3i8 



NATURE 



[June 19, 19 19 



of men seeking honours in natural science or 

 mathematics. 



In the same Convocation the honorary degree of 

 D.C.L. was conferred on Charles William Dyson 

 Perrins, to whose liberality is due the fine new 

 chemical laboratory in South Parks Road. 



The- gift of 25,oooL for the encouragement of the 

 study of modern languages from Sir Heath Harrison, 

 of Brasenose College, was gratefully accepted. The 

 proceeds of this sum will be expended, partly on the 

 provision of instruction within the University, and 

 partly on the institution of travelling scholarships. 



Sheffield.— Sir Henry Hadow, Principal of Arm- 

 strong College, Newcastle-on-Tyne, has been appointed 

 Vice-Chancellor of the University. 



Sir James Campbell, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, 

 has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of Dublin Uni- 

 versity, in succession to Archbishop Bernard, who has 

 become Provost of Trinity College. 



Applications are invited by the Senate of the Uni- 

 versity of London for the filling of the newly 

 instituted chair of aeronautics tenable at the East 

 London College. The latest time for receiving ap- 

 plications is the first post of Monday, July 7. 



The Salters' Institute of Industrial Chemistry has 

 awarded four more fellowships for post-graduate 

 study in the laboratories indicated : — Capt. W. H. 

 Hoffert and Capt. A. G. Pollard (Rothamsted Experi- 

 mental Station), Mr. L. A. Ravald (Municipal 

 Technical College, Manchester), and Mr. M. L. 

 Wilson (The University, Manchester). 



We learn from Science that Queen "s University, 

 Kingston, Ontario, has received an additional endow- 

 ment of 20o,oooZ. for the general purposes of the 

 University. It is proposed to secure several more full- 

 time^ professors and to develop the departments of 

 physiology, bacteriology, and public health. A fund 

 of 4o,oooi. is also available to be expended in the 

 reconstruction of the hospital. 



The tenth British Esperanto Congress was held in 

 Liverpool during the Whitsun week-end, and more 

 than five hundred Esperantists were present. The 

 congress was opened by Mr. James G, Legge, 

 Director of Education in Liverpool, who gave the con- 

 gressists a warm welcome, and expressed his sym- 

 pathy with the aims of Esperanto. The annual 

 general meeting of the British Esperanto Association 

 was held during the congress, and many speakers 

 commented on the recent progress made and on the 

 suitability of the present time for a vigorous propa- 

 ganda. The social functions of the congress were of 

 a very varied nature. Two concerts were given, 

 Esperanto being almost exclusively used for songs and 

 recitations. The public was admitted to one of these 

 concerts, and between the musical items demonstra- 

 tions were given with the help of foreign Esperantists 

 who were present. A visit was paid to the University 

 of Liverpool, where the congressists were addressee! 

 by the Vice-Chancellor, Sir Alfred Dale, who after- 

 wards showed the party some of the interesting 

 features of the University. Parties of more than two 

 hundred Esperantists also visited the Port Sunlight 

 works of Lever Brothers and one of the Atlantic 

 liners at the docks. The organising committee of the 

 congress is to be congratulated on the excellence of 

 their arrangements, and it was generally agreed that 

 the congress was the most successful and enjoyable 

 that has yet been held by British Esperantists. 



A chart prepared by Principal J. C. M. Garnett, 



College of Technology, Manchester, shows what 



the vouth of the country should be receiving in 



the way of education between the ages of ten and 



NO. 2590, VOL. 103] 



twenty-five years, and indicates also their probable 

 occupation in life. The diagram includes all grades 

 of education, -irom the elementary schools (public, and 

 private preparatory) to the universities and to post- 

 graduate work, and includes also full-time and part- 

 time courses, both general and special. The system is 

 one "proposed to be brought into operation in Eng- 

 land during the decade ending ten years hence," and 

 it is, therefore, not very obvious why 30 per cent, of the 

 youth should be shown as having- no further school 

 education after leaving the part-time secondary school 

 at the age of eighteen. There is also no provision 

 shown for general cultural education, such, for ex- 

 ample, as that given so successfully in the Danish 

 "People's High Schools," unless something of the ,-^ 

 kind is to be inferred from the footnote : "Junior and ^ 

 senior technical courses do not mean narrow vocational 

 courses, but a general education which has a centre 

 of interest in some group of occupations, into one of 

 which the pupil is expected to enter." Why not, 

 however, provide a general education for persons eigh- 

 teen years of age and upwards which shall have a 

 centre of interest in life itself rather than in any 

 grouo of occupations? In Denmark, "of the 79 

 Government accredited schools, 48 adhere to the cul- 

 ture idea, pure and simple; and in this list are, per- 

 haps, a majority of the schools which have done most 

 to place a real stamp on the character of the nation " 

 (H. Foght in "Rural Denmark and its Schools"). 



An address on science and education recently 

 delivered by Prof. J. Graham Kerr before the Royal 

 Philosophical Society of Glasgow includes an earnest 

 plea for the inclusion of science in any scheme for the 

 complete and efficient education of the citizen. By 

 science is meant, not merely the acquisition of book 

 knowledge or that it be taught ex cathedra, but the 

 patient, accurate, and direct investigation of pheno- 

 mena in order that the pupil may attain a first-hand 

 knowledge based upon individual experience of the 

 processes of Nature, and with the ultimate purpose 

 of " the training and development of the powers with 

 which Nature has endowed him so as to give him the 

 highest possible degree of competence for successfully |i 

 tackling the problem of the life which lies beyond J- 

 the school or college." The address is thoroughly j 

 democratic in its aim, and Prof. Kerr would so order |' 

 our system of education as to bring its facilities within %■ 

 reach of the poorest of the community where ability I- 

 merits aid and encouragement. In his view it is |, 

 essential to enlightened popular government that the 

 mass of the people should enjoy the advantages of a 

 sound education, and that science in its fundamental 

 aspects be continuously taught throughout the school 

 and college career. He is of opinion that the sub- 

 ject of physics lends itself admirably in the early 

 stages of training, since its phenomena are simple ani 

 demand, through repeated measurements, complete |i 

 accuracy, and, along with mathematics, he would in- ' 

 separably link with it a training in the use of the 

 English language. Prof. Kerr further discusses the 

 conditions under which a stable modern society can 

 subsist and progress, and demands that biological 

 science should find a place in the training of the future 

 citizen, so that he may grasp the principles which 

 underlie the problems of communal life. He further ; 

 advocates the establishment of free popular lectures' 

 on science. 



The Journal of the British Science Guild for April; 

 contains a report by the Education Committee of the 

 guild on "Industrial Research and the Supply of 

 Trained Scientific Workers." Data are presented con- 

 trasting the facilities for research and sums expended 

 on technical education in this countrv with those in the 



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