474 



NATURE 



[August 9, 191 7 



tion A that no candidate will be disqualified for failure 

 in any part, or in the whole of the section, though, 

 since we allow 500 marks for the written part of the 

 section, there is much advantage to be gained or lost 

 thereby in the whole competition. 



We have received from the Government Committee 

 on Science in the Educational System of Great Britain 

 I he following resolution : — 



"The committee has had under its consideration 

 certain proposals for remodelling the Competitive Ex- 

 amination for admission to Class I. of the Civil Ser- 

 vice at home and in India or in the Colonies. It is 

 unanimous in thinking that it is indispensable that 

 a course in science extending over several years shall 

 have formed a serious part of every candidate's pre- 

 vious education. It is, however, not prepared to 

 trespass on the province of the committee which is 

 dealing in detail with this examination. It feels 

 strongly that if the men with high scientific qualifica- 

 tions who will undoubtedly be needed in the Service 

 ti) a greater or less extent are to be secured at a com- 

 paratively early age by this examination, then candi- 

 dates oftering science only (without mathematics) 

 should in future be placed on complete equality with 

 other candidates, and that this is not the case at pre- 

 sent. But it recognises that there may be advantages 

 in obtaining also by other methods scientific advisers 

 for the Service at a greater age and with practical 

 professional education." 



With the trend of this resolution we find ourselves 

 in general agreement ; and we desire to make it clear 

 that by placing science, as we have endeavoured to 

 do, on a complete equality with other subjects of a 

 university course, we do not expect to make it pos- 

 sible for certain departments to dispense with scientific 

 advisers selected in maturer age and possessed of prac- 

 tical experience and of knowledge of a kind that may 

 have to be obtained else\yhere than at a university. 

 And in some departments specialists in one or another 

 branch of science will doubtless be selected by tests of 

 a less general kind than that with which we are con- 

 cerned. The young men selected under our scheme 

 partly for their knowledge of natural science, unless 

 they happen to be employed in a scientific brancli of 

 the department in which they are working, may have 

 no opportunity of exercising their scientific acquire- 

 ments and their knowledge may pass out of date. 

 They should, however, not lose a just estimate of 

 scientific knowledge, and thsy should know when and 

 where it may with advantage be sought. 



We must, however, make one reservation to the terms 

 of this resofution. The "indispensable" requirement 

 of a school course in science must apply rather to the 

 future than to the present. We cannot now correct 

 the defective education of the past or rule out from 

 our competition for some years to come all those useful 

 candidates who may not satisfy this demand of the 

 Science Committee. Perhaps later it may be possible 

 to require of all candidates some form of school certi- 

 ficate which may be evidence of suitable training in 

 this and some other subjects not tested by the examina- 

 tion. 



However, we think we may even now go so far 

 as this. We can give a substantial advantage in the 

 competition to those candidates who by whatever 

 means have obtained and retained a sound knowledge 

 of some of the principles, methods, and applications 

 of science, and are able to give a lucid and intelligent 

 account of their knowledge. [Specimen questions are 

 supplied.] It is hoped that the inclusion of this sub- 

 ject in the scheme will encourage all candidates to 

 make themselves acquainted with the general prin- 

 ciples of science. This paper will also be a test of 

 ■orderly, effective, and exact expression. 



Finally, we propose to allot 100 marks for a trans- 

 NO. 2493, VOL. 99] 



lation paper from some modern foreign language. 

 We intend this paper to be a s'erious test of capacity 

 to understand and translate accurately passages from 

 the foreign language. We do not propose to limit the 

 scope ," verse may be set as well as prose ; but nothing 

 that is antiquated should appear; the candidate should 

 be able to master any passage that is likely to occur 

 in books of ordinary difficulty written in the living 

 tongue ; passages dealing with history and politics may 

 be set, but not any technical matter. This should be 

 not only a test of specific knowledge, but also a test 

 of capacity to use the English language with skill and 

 accuracy. The languages mentioned in our list are 

 those which appeared to us most likelv amon^^ 

 European languages to afford information useful i- 

 students or to Civil Servants, or to both. We includ* 

 Latin as an option for those candidates who take twd 

 modern languages because Latin is commonly imposed 

 at school upon those pupils who take modern lan- 

 guages,, and we do not wish to lay any unnecessar\ 

 burden on the modern language candidates. In sx\\ 

 case, for candidates who have"mastered two languages, 

 classical or modern, there should be no hardship and 

 much advantage in acquiring a third. 



Since it is of high importance that Civil Servant- 

 should have ready use of two modern languages, w 

 include among our recommendations that any candi- 

 date who wishes to offer a second modern language 

 on the same terms as in Section A should be permitted 

 to do so beyond the limit of the subjects prescribed in 

 Section- A and those permitted in Section B. To ac- 

 quire a modern language for reading and translation 

 purposes should not be a difficult task for any well- 

 educated man ; it can be done in leisure time with a 

 little assistance. But some adequate motive is needed 

 to induce the effort ; an effort which should be made 

 by students of history, natural science, politics, 

 economics, and, indeed, of almost all the subjects in 

 our schedule, but, in fact, is not always made. We 

 trust that in course of time all our candidates will be 

 prepared to otTer two modern languages up to a useful 

 standard, but we do not at present propose to make 

 two compulsory. We hold out an advantage to those 

 who offer two, but success will be possible with only 

 one, and in some cases perhaps without any. 



Viva Voce Examination. — The Royal Commission 

 expressed a cautious inclination towards a viva voce 

 examination, but made no definite recommendation. 

 The Consultative Committee in its report says that 

 there should be a viva voce examination. On this 

 point, as on almost every point of our report, we are 

 unanimous. We believe that qualities may be shown 

 in a viva voce examination which cannot be tested by 

 a written examination, and that those qualities should 

 be useful to public servants. It is sometimes urged 

 that a candidate — otherwise well qualified — may be pre- 

 vented by nervousness from doing himself justice viva 

 voce. We are not sure that such lack of nervous con- 

 trol is not in itself a serious defect, nor that the pre- 

 sence of mind and nervous equipoise which enable a 

 candidate to marshal all his resources in such condi- 

 tions is not a valuable quality. Further, there are un- 

 doubtedly some candidates who can never do them- 

 selves justice in written examinations, just as there 

 are others who, under the excitement of written com- 

 petition, do better than on ordinary occasions. We do 

 not consider that it is desji-able to forgo the viva voce 

 test for the advantage of a few weak vessels. We 

 consider that the viva voce can be made a test of the 

 candidate's alertness, intelligence, and intellectual out- 

 look, and as such is better than any other. The viva 

 voce examination has been proved by experience to 

 redress in certain cases the results of written examina- 

 tion. The examination should, of course, be skilfully 

 conducted bv carefullv selected examiners accustomed 



