June 30, 1910] 



NA TURE 



539 



They then commence the preparatory course, which 

 occupies, on the average, not less than three sessions, for, 

 although 22 per cent, of the students complete preparatorj' 

 courses in two sessions, 45 per cent, take three sessions, 

 27 per cent, four sessions, and 4 per cent, five sessions. 

 This preparatory course comprises mathematics, chemistry', 

 mechanics, and physics, as well as modern languages ; it 

 extends over about seven months in each j'ear, and the 

 course is repeated year by year. M. Pelletan thinks that 

 to make a student follow the same course* for an average 

 of three years must frequently tend to make him rather 

 stupid. According to him, the course in mathematics is 

 much too theoretical in its character ; the students spend 

 too much time on analytical geometry ; they deal too much 

 with abstractions and too little with problems involving 

 realities and actual numbers ; as a result, their attempts 

 to apply the mathematics they have learned lead to results, 

 not only false, but actually absurd. 



When the student has completed his preparaton.' course 

 he spends two years on the more advanced courses, 

 making a total of five years' study. A very large part of 

 his time is devoted to higher mathematics, as is shown by 

 the fact that about 36 per cent, of the marks awarded for 

 purposes of classification are given to this subject, while 

 mechanics and machinerx' receive about 26 per cent., 

 physics about 21 per cent., chemistry about 20 per cent., 

 astrononn- ( !) about 9 per cent., architecture about 2 per 

 cent., history and literature about 4 per cent., German 

 about 4 per cent., drawing about 5 per cent., and military 

 subjects about 5 per cent. According to M. Pelletan. a 

 large part of the mathematical course is simply a repetition 

 of the work done before. 



The amount of time spent on practical work is absurdly 

 small : none is mentioned in the case of mechanics and 

 machinery ; only six lessons are given in physics and 

 eleven in chemistry' ; on the other hand, the physical 

 welfare of the students is treated more seriously, for they 

 receive eight}- lessons in horsemanship, sixt}--four in 

 gymnastics, forty in fencing, and sixteen in boxing. 



Students are allowed little liberty ; they are under 

 military discipline, have little leisure, and are required to 

 spend a considerable time in drill, &-c. 



.According to M. Pelletan, the result of this is that the 

 most mediocre students, provided the\- are gifted with a 

 good memory-, come out first in the list and receive the 

 best positions ; in all that concerns " red tape " they are 

 perfect, but they lack initiative, for they have never been 

 allowed to think or do for themselves. 



It is not for a foreigner to criticise French methods, 

 many of which, as the writer well knows, are admirable. 

 but if the premier engineering school of France is con- 

 ducted on the principles set forth in this paper, there is 

 certainly ainple room for that reform which the author 

 demands. The present writer has ventured to suggest to 

 the director of the Ecole polytechnique that a reply should 

 be made to this indictment of his institution. 



J. Wertheimer. 



REFRIGERATION ."^ 

 A SHORT account of the first International Congress 

 on Refrigeration appeared in Nature of October 2. 

 190S. and ser\'ed to indicate the important position which 

 refrigeration has taken in the fields of technics and com- 

 merce. 



The bulky volumes before us, in which communications 

 appear in their original French, English, German, or 

 Italian, fully confirm that view. The subjects discussed 

 range from magneto-optic investigations or liquid hydrogen, 

 through the preparation of cooling agents to the law- of 

 the transport of chilled food ; from the use of liquid air in 

 mining to its use for increasing the eiHorescence of bulbs. 



These 200 communications vary very much in character. 

 Some are resumes of wel!-know-n work at low temperatures, 

 others compilations by authors who appear to have been 

 ignorant of the work of others in the field, and to have 

 thought it necessarv to fill their papers with elementary 

 transcriptions from text-books. 



1 Premier Congre: international du Froid, Paris, Octobre s-i2, rgoSf. 

 Tome i., Comptes ri-n-'us. pp. iv+yoc. Tomes ii. and iii., R.aipons et 

 Coram-mications Vol. ii., pp. iv+TcoQ+ii ; vol iii-, pp. iv-r'563+ii ; 

 illustrated. (Paris Secre'ariat-General He IWssociation du Froid ; London : 

 ? Oxford Court, Cannon Street, n.d.) Price, 3 vol'., 2yS. 



