November 26, 1891 



NATURE 



85 



thereby asserts that it is false to say that our knowledge 

 is only relative. In that case some of our knowledge 

 must be absolute ; but this upsets the foundation of the 

 whole system. Anyone who upholds such a system as 

 this may be compared to a man seated high up on the 

 branch of a tree which he is engaged in sawing across 

 where it springs from the tree's trunk. The position 

 taken up by such a man would hardly be deemed the 

 expression of an exceptional amount of wisdom. 



My time has expired, and I may say no more. The con- 

 siderations I have put before you this evening, should 

 they commend themselves to your judgment, will, I think, 

 lead you to admit that, if we feel confidence and certainty 

 in any part of any branch of physical science, we thereby 

 implicitly affirm that the human mind can, by conscious- 

 ness and memory, know more than phenomena— can 

 know some objective reality — can know its own continuous 

 existence— the validity of inference and the certainty of 

 universal and necessary truth as exemplified in the law 

 of contradiction. In other words, the system of the 

 relativity of knowledge is untrue. Thus the dignity of 

 that noble, wonderful power, the human intellect, is fully 

 established, and the whole of our reason, "from turret to 

 foundation-stone," stands firmly and secure. If I have 

 succeeded in bringing this great truth home to one or 

 two of my hearers who before doubted it, I am abund- 

 antly repaid for the task I have undertaken. It only 

 remains for me now to thank you for the kind and patient 

 hearing you have been so good as to accord me. 



EX AM IN A TIONS IN SCIENCE. 



HTHE Committee of the Privy Council on Education 

 -*■ have just announced an important decision with 

 regard to the examinations of the Science and Art Depart- 

 ment in science. 



The number of candidates presenting themselves for 

 examination in science is already so large— about 190,000 

 papers in various branches of science were worked at the 

 examination in May last, besides above 14,000 practical 

 examinations — that the machinery of examination and 

 registration is already severely strained. These numbers 

 will in all probability soon be so increased as to render 

 it impossible to make satisfactory arrangements for the 

 examination of the candidates at the local centres, or for 

 the examination of the worked papers under any system 

 of central examination. 



At the same time the means recently placed at the 

 disposal of local authorities for providing or aiding 

 instruction seem to render it unnecessary for the Science 

 and Art Department to continue to give direct aid for 

 very elementary instruction in science. Such instruction 

 can now be more effectually organized and maintained 

 locally. 



Under these circumstances it has been decided that 

 after the May examinations of 1892 the payments of^i 

 now made for the second class in the elementary stage of 

 each science subject shall cease.^ An elementary paper 

 will continue to be set in each subject, but the results 

 will be recorded simply as pass or fail, the standard for 

 passing being about the same as that now required for a 

 first class, i.e. about 60 per cent, of the marks obtainable. 

 At the same time, with a view to encourage more ad- 

 vanced instruction, which does not seem to be adequately 

 provided for at present, the payments for the advanced 

 stage and for honours will be considerably increased. 

 The payments on results will then be £2 for a pass in the 

 elementary stage ; ^5 and £2 \os. for a first or second 

 class respectively in the advanced stage ; and ^8 and 

 ^4 for a first or second class respectively in honours, in 

 each subject of science, and in each subdivision of 



The payments on the results of the examinations 

 affected by this Minute. 



NO. I 152, VOL. 45] 



J2 will not be 



subject 6, theoretical mechanics, or of subject 8, sound, 

 heat, and light, with the following exceptions : — The 

 payments for practical chemistry will be ^3 for a 

 pass in the elementary stage, and £6 and £2, los. 

 respectively for a first or second class in the advanced 

 stage ; the payments for mathematics will be £2 for a 

 pass in stage i, £2, and £2 respectively for a first or 

 second class in stages 2 and 4, ^4 and ^3 for a first 

 or second class respectively in stage 3, ^'5 and £^ 

 for a first or second class respectively in stages 5, 6, and 7, 

 and ^8 and £^ respectively for a first or second class in 

 honours. The payment for section i (geometrical 

 drawing) of subject i will remain as at present, los. 



The payment for attendance in an organized science 

 school will be increased tO;^i in the day school and 103. 

 in the night school. 



As it is of great importance to prevent large numbers 

 of wholly unqualified candidates being presented at the 

 examinations, the examiners will be instructed to note 

 the papers of all such as would not obtain above twenty- 

 five per cent, of the marks, and a deduction will be made 

 from the grant to each school for each such paper suf- 

 ficient to cover the cost incidental to its examination. 



The committee of a science school in a place in Great 

 Britain with less than 5000 inhabitants which does not 

 receive aid from the local authority, or of any science 

 school in Ireland, will be allowed to continue until further 

 notice on the present system, if they so desire it. 



NOTES. 



The subject of an International Congress of Electricity, to 

 be held at Chicago in connection with the World's Fair, con- 

 tinues to attract much attention in America. A report about 

 the matter has been presented to the Director-General of the 

 Exhibition by Mr. J. Allen Hornsby, secretary of the department 

 of electricity. During a recent visit to Europe, Mr. Hornsby 

 discussed the question with several leading men of science in 

 England and on the Continent, and he was encouraged by 

 them to believe that, if certain conditions were complied with, 

 the success of the Congress would be certain. They all agreed 

 that the Congress should be held under the auspices of the 

 U.S. Government. Invitations, they thought, should be issued 

 by the Government to individual scientific men through the 

 Governments of the countries to which the individuals belong. 

 "This course of action," says Mr. Hornsby, " in the opinion of 

 the authorities whom I consulted, will insure an ofBcial char- 

 acter to the proceedings of the scientific Congress, and will 

 virtually pledge the various Governments to a recognition and 

 adoption of the standards created." 



Prok. Joseph Wolstenholme, whose name was well known 

 to mathematicians, died on November 18 in his sixty-third year. 

 He graduated at Cambridge as third wrangler in the Mathe- 

 matical Tripos of 1850, and became a Fellow first of St. John's 

 College, then of Christ's, where he was for many years a member 

 of the tutorial staff. After vacating his Fellowship by marriage 

 in 1869, he was appointed the first Professor of Mathematics in 

 the Engineering College at Cooper's Hill — a position from 

 which failing health compelled him to withdraw a year or two 

 ago. With the Rev. Percival Frost, he wrote a treatise on solid 

 geometry, published in 1863. He also collected many original 

 mathematical problems, devised by himself, in a volume which 

 appeared in 1867, and again in 1878. 



We regret to announce the death of Mr. S. F. Downing 

 Principal of the Civil Engineering College, Seebpur, Calcutta, 

 which took place at Coonoor, Madras, on October 16 last, at 

 the comparatively early age of forty- seven. The Englishman 

 of October 24 says : — "The deceased gentleman was educated 

 at Trinity College, Dublin, and was a graduate of Dublin 



