94 



NATURE 



[October 4, 191 7 



the Federal or State Governments or commercial 

 establishments; another duty is to appoint committees 

 for fixing standard methods of chemical analysis, for 

 the publication of memoirs or bulletins, and for the 

 standardisation of fees for professional work. It is 

 intended to apply for a charter for the insti- 

 tute. A number of the professorial and professional 

 chemists in Australia are fellows of the Institute of 

 Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland, and probably 

 one of the principal reasons for forming a similar insti- 

 tute in Australia is in consequence of the difficulties 

 connected with the holding of the former's examinations 

 in Australia, due to the great distance and other causes 

 now increased by the war. 



CHILD-STUDY AND EDUCATION.^ 



THE special merit of the "Memorandum on the 

 Educational Principles upon which should be 

 based all Future School Reform " is that it dwells on 

 the need for basing education upon a true theory of 

 child-nature. It consists of an introduction by Prof. 

 Adams, five sections written by "experts," and a series 

 of "recommendations." All who are interested in 

 educational progress should urge these "recommenda- 

 tions " on education authorities. 



Frorti the title one might suppose that these "prin- 

 ciples " have been stated once for all by the council 

 of the society. Fortunately this is not so. In the 

 recommendations we find two "principles" only, viz. 

 that reform must be based on knowledge, and that 

 knowledge must be obtained through real investigation. 



The suggestions as to how additional data are to 

 be sought are both wise and practical, though there 

 is much that is unscientific and altogether out of 

 place in sections 3 and 4, which, as Prof. Adams puts 

 it, " have the special merit of correlating age and 

 .advancement," and he adds that teachers will read 

 with some eagerness what the experts have to say on 

 this. But, in this memorandum, "merit" should 

 be replaced by "c/emerit." If there were such 

 a correlation, the only way to improve educa- 

 tion would be to extend the period of pupil- 

 age. The basis of the memorandum is that 

 there is no such correlation — that with a truer psycho- 

 logy, intelligence and knowledge will be greater at a 

 given age. Naturally, then, no trace of these excres- 

 cent sections appears in the "recommendations." 



The memorandum is called for. There is considerable 

 ■evidence that, under the influence of traditional beliefs, 

 we are to-day perpetuating mistakes in education no 

 less serious than those in medicine before Pasteur's 

 ■discoveries overthrew the traditional wisdom of 

 physicians. One instance may here be given. The 

 writer knows of a boy, three years eight months 

 old, who, never having lessons, has been brought 

 up in an environment providing as free and full 

 opportunity for mental as for physical develop- 

 ment. At two he did the Montessori exercises 

 with ease and accuracy when presented to him, and 

 •did not care to repeat them more than once or twice. 

 At two and a half his guardian wrote : — " He has a 

 •scrupulous sense of order, great carefulness, and a 

 deft handling of everything he touches. He is allowed 

 to explore and handle everything he wishes, even the 

 most delicate articles, merely enjoining on him to be 

 very careful," and more in the same strain, and he 

 scarcely ever broke anything. Later, at three and a 

 half: — "Whenever he sees anything new to him, he 

 at once wants to know its name and all about it; 

 Tie is quick to observe the different leaf buds, on the 

 trees, and can distinguish and name many trees by 



1 Published by t^c Child-Study Society, 50 Buckingham Palace Road, 

 London, S.W.I. Price 4^. post free. 



their buds alone ; sometimes he will bring in a little 

 branch, run to our ' Nature-book,' and compare it 

 with the pictures, finding out which it is for himself. 

 He is also full of interest in birds and knows twenty 

 different kinds by name," and so on. This child has 

 been remarkably free from ailments, as have been all 

 the other children whom the writer can trace who 

 have been brought up in this way, being allowed the 

 free choice of mental as well as of physical occupa- 

 tions ; treated always as intelligent, but never forced 

 to mental exertion. And we find among the products 

 of this method great old men such as Lord Kelvin. 



This is the method indicated by Nature. The brain 

 of the very young child is proportionately far more 

 developed than any other part of his physical system ; 

 why should we assume that it is the part to be given 

 the least opportunity for early growth and develop- 

 ment through the exercise of the activities peculiar 

 to it? As in such matters experience is the only 

 guide, the writer would be very glad if those who have 

 trustworthy data on the question of early education 

 would communicate with him at Trinity College, 

 Dublin. E. P. Culverwell. 



THE HYDRAULIC RESOURCES OF 

 FRANCE. 



T N view of the partial dependence of France on other 

 ■*■ sources for her coal supplies, the question of 

 utilising water-power becomes an increasingly vital 

 factor in her economic development. Considerable in- 

 terest therefore attaches to an article appearing in La 

 Nature for June 23, which incidentally furnishes also 

 a comparison with the resources of other countries in 

 this respect. Various computations have been made as 

 regards France; one made in 191 1 places her resources 

 at 9,200,000 horse-power of water-power available for 

 a minimum of 180 days in the year. This is against 

 Norway's 7,500,000 h.p., Sweden's 6,750,000 h.p., 

 -Austria-Hungary's 6,450,000 h.p., Italy's 5,500,000 h.p., 

 Spain's 5,000,000 h.p., Switzerland's 1,500,000 h.p., 

 Germany's 1,425,500 h.p., and Great Britain's 

 396,000 h.p. In this connection Norway's available 

 supply is 36-60 h.p. per square kilometre of area, that of 

 Sweden 20 h.p., of Austria-Hungary 19-46 h.p., Spain 

 and Ital}- 10 h.p. each, England and Germany 2 to 

 3 h.p. each. France's resources, according to recent 

 estimates, are about 25 h.p. for the same area. The 

 quantity of water available in the Alpine regions alone 

 of France represents about 4,000,000 h.p. 



The value of the water-power resources of France 

 has long been recognised, and while she has utilised 

 them to a greater extent than certain other European 

 countries have theirs, about nine-tenths are still urt- 

 harnessed. Germany, on the other hand, though rich 

 in coal, has utilised about 31 per cent, of her available 

 supply of water-power. 



Contrary to expectations, the war, instead of relax- 

 ing attempts to employ water for power-raisiner in 

 France, has greatly stimulated activity in this direc- 

 tion, in spite of dearth of labour and materials. The 

 article g-ives interesting details of plants already com- 

 pleted or in course of erection. 



Much is 'hoped for by utilising barrage water at hieh 

 pressures; especially is this the case in respect of the 

 electrometallurgical and electrochemical industries, 

 which are sure to develop when new works come into 

 existence and more experience is gained. 



France's annual requirements of coal are estimated 

 in the near future ta be thirty million tons per annum, 

 and as prices are likely to increase considerably, 

 the author's plea for the extended applications of water- 

 power is iustifiable. He asks what this 9,000,000 h.p. 

 of available " white coal " represents in terms of 



NO. 2501, VOL. 100] 