The vast majority, however, are new and valuable addi- 

 tions to the subject. Many are the results of prolonged 

 and careful experimental research on questions such as the 

 industrial separation of oxygen and nitrogen from the air, 

 the specific heat of certain salt solutions, the conductivity of 

 insulators under experimental and under practical condi- 

 tions, and both relatively and absolutely. Naturally much 

 attention was paid to the preser\'ation of food of all kinds, 

 both on land and at sea. In this connection the particu- 

 larly complete investigations from America on the physio- 

 logical effect of cold storage for varying times and at 

 varying temperatures on poultrj- are specially noticeable. 

 This paper is accompanied by really beautiful photographs 

 of sections, and quite disposes of the notion that cold 

 storage has any bad effect on nutritive values if maintained 

 at the proper temperature and followed by careful thawing 

 in dry air. Many other communications discuss the same 

 question less exhaustively with regard to other food 

 materials. In this connection it is noticeable that, on the 

 whole, the standard of the English papers was below that 

 reached by those from the other great countries. Happily, 

 this defect was to a large extent made up by the colonial 

 communications ; but this does not fully atone for the want 

 of anv official notice of the congress by the Boards of Trade 

 and Agriculture. The difference is particularly marked with 

 reference to America, and is only an indication of the want 

 of interest these departments take in the fields which they 

 are supposed to represent. Another question which appears 

 in several communications in various forms is that of suit- 

 able units for the refrigerating industry. It is extremely 

 desirable that some agreement should be arrived at which 

 would be internationally acceptable. As a result of these 

 deliberations an international bureau has been formed, which 

 has come to some agreement, and which will submit recom- 

 mendations to the next congress at Vienna in October, 

 19 10. Francis Hyxdmax. 



UXIVERSITIES AND TECHNICAL TRAININGS 

 PERH.APS the most noteworthy educational event of 

 -*• modern times was the origin and development of the 

 Universities of BerHn and Bonn. After the Battle of Jena 

 and the humiliating Treaty of Tilsit, after the closing of 

 the University of Halle by Napoleon, at a time when 

 Prussia had siink under the heel of Bonaparte to the rank 

 of scarcely a third-rate Power, the King, influenced chiefly 

 bv the brothers Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt, 

 determined to look to higher education as a means of 

 retrieving his countr\-'s fortunes. Such w-as, and still is, 

 the faith across the Rhine in the practical value of educa- 

 tion to the State. Napoleon got his Treaty of Tilsit, but 

 there were men by the side of the Prussian King with 

 great ideas, men who with stern and far-seeing deter- 

 mination forged w-eapons which, during the hundred years 

 which have passed since then, in the field, in the labora- 

 ton.-, and in the Seminar, have made Prussia, have made 

 Germany, what they are to-day. 



The mediaeval university- as it developed in England held 

 residence, in the sense of actual living together in seclusion, 

 as an essential condition of study. The modern universit>-. 

 following the almost universal practice, required residence 

 indeed, but residence only in the sense of w-orking and 

 thinking together, in science in the laboratory, in literature 

 and philosophy in the Seminar. The faculties of the 

 mediaeval university- w-ere retained — theolog}-. law, medicine, 

 and philosophy — music and other technical subjects were 

 left outside to the care of special schools. The mediaeval 

 universit}-, as we have seen, had behind it the accumulated 

 prestige of centuries : the modern university had no such 

 individual advantage ; it built upon the common educa- 

 tional histor>- of mankind, and adapted itself with the 

 greatest freedom to the requirements of the time. There 

 is much wisdom in the saying that a university- is born 

 old. The mediaeval university was a centre of dogmatic 

 teaching : research, if not explicitly discouraged, was prac- 

 tically discouraged by the fact that general culture, the 

 training of the judgment, was aimed at, not specialised 

 learning ; a recent Cambridge writer puts the object as 

 ■' not how to keep our trade, but how to keep our souls 



1 From a leciure delivered before the Ro^al Dublin Society on March 9 

 by Prof. .-V. Senier. 



NO. 2122, VOL. 83] 



