302 



DISCOVICHV 



" tlie round peg in the square hole," but it was ultimately 

 agreed that workers were neither round nor square, but, 

 being malleable, had in time to adapt themselves to fit 

 into either the round or the square position. 



PREFERENCE OF SIMJECTS IN TIIF. SCHOOL 

 CrURICl'LlM 

 Mr. J. Don opened an interesting discussion on the 

 preference of pupils for certain subjects of study. About 

 3,600 pupils of intermediate classes of 93 schools in the 

 West of Scotland were asked to write down the order in 

 which they liked the subjects — English, French, Mathe- 

 matics, Science, and Drawing. Answers came from 

 1,855 boys and 1,760 girls. The boys' order of preference 

 was science, English, drawing, mathematics, F"rench ; 

 the girls' order was English and French at the top, science 

 and mathematics at the bottom. No definite reason 

 for the boys' indifference to French or of the girls' indif- 

 ference to science was given. The high place occupied 

 by English in both lists is ascribed to the excellent way 

 (through literature) in which this subject is taught in 

 Scotland. 



MUSIC IN EDUCATION 



Sir Henry Hadow (Vice- Chancellor of Sheffield Uni- 

 versity) opened the discussion . He urged that music should 

 be given a place in the curricula of schools and colleges. 

 It was not everybody's subject, but the whole school 

 night well take part in class singing, and listen to an 

 occasional lecture or concert, while those with an aptitude 

 for it might take it instead of some other subject. Taught 

 properly the study of a great composer might be education- 

 ally a's good as that of a great poet. A syllabus for music 

 could be drawn up to fit into existing curricula without 

 encouraging faddists, excusing idlers, or producing the 

 class that talk emotionally about music without under- 

 standing it. Pupils should be encouraged to read good 

 music with the approximate facility of reading a book. 

 Every public library, and, if possible, every school and 

 University library, should contain a musical department 

 which included the standard classical compositions and 

 the first-rate books on musical aesthetics and criticism. 

 The speaker pointed out that the public put up with a 

 standard of music which they would not tolerate in other 

 things. Ninety per cent, of the stuff written on music- 

 paper was not music. A band would submit a programme 

 for a concert which to an intelligent musician was nothing 

 but an insult, and naively reply when reproached that 

 they were not aware that first-class music was wanted. 



The storj' with which Sir Henry started his address is 

 worthy of repetition : " Some years ago we were sitting 

 round the fire in an Oxford Common Room. The Dean, 

 who had the evening paper, let his eye fall upon a para- 

 graph of musical criticism, and read it aloud in that tone 

 of polished irony which we all knew to be his accustomed 

 mark of disapproval. It was a harmless paragraph, and 

 contained somewhere an innocent technicality — I think 

 ' sub-mediant." When he had finished, he looked across to 

 the eminent scholar by the fireside and said, ' Of course, 

 you know what a " sub-mediant " is ? ' To which came 

 the answer, slow, meditating and pious, ' God forbid.' " 



Reviews of Books 



The Origin and Evolution of the Human Race. By 

 Albert Churchward, M.I)., M.R.C.P. (Geo. 

 Allen & Unwin, 45s.) 



This book is a queer jumble of anthropology, archaeology, 

 a little heterodox astronomy, a few knocks at socialism, 

 and personal attacks on several of our distinguished 

 exponents of the pre-history of mankind. Its purjxjse is 

 to set forth as completely as possible the evolution of 

 mankind. The author's main point is that man arose 

 not in Asia but in the Valley of the Nile, and he attempts 

 to substantiate this and trace man's spread over the earth, 

 both by examining the archaeological evidence which 

 throws light on his various cults, and by considering the 

 so-called savage and backward races, which exist to-day, 

 from many points of view. He feels pretty sure that his 

 conjectureson the origin of man " are true and irrefutable," 

 but, although a reviewer may consider the first of these 

 adjectives too optimistic, it is highly certain from the 

 manner in which the book has been written that it will 

 not be refuted. That would be unnecessarj'. 



The book contains many wild statements that the 

 reviewer feels have been made, not because they represent 

 an assertion that is genuinely felt to be true, but because 

 they fit in with the mood of their utterer and merely 

 express personal dislikes. Dr. Churchwards views on 

 what was happening on the earth six hundred years ago 

 are necessarily speculative, but one may judge approxi- 

 mately of his right to speculate with some measure of 

 probability by what he says of events occurring in his- 

 torical times that we all know about. Yet here he is very 

 wild, and his descriptions of the Greeks, the Eg>-ptians, 

 and the spread of Christianity are somnambulistic. 

 From these a reader may safely judge the whole book. 



It is difficult to see for which class of reader the book 

 has been written. It is too long and too dear for the 

 ordinar)' reader, too difficult for the man specially inter- 

 ested in anthropology,', and too untrustworthy and 

 unscientific for the expert. 



A. S. R. 



Relativity and the Universe. By Dr. Harry Schmidt. 



Trans, by Dr. Karl Wichmann. (Methucn, 5s.) 

 The Fourth Dimension Simply Explained. Edited by 



Henry P. Manning. (Methvien, 7s. 6i.) 



The first of these books is the outcome of a series of 

 tutorial lectures on relativity delivered to an educated 

 but not specialised audience in a town on the Elbe. It 

 is a fuller and perhaps simpler exposition than that 

 contained in Einstein's own book, with a wealth of 

 analogies and much colloquial expression. It contains no 

 mathematics. It is nevertheless not a book for everybody, 

 but a reader with a groundwork of elementary physics 

 and mechanics will find it useful and reliable. 



The second, alas ! is rather behind the times. It 

 consists of the best essays of a popular nature on the subject 



