236 



NATURE 



[May 17, 191 7 



In 1847 the British Association met in Oxford. 

 Shortly afterwards a memorial was drafted for pre- 

 senting to the University urging greater facilities for 

 the study of natural history and science. It was, 

 however, strangled in the birth, even so great an 

 advocate of science as Buckland refusing to sign it. 

 " Some years ago," he wrote, " I was sanguine, as you 

 are now, as to the possibility of natural history 

 making some progress in Oxford, but I have long 

 come to the conclusion that it is utterly hopeless." 

 We shall agree that it required some courage on the 

 part of Dr. Tait to start the teaching of science at 

 Rugby in the face of the almost universal condemna- 

 tion of the study as frivolous and dangerous. 



Between the years 1859 and 1864 Canon Wilson and 

 others did some good voluntary work in geology, ^bout 

 this time a Royal Commission recommended 'ithat 

 every boy should receive instruction in one or other 

 of the sciences, and Dr. Temple engaged a science 

 master from Birmingham with the view of carrying out 

 the recommendation at Rugby. But Hutchinson could 

 not enter on his duties till 1865, so Canon Wilson and 

 Kitchener, who two years later became the first presi- 

 dent of the Natural History Society, undertooK to 

 teach botany. Sir J. D. Hooker planned a course of 

 study, and as the masters were not experts in the 

 subject, they devoted their holiday to a six weeks' 

 course at Barmouth, with Henslow as their coach. 

 Such enthusiasm merited the reward it received. 



The way was thus prepared for the inauguration 

 of a society which should undertake the voluntary 

 study of Nature, independently of the school curri- 

 culum, and on March 23, 1867, the Natural History 

 Society was founded by a little group of eight boys 

 and one master. The portrait of the master, 

 Kitchener, is given as frontispiece to the current 

 report. Some idea of the good work which the 

 society has since accomplished may be obtained by 

 reference to the pages dealing with natural history 

 which give such value to the "County Histpry of 

 Warwickshire," in which the annual repwDrts of the 

 school are laid under frequent contribution. 



Most young people probably have an inherent love 

 of Nature, but it depends largely on early environ- 

 ment whether it will die or develop. More- than one 

 old Rugbeian has, in the course of the last half- 

 century, made his mark in one department or other 

 of natural history. Thus Longstaff, whose delightful 

 book on "Butterfly Hunting in Many Lands" carries 

 us round the world, writes : " As long as life lasts I 

 shall be grateful to Mr. F. E. Kitchener and Canon 

 Wilson for the substantial addition to my happiness 

 that their instruction provided." Dr. Lucas, F.R.S., 

 whose death last October was so greatly deplored, 

 was another Rugby boy, and acted as curator and 

 secretary in 1898, while the report for 1896 contains 

 a paper by him on photomicrography. Worthington, 

 whose interesting papers on "Tihe Splash of a Drop " 

 won for him election to the Royal Society, first de- 

 veloped his love for this subject while at Rugby. 



And what shall we say of that famous Nimrod of 

 modern times, Capt. Selous, whose "African Nature 

 Notes " and other books reveal the perfect naturalist? 

 His obituary, with an excellent photograph, finds a 

 place in this report, but we owe to Canon Wilson a 

 most romantic story of his successful attempt to ob- 

 tain eggs from a" heronry at Coombe Abbey, and the 

 price he had to pay for his daring. We regret that 

 we cannot find space to repeat the anecdote, with 

 others of a similar kind. 



That the work of the society is well maintained^ 

 and that the interest does not flag, is shown by the 

 original papers as well as by the sectional reports. 

 Without being invidious, we should like to direct 

 special attention to the work of Greg and Bevington 



NO. 2481, VOL. 99] 



in ornithology. Such studies are of inestimable value 

 to young people. They develop the powers of observa- 

 tion, teach patience, sympathy, endurance, and kind- 

 ness, divert the mind from base pursuits, and oixn 

 out a fairy realm of beauty and delight, which cannot 

 fail to ennoble, as well as entertain, those who pursue 

 them. Any public school not already in the pxjsses- 

 sion of such an institution may be heartily recom- 

 mended to follow the example of Rugby. 



HiLDERic Friend. 



A'N INSTITUTE OF APPLIED OPTICS 

 FOR FRANCE. 



A SCHEME is on foot in Paris to establish an In- 

 -^~^ stitute of Applied Optics, with the object of 

 securing closer co-operation between theory and 

 practice in the optical trade. It has been suggested, 

 according to an article in La Nature, that the scope 

 of the institute should fall into three sections, viz. (i) a 

 college of optics, providing a thorough theoretical 

 and practical training for opticians, and promoting 

 among its students a taste for optical research ; (ii) a 

 central optical laboratory, where tests of glasses and 

 optical instruments would be made for men of science, 

 public bodies, and manufacturers, and research work 

 of general interest carried out ; and (iii) a special 

 trade school in which the students could obtain a 

 thorough training in the practical branches of the 

 trade. 



It is proposed that the institute should publish trans- 

 actions in a form following, say, the Zeitschrift filr 

 Instrunientenkunde. 



The students of the college of optics would be re- 

 cruited from the educated classes — Army and Navy 

 officers, students or ex-students of the universities and 

 technical colleges, astronomers, illuminating engineers, 

 manufacturers of optical instruments, and doctors 

 interested in physiological optics. There would be 

 two distinct branches of instruction, viz. general 

 optics and instrumental optics. The courses would be 

 supplemented by lectures on all modern optical ques- 

 tions. The period of study is suggested as one year. 



The central laboratory would serve as a test labora- 

 tory for manufacturers of optical instruments and for 

 glass manufacturers, as a practice laboratory for the 

 students, and as a research laboratory for the college 

 staff. 



The professional, or trade, school would take young 

 people for three years and give them a thorough 

 training in (i) glass-working, and (ii) construction and 

 fitting up of optical instruments. 



The scheme has received the favourable considera- 

 tion of various Government departments and of cer- 

 tain scientific and learned societies in Paris ; indeed, 

 the publication of the transactions of the institute is 

 already assured. 



While it would be difficult to install the machinery 

 and plant necessary for the trade section of the in- 

 stitute, it is suggested that the programme of the 

 courses should be considered and the principal courses 

 commenced in the school year 19 17-18. 



E. S. Hodgson. 



THE MAN OF SCIENCE IN THE COM- 

 MUNITY OF TO-DAY.^ 

 IT is not too much to say that for the first time in 

 the historv of the British Empire Science is com- 

 ing into her own. It is no doubt humiliating to have 

 to confess that it was the misapplied science of our 

 enemies which demonstrated to us how inferior was 

 the place we had given science in our own national 



1 From an address delivered to the Nova Scotian Institute of Science on 

 Xovember 13, 1916, by Prof. D. Fraser Harris. 



