August 9, 1917] 



NATURE 



479 



One of the most important changes which the war 

 has brought about in our educational institutions has 

 been the rapid conversion of the engineering labora- 

 tories of our universities, colleges, and schools into 

 training centres for munition-makers or into munition 

 works. The number of those trained who are now 

 doing work of national importance must be very large. 

 According to a report of the Education Committee of 

 the London County Council the institutions under its 

 control traih 3000 per annum, while the output of 

 gauges from the institutions employed in their manu- 

 facture exceeds 30,000 per annum. Between one and two 

 hundred woodwork instructors in the employ of the 

 council have become proficient in metalwork, and the re- 

 markable results which have been obtained bv sending 

 men and women without any previous experience of 

 nietalworking through a five or six weeks' training 

 have taught the committee the desirability of devoting 

 much more attention to instruction in workshop pro- 

 cesses and production in educational institutions after 

 the war. Hitherto such training has been left to the 

 factories, but recent experience has shown that it 

 ought to form a more intimate part of the work of the 

 technical schools. It is of importance to ascertain to 

 what extent the experience of authorities in other parts 

 of the country agrees with that of London. 



We have received from Delhi a copy of the rep>ort 

 of a conference held in Januar}- last of the directors 

 of public instruction for the various provinces of India, 

 (see Nature, March 8, p. 38). The conference was 

 opened by the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, who, in 

 the course of his inaug-ural address, urged the direc- 

 tors in their work of developing technical education 

 in India not to overlook the claims of agricultural 

 and comrnercial education. He said the great advance 

 made by scientific agriculture during- the last half 

 century justifies us in pressing- forward with a policy 

 of agricultural education in India, and though the 

 directors would not claim to speak as experts on the 

 ag-ricultural side, their educational experience quali- 

 fies them to give useful hints with regard to an 

 advance along this road. Again, on the commercial 

 side of education, he expressed surprise to find how 

 little has been done in spite of India's large and grow- 

 ing commerce. Compared with a technical institu- 

 tion, a commercial school is a relativelv cheap 

 institution, and one would think that there' was a 

 great opening in the big towns of India for good 

 commercial schools. In technical training in its 

 narrower sense he said sight must not be lost of 

 workshop practice in outside works. Laborator}' 

 training, however good, is no real substitute for the 

 discipline of the workshop. The directors discussed, 

 among other subjects, the teaching of science in the 

 secondary schools of India. It appears that in the 

 higher classes of Madras schools elementary science 

 is obligatory. In Bombay science is compialsorv in 

 Government high schools, and the University' de- 

 mands a study of science from matriculation candi- 

 dates, though it conducts no examination in science 

 at this stage. In the provinces which come under 

 .the Calcutta matriculation the position of science 

 teaching is not satisfactory. In Bengal there is 

 practically no science teaching whatever in schoofs 

 for Indian pupils. One of the optional subjects for 

 the matriculation examination is elementary 

 mechanics, but very few candidates offer this sub- 

 ject. Geography is also an optional subject for matri- 

 culation. Otherwise, no provision whatever is made 

 in the Calcutta University matriculation for the 

 teaching of science. Looking to the peculiar difficul- 

 ties which underlie the educational problem in Bengal, 

 it was thought practical -science should be made obliga- 

 tor}- and be included in the sr^'ool-lenving certificate. 

 NO. 2493, VOL. 99] 



The Association of Headmasters, which, it will be 

 remembered, is concerned with secondary education» 

 has adopted and circulated an "educational policy" 

 which may be taken to embody the considered opinion 

 of the headmasters of the secondary schools in this 

 country as to what are desirable educaticmal changes 

 to meet the conditions which will follow the declara- 

 tion of peace. Their policy insists, among other 

 points, that elementary education should be considered 

 as a preliminary or preparatory stage. It is not yet 

 possible to require that no one shall be allowed 

 to leave school in order to earn money before 

 the age of eighteen ; but it is possible to provide that 

 no child's education shall wholly cease on its leaving 

 the elementary school, and that up to the age "of 

 eighteen education shall never be wholly subordinated 

 to the ability to earn wages. There must be a con- 

 siderable increase (i) in the number of secondary 

 schools — I.e.' schools which provide some form of 

 whole-time general education as distinct from technical 

 training up to the age of eighteen, and (2) in facilities 

 for part-time education. The chief needs in respect 

 of secondary education enumerated by the policy are :— 

 (a) More extensive and more varied provision for 

 children capable of profiting by a definite course of 

 education up to the age of eighteen. (&) The encour- 

 agement and assistance of a much larger number of 

 children to take full advantage of such provision. 

 This involves the lengthening of school life by means 

 of (i) the provision of adequate scholarships and main- 

 tenance allowances ; (2) the requirement .that all pupils 

 who enter a secondary- school shall continue in attend- 

 ance at some such school until the age of sixteen, 

 (c) As in the case of elementary schools, the expendi- 

 ture of much more money in attracting competent 

 persons into the teaching profession. With reference 

 to the curriculum it is stated that one of the most 

 serious dangers to secondary education lies in the over, 

 crowding of the time-table through the conflicting 

 demands of an ever-increasing number of subjects. 

 In framing curricula the first consideration should be 

 to guard against this overcrowding, and to ensure that 

 sufficient time is available for the adequate treatment 

 of the subjects which are taught. No boy should be 

 allowed to specialise until he has attained a satisfac- 

 ton,' standard of general education. This standard 

 should be that which a boy of ordinary- ability may 

 be expected to reach at the age of sixteen. The sub- 

 jects of a general education should include as a rule 

 Scripture, English, hision,-, geography, mathematics, 

 science, and ordinarily two languages other than the 

 pupil's own— in most cases these should be French 

 and Latin. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, Julv 9. — M. Ed. Perrier in the 

 chair. — L. Maquenne and E. Demoussj- : The influence 

 of mineral matter on the germination of peas. Peas 

 have been germinated in sand moistened with distilled 

 water containing varying known am.ounts of metallic 

 salts and the length of the roots measured after six 

 days' germination. Twehe metals were used in these 

 experiments, details being given of the results obtained 

 with each one. Calcium would appear to be the only 

 element which, in the absence of any other, is capable 

 of producing normal germination, and the amounts 

 required are extraordinarily small. The growth of the 

 stem will be the object of further researches. — E. 

 Aries : The sign of the specific heat of saturated 

 vapour in the neighbourhood of the critical state. — A. 

 Thybaut : Tautochrone curves. — G. L. le Cocq : All 

 known ,';vstems of hyperstatic suspension bridges are 



