268 



NATURE 



[December 6, 1917 



the passing- of six resolutions, which were pub- 

 lished in the Press at the end of August. Of 

 these the most important are the following : — 



(i) It lis essential that any reorganisation of our 

 educational system should make adequate provision 

 for both humanistic and scientific studies. 



(2) Premature specialisation on any one particular 

 group of studies, whether humanistic or scientific, to 

 the exclusion of all others, is a serious danger, not only 

 to education generally, but to the studies concerned. 



(3) Humanistic education implies the adequate study 

 of language and literature, geography and history, 

 which in each case should, at the appropriate stage of 

 education, go beyond the pupils' own language and 

 country. 



With these resolutions the Teaching Committee 

 of the Mathematical Association and the Com- 

 mittee of the Association of Public-School Science 

 Masters expressed concurrence. 



The circular drawn up by the Five Associations 

 spoke of the possible formation of " some central 

 council which could assume a larger responsi- 

 bility and speak with a wider representative 

 authority. " No doubt the formation of such a 

 council is eminently desirable, but it has not so 

 far been brought into existence. The British 

 Academy has appointed a committee which has 

 developed into the Council for Humanistic 

 Studies, the report of which is before us. But the 

 Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies initiated by 

 the Royal Society, with the president, Sir J. J. 

 Thomson, at the head, besides the "Neglect of 

 Science" Committee, which originated in the 

 meeting of May 3, 1916, must not be forgotten. 

 There is also the Education Reform Council 

 inaugurated by the Teachers' Guild, and the 

 report of which was reviewed in Nature of Sep- 

 tember 27 last. This body has so far not been 

 consulted by the other associations which have 

 been conferring together. 



A step in advance was undoubtedly achieved 

 when a meeting on January 26 last was held 

 between the Education Committee of the Board 

 of Scientific Societies and the Council for 

 Humanistic Studies, with Sir E. Ray Lankester 

 in the chair. In the result it was agreed that 

 more time must be found for the teaching of 

 natural science, especially in the older and more 

 famous schools, and that this time should 

 generally be found at the expense of the classics. 

 All agree in deprecating early specialisation, and 

 it should be noted that this opinion applies to the 

 classics as well as to science and modern lan- 

 guages. 



Fortunately, while the experts are trying to 

 make up their minds, some definite action has 

 already been taken by the authorities. The Regu- 

 lations for Secondary Schools, issued, on April 19 

 last, require the curriculum to provide for -satis- 

 factory instruction in the following subjects : (i) 

 English language and literature ;' (2) at least one 

 other language ; (3) geography ; (4) history ; ft;) 

 mathematics ; (6) science ; and (7) drawing. The 

 report of the committee appointed by the Treasury 

 to produce a scheme of examination for admission 

 to the Civil Service, Class I., was issued on 

 NO. 2510, VOL. 100] 



June 20 last. It affords very interesting reading 

 and proposes new regulations of a very impor- 

 tant character. The examination is to be divided 

 into two parts. Section A, which must be taken 

 by all candidates, includes the following forms of 

 test: (i) Essay; (2) English; (3) questions on 

 contemporary subjects, social, economic, or 

 political ; {4) general principles, methods, and 

 applications of science ; (5) translation from a 

 foreign langu^e; (6) a viva voce examination. 

 To each of these subjects from (i) to (5) one hun- 

 dred marks are assigned, and to the viva voce, 

 to which the committee attaches great impor- 

 tance, three hundred marks. This is followed by 

 Section B, which includes a great variety of 

 optional subjects generally marked at the same 

 maximum, except mathematics and engineering, 

 which receive twice the number of marks assigned 

 to the other subjects. The report of the Civil 

 Service Committee concludes with a number of 

 specimen examination questions, which are in- 

 tended to illustrate the views put forward by the 

 committee. 

 j Then there is the Education Bill now before 

 Parliament, according to which elementary educa- 

 I tion is to be compulsory up to the age of fourteen 

 j years. It provides for the establishment of con- 

 tinuation schools and for compulsory attendance 

 at the same. Another clause introduces the 

 I interesting and novel proposal to give power to 

 : local authorities to afford aid to research. 



Sir Frederic Kenyon's report contains much 

 that deserves attention, and seems to invite com- 

 ment, and we cannot do better than advise our 

 readers interested in educational questions to 

 obtain a copy. But they should also read care- 

 fully the report of the "Neglect of Science" 

 Committee, which brings out more clearly the 

 claims of the advocates of natural science. 



NOTES. 



A VERY remarkable statement was made to the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences on October i by Prof. H. Vin- 

 cent, who is director of the great Army Laboratory at 

 Val-de-Grace, one of the most beneficent institutions 

 of France. He was responsible, in the early months 

 of 1915 and afterwards, for the arrangements in the 

 French Army for the protective treatment against 

 typhoid. He gives the results in a short note . with 

 a graphic diagram. He contrasts the terrible havoc 

 wrought in previous wars with the almost negligible 

 death-rate from typhoid in the present war. A heavy 

 incidence of typhoid began in November, 1914; it be- 

 came much less during March-April, 1915. During 

 this period, November, 1914-April, 19 15, the protective 

 treatment could not be effectively carried out at the 

 front, because of the necessities of the war. From 

 April, 1915, onward — except for one very small rise in 

 the summer of 1915, due mostly to paratyphoid fever 

 ■ — the death-rate has been kept almost at nil. The 

 line runs steadily along the bottom of the diagram, 

 as one loves to see it. From August, 1915, onward 

 the French Army has received protective treatment, 

 not only against typhoid fever, but also against those 

 two forms of paratyphoid fever which at present are 

 called paratyphoid A and paratyphoid B. The results 

 are magnificent. As Prof. Vincent says : — " For more 

 than two vears the French Armv at the front has 



