June 27v i9IjSJ- 



NATURE 



13-5 



action Mn4-' FeO = Fe+ MnO to take place, and the 

 oxides so formed, if uncombined, further form in- 

 clusions. The reduction, however, is never complete. 

 Inclusions of this type contain invariably between 

 60 and 70 per cent:, of MnO and from 21 to 28 per 

 cent, of FeO, and this is an expression of the equili- 

 brium relations between the two oxides. Silicon and 

 aluminium also act strongly on ferrous oxide, and to 

 an enhanced degree as compared with manganese. 

 The ferrous manganous oxide complex passes, if 

 sufficient silic i is present, into a siHcate, and ultimately 

 into manganese silicate only. In the author's words, 

 therefore, ferrous oxide "is an influence for evil in 

 every class of steel, for when it is not removed it is 

 the cause of blow-hole formation, and when it is 

 removed from solution it loaves as a non-metallic 

 inclusion a record of its previous existence." 



It would appear, therefore, that in the manufac- 

 ture of steel the chief desideratum, if inclusions are to 

 be kept down to a minimum, is to finish with a bath 

 containing the minimum of ferrous oxide. This is 

 achieved in practice by working at as high a tem- 

 perature as possible, which produces not merely less 

 oxide in the steel, but also less iron in the slag, i.e. a 

 more silicious slag, and the theoretical justification 

 for it is clearly shown in the paper. H. C. H. C. 



EDUCATION, SCIENCE. 

 LEADERSHIP.^ 



AND 



SINCE the last annual meeting of the guild all 

 questions of education have been under discus- 

 sion, and we now know better where our weakness 

 lies and the extent and nature of our needs. In the 

 number of our institutions providing higher education 

 America alone stands ahead of us. Sir Robert Had- 

 tield has pointed out that Great Britain and Ireland 

 have one university per 2^ millions of population as 

 compared with one million in America. In the 

 Dominions, on the other hand, where the population 

 is relatively sparse and the distances great, the pro- 

 portion is one university to two-thirds of a million of 

 people. This numerical comparison is, however, mis- 

 leading, except that it indicates educational centres 

 capable of extending their activities. The true 

 criticism is the number of students who undergo a 

 complete course of training. Of full-time students 

 only 4400 entered our universities in 1913-14, and of 

 them several hundred were foreigners who would 

 , later leave this country. Putting the output of 

 ■ university and technically trained men and women in 

 r another way, it appears that per 10,000 of popula- 

 tion there were sixteen full-time students in Scot- 

 land, thirteen in Germany, ten in the United States, 

 six in Ireland, five in England, and five in Wales. 

 ' The figure given for the United States includes only 

 students at universities and technical schools of recog- 

 nised standing. If all students taking four-year 

 courses at these institutions were included, the rate 

 per 10,000 of population would be doubled. It is 

 impossible not to believe that these figures help to 

 account for the high standard of intelligence in Scot- 

 land and America, and for the success of the Scottish 

 and American peoples in many spheres of activity, 

 while the relative backwardness of England, Ireland, 

 and Wales must exercise an influence in public life. 

 The financial test shows a deplorable inferiority to 

 '* the United States and Germanv, and must indicate 

 roughlv the relative importance attached to higher 

 education in these countries and our own. Thus the 



I From the presidential address delivered at the annual meeting of the 

 British Science Guild, June 19, by the Right Hon. Lord Sydenham 

 G.C.S.I . F.R.S. 



total income of State-aided modern universities and" 

 university colleges in England and Wales is about 

 700,006^., of which 34 per cent, is derived from Parlia- 

 mentary grants. The corresponding figures for Ger- 

 many arc nearly 2,000,000/. and 80 per cent., and 

 the University of Berlin alone receives from the State 

 an annual grant nearly equal to that given to all 

 our universities and university colleges. The aimual 

 income of the American universities and colleges is 

 20,000,000/., of which 7,000,000/. is at the disposal of 

 the colleges of agriculture and mechanical arts. 

 Private benefactions towards higher education in the 

 United States amount to more than 5,000,000/. a year. 

 With us thev do not reach one-twentieth part of this 

 sum. 



The only possible inference from these figures is 

 that, as compared with the United States and Ger- 

 many, our higher education is lamentably inferior in 

 quantity. We are not producing trained leadership 

 sufficient for our needs, and the diffusion of know- 

 ledge is pitifully inadequate to the requirements of a 

 moidern State. If an analysis of the kind of training 

 received by our governing classes were possible, it 

 would be found that scientific knowledge was exceed- 

 ingly rare and even non-existent in some quarters 

 where it is essential. Sir Robert Hadfield states that 

 in one important Government institution devoted to 

 educational work about 90 per cent, of the principal 

 officials have received a classical training, and only 

 5 per cent, have been educated in science. Mistakes 

 and inertia in the direction of public policy and in 

 administration are thus explained. There is not 

 enough knowledge of the right kind in Governments, 

 departments of State, or Parliaments, while, in the 

 world of industry, a sufficient supply of trained re- 

 search workers cannot at present be obtained. Until 

 this requirement is fulfilled the development of new 

 industries on a large scale must be impracticable. 



The excellent report of Sir Joseph Thomson's Com- 

 mittee on the position of natural science in education 

 throws a flood of light on our national deficiencies, 

 and points the way to educational reconstruction. 

 The Committee justly claims for sound science teach, 

 ing that " it quickens and cultivates directly the faculty 

 of observation. It teaches the learner to reason from 

 facts which come to his notice. By it the power of 

 rapid and accurate generalisation is strengthened. 

 Without it there is real danger of the mental habit 

 of method and arrangement being never acquired." 



-Ml thoughtful students of our public affairs must 

 admit that, alike in peace and in war, our leaders in 

 all classes have shown a certain lack of the qualities 

 which science training can impart, and that national 

 interests have suffered grievously for this reason. 

 The power of reasoning from facts and of " rapid 

 and accurate generalisation," combined with the habit 

 of "method and arrangement," is the best possible 

 qualification for Cabinet Ministers as well as for all 

 leadership on lower planes; and the British Science 

 Guild has persistently urged that science should take 

 a prominent place in the education of our public 

 servants. 



The Committee recalls the fact that the neglect of 

 science was noted by a Royal Commission on the 

 public schools more than half a century ago. The 

 position of scientific instruction in the United Kingdom 

 was also surveyed in detail in 1870-75 by a Royal 

 .Commission, of which the seventh Duke of Devonshire 

 was president and Sir Norman Lockyer, the founder 

 of this guild, secretary. But although there has been 

 advance in recent years, it has required the shock of 

 a world-war to make us wide awake to our short- 

 comings. The champions of classical learning are 

 now moderate in their claims. The Council for 



NO. 2539, VOL. lOl] 



