead of Euclid, which 

 appealed to clever sixth-form boys, we have now a 

 hotch-potch in which any proof of a theorem is. 

 accepted if it is good enough for an engineer. In 

 science, again, everything is sacrificed to the stupid 

 bov. Only the science which is useful is favoured. 

 Astronomv, for example, is not usually taught at 

 school. The problem of education after all is the open- 

 ing of windows of the mind, and in the teaching of 

 any subject we should concern ourselves with the 

 question. How far must we go to come to a window? 

 Cannot some agreement be arrived at as to the 

 number and position of the windows which should be 

 opened by a liberal education ? 



The second day at Melbourne was devoted to the 

 subject of vocational education. Dr. C. W. Kimmins 

 gave an account of the London trade schools, which 

 are designed to bridge over the gap between fourteen 

 and seventeen. In order to make them accessible to 

 poor children, maintenance grants rising from 61. to 

 15/. a year, and free education, are liberally provided 

 bv the County Council scholarship scheme. Definite 

 trade instruction is also given in certain instances 

 (tailoring and bakery), but scholarships are not 

 awarded in these cases. The trade school has also 

 become a necessity owing to the decay of the appren- 

 ticeship system, in comparison with which it has 

 certain compensating advantages — it provides better 

 supervision, it does not neglect literary subjects, it 

 takes a completer view of the trade itself, and it pro- 

 vides a due balance of theory and practice. These 

 schools have the further advantage that thev are 

 governed by a consultative committee of experts — a 

 most important essential in their success. The cost 

 of such schools in London works out at 15/. to 21/. 

 a year for boys, and 15/. for girls. Dr. Moody 

 described his experiences in the organisation of com- 

 mercial education, and Dr. Findlay dealt with the 

 compulsory education of vouth. A new tvpe of insti- 

 tution and a new type of teacher are essential. Youth 

 needs social experience and vocational guidance as well 

 as instruction. Little can be done until the State 

 accepts the principle of partial control over wage- 

 earning youth. Mr. A. D. Hall considered that all 

 education should be vocational : only then shall we 

 get a product fit for something, because it has been 

 subjected to the discipline of purposeful work. He 

 outlined a scheme of agricultural education, which 



