74 



NATURE 



[March 22, 1917 



equivalent to an average of 05 g.-c. per cm.^* per 

 minute received at the outer surface of the aitmosphere 

 over the whole eajth. 



Out of the radiation received Abbott and Fowle con- 

 sider that 37 per cent, is reflected, chiefly by the air 

 and clouds, and to a small extent by the eartih. The 

 figures they give are that out of the whole radiation 

 reaching the outer limit of the atmosphere 52 per cent, 

 reaches the level of Mount Wilson and 24 per cent, the 

 surface of the earth. 



The experiments of Angstrom were on what he 

 calls the effective radiation of the earth — that is to 

 say, the whole radiation from the surface less the 

 back radiation from the air. The returned radiation 

 from the air depends on the amount of water vapour 

 ■present, and since this increases with increasing tem- 

 perature, the effective radiation is found to increase 

 slightly with decreasing temperature. Angstrom also 

 states that dry air will radiate with half the radiation 

 of a black body. 



The other articles are on the underground drainage 

 of the upper part of the Dee Basin, by Dr. John Horn, 

 and on the distribution of cloud and rain w^ith refer- 

 ence to the centre of a cyclonic depression, by Sir 

 Napier Shaw. The latter contains four very interest- 

 ing illustrations showing the average distribution in 

 four well-defined storms that passed over the British 

 Isles at various dates The areas of rain and also 

 of cloud lie on the whole in front of the centre, but 

 have not any very definite shape. The author remarks 

 that "even in well-marked depressions convection is 

 a local phenomenon." 



The usual meteorological tables for Scotland for 

 1915 complete the volume. 



SCIENCE AND MODERN LANGUAGES IN 

 CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS. 



T T is a matter of common knowledge that the 

 A country is largely governed by men who enter 

 the Civil Service as first-class clerks, since from these 

 men the principal permanent officials are so frequently 

 chosen. Attention has been directed to the fact that 

 nearly all these positions are filled by persons whose 

 main educational qualifications are a considerable 

 knowledge of Latin and Greek. 



In reply to this, the defenders of the system pointed 

 ■out that in 19 13 the first and third places in the 

 examination were taken by students of science, and 

 that in 19 14 the second place was gained by a 

 science man. 



But these figures are most deceptive, as the follow- 

 ing statistics will show. In 1913 sixteen vacancies 

 were announced. Of the first sixteen candidates, 

 twelve took Latin and Greek, and all of these Greek 

 history and Roman history ; only four took mathe- 

 matics and science ; only two took French — one evi- 

 dently as a make-weight, since he did not get enough 

 marks to enable him to count the subject ; none took 

 Italian or German. Of the two who took French, 

 one secured 254 marks out of a total of 2320, and 

 another no marks out of a total of 2344. 



The men who gained the first sixteen places secured 

 marks as follows : — 



Greek 

 Latin 



Greek history 

 Roman history 



6,250 



5,817 

 3.580 



3,673 



19,320 



Greek history and Roman history are counted in 



with Greek and I atin because, as can be seen by the 



papers, nearly all the questions can be answered by 



anyone who has made a careful study of Greek and 



NO. 2473, VOL. 99I 



Latin literature in which the history of the two 

 nations is embedded. 



The same sixteen candidates secured the following 

 total marks for the subjects mentioned : — 



Mathematics 6,707 



Natural science 3i49i 



French 254 



Italian o 



German ... o 



10,452 

 In other words, mathematics and science and 

 modern languages secured much less between them 

 than classics. 



In 1914 nine vacancies were announced; of the 

 candidates who took the first nine places, seven took 

 both Greek and Latin, and of those, six took both 

 Greek and Roman history ; only two took mathematics 

 with some science, and only two took French ; none 

 took Italian or German. The two who took French 

 scored for this language 417 marks out of a total of 

 3876 and 321 out of a total of 3094 respectively. The 

 two who took science scored respectively 859 marks 

 out of a total of 3528 and 561 out of a total of 3408. 



The men who gained the first nine places secured 

 marks as follows : — 



Greek 

 Latin 



Greek histor\' 

 Roman historv 



3,453 

 4,528 



1,745 

 1,834 



11,560 



The same nine candidates secured the following 

 total marks for the subjects mentioned : — 



Mathematics ... 3,901 



Natural science ... ... ... 1,401 



French ... 738 



Italian ... ... ... ... o 



German ... ... ... ... o 



6,040 



It will be seen that the candidate who studies any- 

 thing but Latin or Greek has a comparativeh' small 

 chance of success in the examination ; the result is 

 that the country is largely governed by persons who, 

 for the most part, have little knowledge of, or sym- 

 pathy with, scientific method, and who are frequently 

 unwilling to accept scientific advice ; many of the 

 appalling mistakes made at the beginning of the war 

 were due to this. 



Another result of the present system of examina- 

 tion, which allots an altogether disproportionate 

 number of- marks to Latin and Greek as compared 

 with science and modern languages, is that the higher 

 posts in the Civil Service are practically closed to 

 persons who have not been educated at either Oxford 

 or Cambridge. In 1913 and 1914 forty first-class 

 clerks were selected ; of these, twenty-five came from 

 Oxford ; ten from Cambridge ; one from the Univer- 

 sity of London ; one from a Scotch university ; two 

 from Irish universities ; and none from all the pro- 

 vincial universities in England and Wales combined! 



Everyone would regret if the higher posts in the 

 Civil Service were not recruited largely from Oxford 

 and Cambridge ; but it is ridiculous to suppose that 

 all the provincial universities combined were incapable 

 of producing, during the last two years before the 

 war, a single person worthy thus to serve the State. 

 Men from the modern universities have little chance 

 of success, since the endowments for higher classical 

 teaching are largely concentrated on the banks of the 

 Isis and the Cam. J. Wertheimer. 



