May io, 19 17] 



NATURE 



205 



I submit that this is a matter for early attention, 

 and for a system of remedial foot-drill in schools for 

 our growing children. M.D., F.R.S.E. 



Mav I. 



Classical Education and Modern Needs. 



A REVIEW by Mr. H. G. Wells in Nature of 

 April 19 contains the following- words : "^This claim 

 is pressed even more impudently by Mr. Livingstone 

 in his recent ' Defence of Classical Education.' He 

 insists that all our sons are to be muddled about with 

 by the teachers of Greek up to at least the opening 

 of the universit}- stage." 



This is a complete misrepresentation of my views, 

 the more gratuitous because in several passages I 

 insist on the importance of not teaching Greek and 

 Latin to those bovs who are unsuited for them — e.g. 

 on p. 241 : "It ought to be a first aim ... to avoid 

 diverting boys with mechanical or scientific tastes, whq 

 have no aptitude for linguistics, into studies that will 

 be barren for them." (The context shows that the 

 studies referred to are Latin and. Greek.) 



With regard to the present system of "compulsory 

 Greek," after pointing out that it was an undesirable 

 system, maintained on the ground that without it 

 Greek teaching would, in present circumstances, 

 disappear in many important educational areas, I 

 remarked that " it would be possible, almost without 

 opposition," to abolish it. if such facilities were pro- 

 vided for the study of Greek as would put it within 

 the reach of all boys in secondary schools "who -wished, 

 to learn it. This does not seem to me an impudent 

 claim ; it would be easy to satisfy ; and T imagine that 

 no one would take exception to it. 



R. W. Livingstone. 



Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 

 April 23. 



Mr. Livingstone's letter is satisfactory, so far as 

 it goes, in promising to spare such boys as are un- 

 worthy of classical blessings, but I think many of the 

 readers of Nature will see in its phrasing just tliat 

 implicit claim to monopolise the best of the boys for 

 the classical side of which I' complain. We do not 

 want the imbeciles, the calculating boys, the creatures 

 all hands and no head, and so forth, for the modern 

 side. We want boys for scientific work who may be 

 not " unsuited," but eminently suited for Greek and 

 Latin, in order that they may do something better 

 and more important. I write with some personal ex- 

 perience in this matter. I am very much concerned 

 in the welfare of two boys who have a great " aptitude 

 for linguistics," and would make excellent classical 

 scholars. I think I can do better with them than that, 

 and that they can serve the world better with a 

 different education. In each case I have had to in- 

 terfere because they were being " muddled about with " 

 by the classical side masters, and have got Russian 

 substituted for the futile beginnings of Greek. The 

 fact remains that Mr. Livingstone does, under existing 

 conditions, wish to retain compulsorv- Greek. 



H. G. Wells. 



The Frequency of Snow in London. 



In N.\ture of Mav 3 Mr. L. C. W. Bonacina directs 

 attention to the number of days on which snow was 

 observed respectively at Wandsworth Commcwi and 

 in the neighbourhood of Hampstead during the early 

 months of 1917. Incidentally he expresses some doubt 

 as to the accuracy of the Wandsworth Common 

 observations. 



NO. 2480, VOL. 99] 



That it is possible for considerable variations in 

 weather to exist over the hundred square miles or so 

 of territory comprised within the metropolitan area is 

 a fact I had hitherto regarded as witliin the limits 

 of common knowledge. The variations observed 

 during the recent winter months are clearly indicated 

 in the following table, which has been compiled mainly 

 from information given in the Monthly Weather Re- 

 port of the Meteorological -OflFice. The table shows 

 for eight stations situated in and around London the 

 number of days upon which snow or sleet was observed 

 during each of the five months November, 19 16, to 

 March, 1917. The results for Apwil are not yet avail- 

 able. For purposes of comparison 1 have also in- 

 serted in the table the reccn-ds made at Wandsworth 

 Common and at Mr. Bonaeina's station, which may^ 

 I suppose, be assumed to be at Parliament Hill. 

 Mean results for the whole of the ten stations are 

 given at the foot of the table. 



Days with Snow or Sleet, November, igi6-March, 

 19 1 7. 



Total 

 Station Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. March] for the 



5 months 



Camden Square ... i 3 7 3 13 27 



Enfield i 3 10 3 8 25 



Greenwich (Royal 



Observatory) ... i 5 16 5 12 39 



Hampstead (Parlia- 

 ment Hill) ... I 3 20 4 II 39 



Hampstead (Reser- 

 voir) 3 7 19 6 13 48 



Richmond (Kew 



Observaton,) ... 2 3 15 4 10 34 



South Kensington 

 (M e t e o r o logical 

 Office) I 2 10 5 5 23 



Tottenham ... ... i i 7 3 7 19 



Wandsworth Com- 

 mon ... ... 2 3 II 3 10 29 



Westminster ... 2 - 14 3 14 35 



Mean of the ten 

 stations i- 



3-2 12-9 3-9 IO-2 



-,i-8 



The table shows, in the first place, that the number 

 of days upon which snow was observed at Wands\\-orth 

 Common was in fair accordance with the mean 

 results for the whole of the ten London stations. The 

 total number in the five months was, it is true, some- 

 what smaller, but was at the same time rn excess of 

 that recorded at four of the ten stations, viz. Camden 

 Square, Enfield, South Kensington, and Tottenham. 

 The greatest divergence between the Wandsworth 

 Common and the mean results was in January. The 

 number of days with snow was then much smaller 

 than at the two Hampstead stations, and was appre- 

 ciably smaller than at Greenwich, Richmond, or West- 

 minster. It was, however, larger than at the other 

 four stations already quoted, so that if we begin to 

 doubt the accuracy of the Wandsworth Common ob- 

 servations we must not stop there. We must question 

 also the records made at important official stations, 

 such as Camden Square and South Kensington. 



The local variations which may exist in regard to 

 such an element as snow (much of which came last 

 winter in the form of fleeting showers) is clearly shown 

 by the fact that while the total number of falls at Par- 

 liament Hill in the five months agreed precisely with 

 the Greenwich record, it was appreciably smaller* than 

 at Hampstead Reservoir, little more than a stone 's- 

 throw away. Fredk. J. Brodie. 



30 Loxley Road, Wandsworth Common, S.W. 



