362 



NATURE 



[July 5, 1917 



that "the Humanist ideal of education ... is 

 that the pupils should above all be led to feel 

 the meanings and worth of what they are study- 

 ing." This, one would have thought, is very 

 much the ideal of those who advocate the intro- 

 duction of the study of natural science into 

 general education. Incidentally, one wonders to 

 what kind of children Prof. Burnet alludes in 

 the sentence above quoted, for the experience of 

 most people surely is that an intelligent child 

 wants to know the how and the why of every- 

 thing ! 



Prof. Burnet's conclusions are that all boys 

 (and girls?) should be educated on strictly classi- 

 cal lines until the age of seventeen, and that dur- 

 ing the next three years the "humanistic" 

 character of the education should be continued 

 by compelling philosophy to hold the central place 

 in the scheme. The rest of the organisation of 

 their education would then present no difficulty to 

 Prof. Burnet, but if the student continues with 

 the "humanities," he ought to have a smattering 

 ("know something") of science; if he goes in 

 for science, he ought to continue with the 

 "humanities." Prof. Burnet admits that at 

 present students who are to proceed with the 

 "humanities" show little desire to add a know- 

 ledge of science to their attainments, and certainly 

 most students who have adopted science show 

 no desire at all to continue with the "humani- 

 ties " ! At the end of the three years of philosophy, 

 plus the "humanities," pZw5 science, he would give 

 an Arts degree, which must be a preliminary to 

 all other degrees and would " mark the commence- 

 ment of university work proper"; this degree 

 would, in fact, be the equivalent of the German 

 school' leaving certificate. Even the study of 

 Medicine is not to be commenced until the Arts 

 degree is attained — a crude reversion to the old, 

 abandoned Oxford system. 



Prof. Burnet admits that his scheme for 

 students of medicine is not in accordance with 

 professional opinion in this country, and contrasts 

 this with the expressed opinion of German medi- 

 cal faculties in favour of their own system. 

 "There can," he says, "be no doubt, I suppose, 

 that the average qualifications of medical men in 

 Germany are much higher than in this country, 

 and the most natural explanation of this seems to 

 be that they are better educated and more mature 

 when they begin the study of Medicine." From 

 extensive personal knowledge of medical men in 

 both countries I may venture to differ entirely 

 from Prof. Burnet as to the correctness of his 

 supposition — the reverse being, in my opinion, 

 true— but I would be diffident in ascribing this 

 to differences in scholastic training, seeing how 

 much better organised is the teaching in our 

 medical schools as compared with that in Ger- 

 man universities. The superiority of the latter 

 institutions has hitherto lain in the opportunities 

 afforded in them for research— but that is another 

 storv. 



E. A. SCHAFER. 



NO. 2488, VOL. 99] 



APPLIED CHEMISTRY IN THE UNITED 

 STATES. 

 Annual Chemical Directory of the United States. 

 Edited by B. F. Lovelace. Pp. 305. (Baltimore, 

 U.S.A. : Williams and Wilkins Co.) Price 

 5 dollars. 

 n^HIS book, although primarily intended for 

 J- circulation in the United States, has many 

 features of interest deserving the attention of 

 those who are concerned in the production of 

 similar works in this country. It is a trade 

 directory on a very broad gauge, and appeals to 

 every section that is interested, even remotely, 

 in chemical science and the chemical arts — 

 industrial organisations of various kinds, 

 scientific societies, colleges, professional analysts, 

 consultants, chemical engineers, patent agents, 

 manufacturers of chemical plant, etc. In view 

 of the rapidly extending trade relations of 

 America with the rest of the world, and especially 

 with Europe, it aifords a considerable amount of 

 useful information on chemical matters in Con- 

 tinental countries. So far as we have been able 

 to judge, it has been carefully compiled, 

 although, as might have been anticipated in a 

 work of this magnitude, a few omissions and 

 occasional press errors are to be met with. Cer- 

 tain of the agricultural colleges and stations in 

 this country are omitted from a list which pro- 

 fesses to be comprehensive. No mention is 

 made of several important schools of chemistry 

 in Great Britain, and the list of technical colleges 

 is incomplete. The list of officers of some of our 

 scientific societies is also out of date. There are 

 a few mistakes in the spelling of proper names, 

 e.g. BruUngton House for Burlington House, 

 Wil for Will, etc. ; but, considering the large 

 amount of material to be dealt with, the number 

 of such errors is remarkably small. 



A valuable addition to the work is an annual 

 review of progress in applied chemistry in the 

 States during the year preceding publication. 

 This for 1916 presents many features of interest. 

 As might be expected, the war has had a profound 

 influence on the course of development of the 

 chemical arts in America, and there has been a 

 great extension of chemical industry in that 

 country. In 1914 the United States, like Great 

 Britain, suddenly realised that it had grown to 

 be largely dependent on- Germany for hundreds 

 of things of a chemical nature that were necessary 

 for its daily comfort and convenience. This 

 domestic demand, as well as the effort to meet 

 the enormous foreign demand for munitions, etc, 

 greatly stimulated all chemical industries in that 

 country. The older concerns largely increased 

 and improved their output, and in many cases 

 branched out into new lines, and a number of 

 new companies were organised and are now 

 firmly established. So great is the demand for 

 ! chemists that factories are offering attractive 

 I salaries to young men who have scarcely com- 

 j pleted their academic training. This revival is, 

 ' of course, reacting upon the colleges and schools 



