290 



NA TURE 



[January 17, 1901 



properties of water will follow, after which the effects of heat 

 can with advantage be taken up, and so prepare the way for 

 the final stage of the preliminary course — namely, the study of 

 the air, more particularly in relation to the part it plays in the 

 combustion of food and fuel. But throughout the course con- 

 stant work with the balance must take a prominent part. The 

 balance inculcates thrift and morality generally, and weighing 

 should be so constantly resorted to that it becomes an absolute 

 habit. If Rudyard Kipling could but be persuaded to write a 

 song with the refrain "Weigh, weigh, weigh," which could be 

 hummed by girls during their lessons in practical work in 

 science, as well as sung on State occasions, he would be doing 

 education a great service. 



Prof. Tilden, F.R.S., opened a discussion and referred to 

 the neglect of book-keeping in household management, and 

 directed attention to the fact that a sound education must take 

 notice of other subjects than science. 



Psychology AND Science Teaching. 



Sir Henry Roscoe, F.R.S., took the chair at the concluding 

 meeting, at which Prof. Earl Barnes gave an address on nature 

 teaching for young children, and Principal Lloyd Morgan, 

 r.R.S., lectured on psychology and science teaching. Prof 

 Morgan said a lecturer in psychology had been defined thus by 

 a pupil — " He tells us what every one knows in language which 

 nobody can understand," but he hoped to avoid the dangers 

 mentioned in the definition. It is easier to indicate what is not 

 education than to give a satisfactory account of what it is : 

 " when one fellow talks about what he doesn't understand to 

 other fellows who don't understand him, that's wo^ education." 

 The teacher ignorant of psychology is somewhat of a quack, 

 the honest and earnest instructor must have some practical 

 knowledge of mental processes. In fact, all science teachers 

 ought to take a course in psychology as part of their recognised 

 curriculum in training for their life-work. But such work in 

 psychology should have an experimental basis ; the professor 

 ^nd his students must participate in an investigation together. 

 Prof. Morgan then described, with a series of practical demon- 

 ■strations, the research he was assisting his own students to carry 

 out. In all such practical work it is borne in mind that the 

 'first stage in a normal course of mental sequence is that of 

 observation presenting facts which demand explanation ; the 

 second that of discovery ; and the third that of testing and 

 applying the principles. A discussion followed in which the 

 • chairman and Dr. Gladstone took part. 



A collection of home-made apparatus for science teaching in 

 -schools was on view during the days of the conference, and the 

 chemical, physical and mechanical laboratories of the Polytechnic 

 were open for inspection. A. T. Simmons. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL . 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The Sedgwick prize in geology has been 

 awarded to Mr. F. R. C. Reed, M.A., of Trinity College. 



At Peterhouse the following entrance scholarships in Natural 

 Science have been awarded : Blackie, Tonbridge School, 50/. ; 

 King, City of London School, 40/. 



The University of Cincinnati was re-organised in the latter 

 ■part of last year, and an account of the changes, with photo- 

 :graphs and short biographical sketches of the Faculty as now 

 constituted, is given in Chic. The most distinctive change is 

 the introduction of the elective system, which permits the 

 -student to follow the course of study which best suits his needs 

 for the profession or business he intends to follow after leaving 

 the University. A college of commerce and administration is 

 in contemplation, which will have for its object practical 

 ■instruction in methods of business in conformity with modern 

 demands. The endowment fund of the University, through the 

 bequests of a number of generous benefactors, amounts to the 

 substantial sum of 3,357,308 dollars, or more than 700,000/. 

 The president of the University is Dr. H. Ayres, formerly pro- 

 fessor of biology in the University of Missouri. 



Literature remarks :— The close of the term for the Christmas 

 vacation has shown the interest of the American millionaire in 

 the advancement of learning. Mr. J. D. Rockefeller gives 

 300,000/. to the University of Chicago and 3000/. to the 

 Vermont Academy. Wellesley College, Mass., receives 20,000/. 



