5H 



NA TURE 



[March 30, 1893 



■would not add to the number of subjects taken up at entrance, 

 for boys were already overburdened in their preparation. 



The Head Master of Clifton College, Mr. Glazebrook, said 

 that this was a question on which the public schools had a strong 

 claim to be heard, since an increasing number of boys passed 

 direct from them to Woolwich— the proportion last July being 

 about four-fifths of all the candidates. But the discouragement 

 of science was not so serious to the great schools as to the 

 smaller and less expensive schools, where as a rule science is 

 well taught, but not German. He thought it undesirable that 

 these latter should be debarred from competition. It was not 

 only by the assignment of marks that science was now dis- 

 couraged, but also by the system of instruction. Boys who 

 went up to Woolwich tolerably proficient in chemistry were put 

 back to the elements, and at the end of their first year knew 

 less than when they entered. Such boys were naturally inclined 

 to complain that science at Woolwich was a farce, and to urge 

 their friends at school to take up another subject which was 

 treated more seriously. 



Further remarks were made by Sir B. Samuelson, who 

 especially advocated the encouragement of all types of boys from 

 the public schools, by Prof. Jelf, and by Mr. Shenstone. State- 

 ments were made by the Director-General of Military Education 

 and the Inspector-General of Fortifications ; the latter officer 

 emphasised the importanceof German and of electricity, and said 

 ■many cadets were markedly deficient in the latter subjects when 

 they left Woolwich. In concluding, Mr. Campbell-Bannerman 

 expressed his obligation to the deputation, and his sense of the 

 importanceof the matter brought under his notice, which would 

 have his most careful attention. 



It will be seen from this report that the position of 

 cadets of scientific ability at the Royal Military Academy 

 is, as we pointed out some time ago, far from satisfactory, 

 and that this view is now not only held by men of science 

 but also by many head masters and by distinguished 

 members of the military profession, who on this and on 

 other occasions recently have spoken clearly on the sub- 

 ject. 



The main defects of the present system seem to be : — 

 (i) That science and German, two subjects which ought 

 to go hand in hand in the early education of officers of 

 the scientific branches, are at present brought into dis- 

 tinct conflict ; (2) that in effect so great a bonus is given 

 to German in the course of work at the Royal Military 

 Academy as to be likely very soon to drive science out 

 of the entrance examination, and to a corresponding 

 extent out of the public schools ; (3) that the standard 

 of work of the cadets in science, and particularly in 

 electricity when they leave the Royal Military Academy, 

 is lower than it ought to be in very many cases. 



Of these defects the last, which is doubtless largely 

 the outcome of the first two, is probably the most import- 

 ant, and it will never be remedied so long as the authori- 

 ties cling to the idea that a sufficient knowledge of 

 several branches of science can be given to the cadets, 

 even when they are quite new to such studies, in the 

 moderate amount of time that can be spared for them 

 during the comparatively brief course of work at the 

 Royal Military Academy. That this idea is wrong we 

 have pointed out again and again. If those who are 

 responsible for the education of the cadets at Woolwich 

 really desire that the cadets shall attain to a higher stan- 

 dard in science, they must not only encourage the admis- 

 sion of lads of scientific ability, but they must either set 

 apart much more time to such work at the Academy, and 

 give opportunities for, and more encouragement to, 

 advanced work on the part of those who take up the 

 subject, and do well in it at the entrance examination ; 

 or, if the giving of more time to science at the Royal 

 Military Academy is impracticable, as is very possibly 

 the case, they must so alter the conditions of the entrance 

 examination as to secure that the cadets shall learn their 

 elementary chemistry and heat at school, and be able to 

 devote their science work at Woolwich wholly to elec- 

 tricity, which is technically of such great importance to 



NO. 1222, VOL. 47] 



them, but to which at present they can only give a portion 

 of their time. 



By doing this the authorities of the Academy will not 

 only advance the interests of the service, they will also 

 avoid that discouragement of the more scientific cadets 

 and of the teaching of science in schools which is ad- 

 mittedly a result of the present system as a whole. 



In conclusion, we would urge strongly what was pointed 

 out by Sir Henry Roscoe on Friday, that it is not merely 

 scientific knowledge but scientific ability which is wanted, 

 and that it is only by giving due weight to science at the 

 entrance examination and afterwards that this can be 

 secured. 



CLIMBING PLANTS.^ 



THIS forms the fourth part of A. F. W. Schimper's 

 " Botanische Mittheilungen aus den Tropen," and 

 is devoted to the description and illustration of the 

 various adaptations for climbing exhibited by native 

 Brazilian plants observed on the spot. Following 

 Darwin, the author distinguishes four different classes 

 of climbing plants, according to the manner in which 

 they climb ; but his four classes are not quite the same. 

 Darwin divided them into those having stems which 

 twine spirally round a support ; those which climb by 

 means of irritable organs ; those which climb by means 

 of hooks ; and those which climb by means of roots. 

 Darwin's investigations, it will be remembered, were 

 chiefly directed to the elucidation of the phenomena 

 exhibited by twiners, and such plants as climb by means 

 of tendrils. Schenck treats in a general way of all four 

 classes of climbers ; and his work is more in the nature 

 of a text-book than an account of experimental research. 

 He divides climbing plants into Spreizklimmer, Wurzel- 

 kletterer, Windepflanzen, and Rankenpflanzen, corre- 

 sponding nearly to the hook, root, twining, and tendril 

 climbers of Darwin and others. But the Spreizklim- 

 mer include all climbing plants that neither twine nor 

 possess either irritable climbing organs or clinging roots, 

 whether armed or unarmed. Thus the least organised of 

 climbing plants are those having weak, slender, rampant 

 stems and branches which grow up among other plants 

 and rest upon them without any other means of sup- 

 port ; whilst the most perfectly developed climbing 

 plants are those provided with highly sensitive nutating 

 tendrils, such as the Cucurbitacege and the Passifloraces. 

 It is difficult to find an exact English equivalent for 

 " Spreizklimmer," but " incumbent climbers " might be 

 employed to designate this class. Twiners rev-olve with 

 the sun, as the hop {Humulus Lupulus), or against the 

 sun, as the scarlet-runner bean {Phaseolus vulgaris) ; 

 but Schenck agrees with Darwin and other observers 

 that they are not sensible to contact. It is only the plants 

 classed as tendril-climbers that exhibit this property ; 

 and this irritability is developed both in caulomes and in 

 phyllomes — that is in branches and in leaves, more or less 

 modified for the purpose. In England there are only 

 three woody climbers, namely : the ivy, a root-climber ; 

 the honeysuckle, a twiner ; and Clematis vitalba, a leaf- 

 stalk climber ; but in Brazil, and in other tropical 

 countries, they are exceedingly numerous, and present a 

 great variety of adaptations to this end. Dr. Schenck, 

 however, does not confine himself to Brazilian forms. 

 He briefly reviews all the types that have come under his 

 observation. Plants climbing by means of tendrils (irri- 

 table organs), conceived in the widest sense, are 

 classified according to the organs, or parts of the 

 organs, by means of which they climb. First he 

 takes the leaf-climbers, which climb by means of 



1 " Beitrage 2ur Biologie und Anatomic der Lianen im Besonderen der in 

 Brasilien einheimischen Arten." Mit 7 Tafeln. Von Dr. H. Schenck. 

 (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1892.) 



