June 7, 1894] 



NA TURE 



\2- 



While practisinjj at cricket to-night (May i8), in splendid | 

 light, I observed at 7.58 (railway time) a very brilliant ineteor ' 

 cross the sky obliquely from a point considerably north of the 

 zenith to the south-east. Its movement was very slow, and it ■ 

 shone with a brilliant intense white light, which was concen- 

 trated in itself, and did not leave a train behind it like the meteor ' 

 of March 18, 1S93, which I had also the good fortune to see. 



It got gradually smaller and smaller, and just before dis- 

 appearing broke up into three or four pear-shaped portions. 

 During its course, although the massy head was always bril- 

 liantly while, the liiile tail varied in hue, crimson and a rich 

 ullramarine blue being most noticeable. 



I immediatel» timed it, and found that it was about 13 seconds 

 4n view, which I thought a very long time indeed. 



From diagiams made on the same evening, it seems that the 

 meteor moved from a point 40 from the zenith, and some 15' 

 west of north to a point about 30 east of south at an altitude 

 •of 30'. jAs. G. Richmond. 



Muirkirk, Ayrshire, May 30. 



P. S. — The head when first seen had an apparent diameter 

 about j that of the ^un, and when last seen % sun's diameter. 

 It rolled across like a ball with a very short lail, until it broke 

 up, when the distance from the head to the tail of the last pear- 

 shaped poriion was about 3^ sun's diameter. 



Iron Crows' Nests. 



Referri.ng Io the note by Mr. McMillan, in your issue of 

 May 3, it may be of interest to some of jour readers to know 

 that we have in ibis museum a crow's nest from Rangoon entirely 

 made of iron wire such as is used in fastening the corks ol 

 aera'ed water botile>. The donor, Mr. Joseph Dawson, of the 

 Public Works Deparimeni, Rangoon, stated in his letter at the 

 time that " wire nests are hardly a novelty in this country, as 

 they can always be oblained from high trees in the vicinity of 

 aerated water factories." The nest in question has a piece of 

 hoop-iroii about three or four inches long woven inloit ; but wilh 

 that exception it is entirely composed of the small wire, and is 

 about a foot in diameter. J. MacNalght C'AMriiELL. 



Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow, May 28. 



THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON 

 ARMY E XA MINA 1 IONS. 



T N the Times of Wednesday, 23rd ult., there was a 

 ■'■ brief account of the report lately presented to 

 Parliament by the committee appointed in 1S93 "to 

 •enquire into the entrance examinations (in non-military 

 subjects) of candidates for commissions in the Army, 

 and to advise whether any modification of the existing 

 arrangements is desirable." 



The syllabus of subjects and marks recommended by 

 the committee is as follows : — 



Class 1. — {All may lie taken up.) 



Marks, 



1. .Mathematics ... ... ... 3000 



2. Geometrical Diawing... ... ... ... 1000 



3. French or German ... '... ... ... 2000 



4. English... ... ... ... ... ... loco 



5. Freehand Drawing ... ... ... ... 500 



Class II. — {Any three iuhjuts may be taken up, hut for 

 H'ootwick one 0/ the three must be Chemistry and Heat. ) 



Marks. 



1. Pure Mathematics . ... ... ... 2000 



2. Applied Malheniatics... ... ... ... 2000 



3. German or French, as alternating with the 



same group in Class I. ... ... ... 2000 



4. Latin ... ... ... ... 2000 



5. Greek ... ... . . 2000 



6. English History ... ... ... .. 2000 



7. Chemistry (inorganic) and Heat ... ... 2000 



S. lilcctriciiy and Nlagnetism ami Light ... 2000 



9. Geography, Polilical and Physical, and 



Geology ... ... ... ... ... 2000 



10. Biology 2000 



Certain recommendations as to the fusion of the Wool- 

 wich and Sandhurst examinations, the admission to the 



NO. I 2S4, VOL. 50J 



Army of Queen's cadets, Militia candidates, and L niver- 

 sity candidates are also made. 



In regard to the question of marking for physical 

 exercises and development, which has lately been strongly 

 advocated, it is advised that these subjects should not 

 be marked in these competitions. It seems to be 

 thought, however, that though the physique of our officers 

 has been well maintained under the competitive system, 

 yet a small proportion of cadets have been admitted who 

 were not quite up to the necessary standard, and it is 

 recommended that the medical examination should be 

 made somewhat more stringent. 



The two changes of greatest importance which have 

 been advised by the committee are, briefly, as follows — 



(1) That an elementary knowledge of chemistry and 

 heat shall be made practically obligatory for Wool- 

 wich. 



(2) That Latin shall be transferred from Class I. to 

 Class II. 



There is also a minority report on certain points, viz , 

 on the suggestion of a complete fusion of the competi- 

 tions for Woolwich and Sandhurst, and on the proposal 

 to transfer Latin to Class II. This is signed by three of 

 the nine members of the committee, and one of these 

 three also signs a separate note in which he dissents from 

 the addition of geography to No. 9 of Class II., and 

 of biology to Class II. as a new subject, and makes 

 certain proposals to meet the special needs of Woolwich 

 (which he admits) that would certainly fail to effect their 

 proposed purpose. 



On May 29, this report, and especially the two 

 lecommendations relating to science for Woolwich, and 

 to Latin, were vehemently attacked by the Times in an 

 article in which the report was denounced as such an 

 one as " might have been fr.imed by a committee of 

 crammers," so far as their probable effect is concerned, 

 rather than by a committee which is unanimous in 

 subscribing to the principle laid down in 1869-70, that 

 the examinations should be designed '' with special 

 reference to the curriculum adapted at the inost advanced 

 of our public schools, and with the express intention 

 of enabling the competitors to come straight from one 

 of those establishments to the examinalion-hall without 

 having occasion to resort to any intermediate place of 

 study." -And again in a later paragraph, as a mere attempt 

 by a portion of the committee to show themselves modem 

 and advanced at all hazards by replacing the dead 

 languages by the new sciences — Latin by chemistry — 

 which latter subject is pronounced to be the most easy 

 of all to crain in face of the statistics, produced by the 

 Civil Service Commissioners and printed with the report, 

 which show the subject to be above the average in dis- 

 criminating power — that is to say, one in which teachers 

 have not succeeded, by cramming or in any other way, 

 in raising the marks of the least apt to or near the level 

 of those of the more apt. 



The Times has not hesitated to accuse the majority of 

 the committee of disregarding the evidence before them, 

 but has Itself committed this fault. Its case is indeed 

 mainly founded on such disregard of the facts. By 

 coupling together two changes which stand upon entirely 

 different footings it creates the iinpression, and is itself 

 apparently under the impression, that the committee was 

 divided on both the above proposals. Nothing is plainer 

 in the reports than that this was not the case. 



From the same cause, a reader would gather from the 

 Times that science is recommended as an obligatory 

 subject for all Army candidates, whereas nothing of the 

 sort has been proposed. 



Then it ignores the fact that the opinions of head 

 masters as expressed to the committee were almost 

 entirely in favour of giving more weight to science in 

 the case of Woolwich candidates. .\nd finally, it 

 seeks to give weight to the opinions of the minority of 