NO. 1629, VOL. 63] 



from various donors, and Ripon College, Wisconsin, comes into 

 possession of a handsome building for scientific study, the gift 

 of Mr. O. H. Ingram. The Universities have, on the whole, 

 done well by the millionaires. Here is a summary of the largest 

 endowments and their givers : — 



Chicago University ... J. D. Rockefeller ...$9,133,874 ... ;^i,902,848 



Gerard College Stephen Gerard 7,000,000 ... 1,458,333 



Pratt Institute Charles Pratt 3,6oo,o<3o ... 750,000 



Johns Hopkins Univ. ... Johns Hopkins 3,000,000 ... 625,000 



Drexel Institute ... ... A. J. Drexel 3,000,000 ... 625,000 



L. Stanford University... Leland Stanford, jun... 2,500,000 ... 520,833 



Cornell University ... ... Ezra Cornell 1,500,000... 312,500 



Vanderbilt University ... The Vanderbilts 1,100,000... 229,166 



Columbia University ... Selh Low 1,000,000 ... 208,333 



But there are millionaires outside of America, and the list may 

 at any rate be taken as an example pour encourager les autres. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal of Science, January. — The stereographic 

 projection and its possibilities, from a graphical standpoint, by 

 S. L. Penfield. Two stereographic protractors devised by the 

 author are described, and detailed instructions given for their 

 use. These protractors are especially adapted to crystallo- 

 graphic problems, but this branch of the subject is postponed 

 for special consideration in a further communication. — On the 

 mode of occurrence of topaz near Ouro Preto, Brazil, by 

 Orville A. Derby. The yellow Brazilian topaz of the Ouro 

 Preto district was stated by Eschwege to occur in association 

 with talcose or chlorite schist, and this was confirmed to some 

 extent by Mawe, Spix and Martius. This view was contested 

 by Gorceix, who found that the unctuous schists of this region 

 are essentially micaceous. The results of the author's researches 

 in this district show that the occurrence of the topaz here 

 does not differ so materially from the other known ones as 

 has hitherto been supposed. The mineral does not occur in 

 an essentially magnesian rock, nor is its matrix of presumably 

 sedimentary rather than of eruptive origin. — A chemical study 

 of the glaucophane schists, by Henry S. Washington. Analyses 

 of glaucophanes from Syra, Oregon, Croatia, Anglesey, Cali- 

 fornia, Japan and Piedmont, sixteen analyses in all. The 

 glaucophane schists are found to belong to two classes. The 

 larger one is basic, and consists chiefly of glaucophane and 

 epidote, and scarcely differs in chemical composition from the 

 amphibolites and eclogites. A smaller, but widely spread group, 

 is acid in composition, and these are composed largely of quartz 

 and glaucophane. — On the nature of the metallic veins of the 

 Farmington meteorite, by O. C. Farrington. The question of 

 the origin of the metallic veins in a meteorite is of interest 

 as throwing light on the origin, terrestrial or pre-terrestrial, 

 of the meteorite. Preston's views on the veins in the Farm- 

 ington meteorite are discussed and shown to be improbable. — 

 Erigenia bulbosa, by Theo. Holm. An examination of the 

 question as to whether the globular underground part of this 

 plant is a true tuber or a tuberous root. After some trouble, 

 specimens of the plant were obtained in the seedling .stage, 

 and the bulb was found to be a tuberous root. — New species 

 of Merycochoerus, in Montana, by Earl Douglass. This 

 species, described as M. altiramus, found in the Madison 

 Lake beds of the Loup Fork epoch, is represented by a right 

 mandibular ramus which only lacks the posterior border and 

 some other small fragments. The paper is illustrated by five 

 diagrams of the dentition, accompanied by careful measure- 

 ments. 



Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, December, 

 1900. — Prof. F. N. Cole gives an account of, with abstracts of 

 the papers read at, the October meeting of the Society. As 

 these papers will be printed in extenso in the Bulletin, or in 

 the Transactions, we omit the consideration of them here. 

 Prof. M. Bocher devotes a page to a note on linear dependence 

 of functions of one variable. Report on the groups of an 

 infinite order, by Dr. G. A. Miller, was read before Section A 

 of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, which 

 met at New York in June last. This is a useful resumi of 

 recent work done upon the theory of groups, with copious refer- 

 ences to original memoirs. Two reviews follow, viz., of Ewing's 

 " The Strength of Materials," by Dr. C. Chree, and of the 

 " Anwendung der Differential- und Integralrechnung auf Geo- 

 metric" of Dr. G. Scheffers (Bd. i. " Einfuhrung in die Theorie 

 der Curven in der Ebene und im Raum "), by Prof. J. M. Page. 

 Notes and new publications close the number. 



