April 24, 19 19] 



NATURE 



143 



this work supplies the need in a satisfactory 

 manner. We have mentioned the principle of 

 relativity, and in this special case it would obvi- 

 ously have been part of the author's plan to 

 include some of the more striking^ developments of 

 this principle in connection with gravitation, which 

 are all very recent, and were very inaccessible 

 in this country until the publication of Prof. 

 Eddington's report by the Physical Society after 

 the present work had been printed. The author 

 himself indicates a wish to include some account 

 of this subject, if a future edition should be called 

 for. We are disposed to concur in his main 

 thesis that the essential introduction to the 

 student should be in terms of the older estab- 

 lished theory on which the newer and more vari- 

 able structure has been built — a thesis not directly 

 expressed, but everywhere implied. 



Some of the more analytical processes are dealt 

 with in a special introduction, apart from the rest 

 of the book. This contains such subjects as 

 Green's and Stokes' theorems — especially in their 

 application to moving circuits — differentiation of 

 potential integrals, Kirchhoff's theorem — too 

 frequently neglected — and, in particular, an 

 elementary account of the properties of vectors 

 and their nomenclature. This introduction is 

 brief, but should be a great assistance to the 

 student in preventing later diversions of his atten- 

 tion from the main theme. There is considerable 

 difference of opinion as to how far the use of 

 vector notation is in fact an assistance to economy 

 of thought in all readers. There appears to be a 

 personal element or predisposition in the matter, 

 but, fortunately, the question does not arise here, 

 as a too exclusive use of vectors is not adopted, 

 and the style of the book is such that it should 

 prove easy to any reader qualified to make a 

 serious study of the subject. 



No error of statement, or remark capable of a 

 wrong interpretation, has been detected, and evi- 

 dently special care has been bestowed on clearness 

 of statement in sections where, from the nature 

 of the subject, such clearness is not easily attained. 

 There are apparently very few misprints, and the 

 work, which is produced by the Cambridge Uni- 

 versity Press in the form now familiar by many 

 recent examples, is in keeping with the tradi- 

 tions of the Press. J. W. N. 



THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION. 

 {i) The Spiritual Foundations of Reconstruction. 



A Plea for New Educational Methods. By Dr. 



F. H. Hayward and Arnold Freeman. Pp. 



lxi + 223. (London: P. S. King and Son, Ltd., 



1919.) Price los. 6d. net. 

 ((2) The Great War Brings it Home. The Natural 



Reconstruction of an Unnatural Existence. By 



John Hargrave ("White Fox "). Pp. xvi + 367. 



(London: Constable and Co., Ltd., 1919.) 



Price I05. 6d. net. 

 <(i) "XX/E welcome the freshening breeze in the 

 VV educational proposals brought forward 

 by Dr. Hayward and Mr. Freeman. " The func- 

 NO. 2582, VOL. 103] 



tion of the schools is to educate the community 

 into a knowledge of Truth, a sense of Beauty, 

 and a love of Goodness; that function they have 

 failed to discharge." According to the authors, 

 the failure is largely due to laughably "unpsycho- 

 logical " methods. A revolution is necessary. 

 ".Arithmetic, handicraft, language, and kindred 

 efficiency subjects may be taught — taught to Jack 

 and Jill by Bob and Dick." But "the class 

 teaching of the Bible, literature, music, history, 

 and certain other subjects should be largely 

 abolished in favour of a liturgical, ceremonial, or 

 celebrational treatment." There should be days 

 devoted to great personalities (St. Paul, Alfred 

 the Great, Joan of Arc, St. Francis, George 

 Washington) or great ideas (the League of 

 Nations, France, agriculture, science, freedom). 

 The humdrum duties of life should be expounded 

 in lessons in which the main emphasis is on the 

 reason, matters of personal hygiene, for instance, 

 being brought home by scientific argument. In 

 the liturgy reason would be subordinate to feel- 

 ing — -to "admiration, hope, and love." Repre- 

 sentatives of all sects, parties, professions, move- 

 ments, etc., as well as teachers, should be urged 

 to give addresses to the whole school at times set 

 apart for this in the liturgical arrangements. On 

 such occasions, so far as accommodation could 

 be provided, parents and "the public" should 

 be invited. 



The authors expound these proposals with con- 

 viction, and we are wholly convinced. If even a 

 little could be done in the directions indicated (and 

 in some cases illustrated in concrete detail) there- 

 would be education of the heart and conscience, 

 an enrichment of the memory, a widening of 



I horizons, and a vitalising of the whole school life. 



i The authors have taken the trouble to anticipate 

 and answer thirty objections, and this makes good 

 reading. 



In addition to the proposals we have referred 

 to, Dr. Hayward and Mr. Freeman advocate the 

 preparation' and utilisation of charts showing the 

 geological ages, the course of human history, the 

 solar and stellar systems, the history of science, 

 of art, and of great ideas. This is an educational 

 method used here and there, but, on the whole, 

 undreamt of and long overdue. The charts can 

 be made vivid if brains are put into the making 

 of them, and where colours are used it pays to 

 get an artist to choose them. We should per- 

 sonally have liked more "Nature" days than the 

 authors seem to think of, but we are heart and 

 soul with their recommendations. 



(2) Mr. Hargrave 's book was written before 

 the war, but he has been able to strengthen it 

 since his return to civil life. For his convictions 

 have been deepened by experience, and the 

 urgency of his recommendations seems to him 

 greater than ever. He has been impressed with 

 the unnaturalness of man's life in ordinary civil- 

 ised conditions. Instead of evolving a sane, 

 healthy, and hardy race, the trend of civilisation 

 seems to b^ in the opposite direction. The type 

 that is being increasingly produced is not only 



