November 15, 1^94] 



NA TURE 



57 



My work has been amongst girls, and the attempts made thus 

 far in teaching scientific method in girls' schools show that such 

 a method will inevitably lead to the developmeut desired by 

 Prof. Armstrong. 



Doubtless one of the drawbacks is the difficulty of giving to 

 each member of a large class the opportunity of individual work. 

 I am not sorry, however, to have sometimes laboured under 

 this difficulty myself, as it has brought about the discovery of 

 how much could still be done on the right lines. When neces- 

 sary I have replaced individual work by a demonstration class, 

 in which the pupils, th'ee or four at a time, have taken it in 

 turns to work in front of the others, the work consisting in the 

 solution of problems such as those suggested in the British 

 Association's report on chemical teaching. The principal results 

 are these : the children take a growing interest in the work, 

 and those who are doubtful how far girls may desire to work 

 with their hands, instead of always sitting still, may be glad to 

 hear that no greater incentive to invention can be given in a 

 demonstration class than the reward of becoming the experi- 

 menter for the time being. There is never any lack of 

 suggestion for the next step in the work, and the rapidity with 

 which such work trains the girls to consider the value or defects 

 of any new proposal for the solution of their problem, is some- 

 limes astonishing. In these classes the teacher plays a very 

 small part — at least, apparently — only from time to time direct- 

 ing the suggestions, and giving permission for new work to be 

 started ; invention, experiment, meaning of results, and criti- 

 cism are all undertaken by the children, and the final 

 " discovery " is their own triumph. 



I have often been asked by teachers about the discipline of 

 such a class, since experimental work goes so slowly that they 

 think it would be impossible to keep those who are not actually 

 at work attentive. I can only say that the class consists of a 

 group of people genuinely interested in a common object, and 

 It behaves in the way such groups generally do. If at times a 

 girl's enthusiasm so far carries her away that she rushes from 

 her scat to the experimenting table, the class, with a laugh, 

 excuses her, sympathises with her feelings, and is not disturbed 

 thereby. 



It seems unquestionable that the result of such work should 

 have a wider-reaching effect than the mere knowledge of certain 

 facts in nature, though such knowledge is also obtained. 

 Where children, through their own work, have been led to 

 observe and then to think, the result may fairly claim to be 

 truly educative, and one is often at a loss to understand what 

 support can be found for the still largely-existing method of 

 leaching not science but " useful information." 



Another objection often made to teaching .scientific method 

 instead of facts, that it takes too much time, I have already 

 answered in this journal. I may perhaps be permitted to re- 

 peat that experiment shows the result of elementary training, of 

 the kind described, to have a lasting influence on the rapidity 

 and comprehension with which new subjects are grasped later 

 on. B ioks, too, which are never put into the hands of be- 

 ginners, are used with more than ordinary sense at this later 

 stage. I may say that, even from the examination test (which, 

 however, is not always going to be our standard), the results are 

 very favourable. One thing, however, cannot be done by the 

 teaching of scientific method, and that is to prepare for the 

 London Matriculation examination in chemistry in three 

 months — but then, is that altogether to be regretted ? 



Grace Heath. 



North London Collegiate School for Girls, November 5. 



Italian Scientific Expedition to Monte Rosa. 



In the summer of this year, my assistant Dr. L. Scofone and 

 I s ayed a month at the Alp of Lavez in the valley of 

 Gressoney, near the foot of the Indren glacier, at an altitude 

 of 2450 m., not far from the place where the brothers Schlagint- 

 weit spent some days in 1851 while engaged in their well-known 

 scientific observations on Monte Rosa. 



We purposed to examine, both chemically and bacteriologically, 

 the composition of the waters of that region (inclusive of snow 

 and i:e) ; some of the analyses (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates 

 and organic matter) were imde directly on the spat, where we 

 had a small laboratory. To be able to carry the waters to 

 Turin, for further analysis, we had only to evaporate them, and 

 seal the residues in little glass bottles by means of a blow- 

 pipe. The detection of germs was made by using agar and 



gelatine plates enclosed in the well-known Petri's glass-boxes ; 

 gelatine, agar, pipettes, and other instruments tieing duly 

 sterilised first in Turin, and then at Lavez, with a good hot air 

 oven. The development of germs was secured by putting the 

 plates in an incubating oven. 



We also collected the water of the Indren torrentsissuing from 

 the glacier, and measured the amount of suspended matter in 

 the water, which can give an idea of the process of erosion that 

 takes place in the bed of the ice stream. 



The results of the various observations will be published in 

 the scientific papers of Turin as soon as the study of the col- 

 lected material has been completed. It will perhaps interest your 

 readers to know that while the water of the springs, streams 

 and lakes was constantly free from ammonia, there was found 

 a tolerable quantity of it in the snow collected on the summit of 

 the Punta Guifetti or Signal Kuppe, one of the loftiest peaks in 

 the Monte Rosa range, measuring 4539 m. The ice of the 

 Lys Glacier, dug out from the depths of a huge crevasse, also 

 contained ammonia ; nitrites and nitrates being absent in every 

 case. Accordingly we found that the water of the Indren 

 stream, during a very hot day, when the melting of the ice was 

 considerable, contained traces of ammonia. 



We also found that the ice and snow collected on the various 

 peaks, passes, and snow-fields of the Monte Rosa range, contained 

 a few germs. The number of the species whose germs can thrive 

 at those heights is certainly not large ; the usual forms, living in 

 decayed matter and ia the intestines, cannot probably endure the 

 condition of temperature, pressure and light of the place. 



Turin, October 28. PlERO Giacosa. 



Chinese Beliefs about Caves. 



Mr. Herbert Spen'CER, in his " Principles of Sociology" 

 (3rd edition. New York, vol. i. p. 207), relates the beliefs in the 

 creation of mankind under the ground or in caverns, current 

 among the Todas in Asia, the Basutos in Africa, and at least 

 one-half of the .'.merican tribes. A similar belief I have lately 

 found in a Chinese record. In Li Shih's Siik I'oh-wuh-chl 

 (written in the 13th cent. A.D., Japanese edition, 1683, torn. ii. 

 p. 3) a quotation from the Ning-kwoh-lun runs as follows : — 

 " Primitively there was no Liau-Kien in Shuh (n )w Sze Chuen) ; 

 this tribe emanated from red clay in a cave of Teh-yang 

 mountain, whence bits of the soil had began to roll out, 

 each roll enlarging them, so that at last thereby was created a 

 couple, who gave birth to many." 



In another paragraph Mr. Spencer remarks: — "Stationary 

 descendants of troglodytes think that they return into a 

 subterranean other-world whence they emerged {ibid. 

 p. 213). According to this, I would suggest that the same 

 belief, entertained by some aborigines in China, has revived 

 itself among the Taoists, who used to call their paradise the 

 " Cave-Heaven " (Tung- Tien) — e.g. Twan Ching-Shih describes 

 the " Cave-Heaven " 10,000 lis in circumference and 2600 lis 

 in height (his " -Miscellanies, " Japanese edition, 1697, tom. ii. 

 p. I), and Li Shih enumerates thirty-six caves in the empire, all 

 entitled ' ' Heavens " (ibid. tom. i, p. 8). 



KUM.\GllSU Ml.NAKATA. 



15 Blithfield Street, Kensington, W., November 2. 



Spots over Dogs' Eyes. 



I wot'Lii have written a note on this subject long ago, had I 

 not failed to see similar spots general amongst wild animals 

 allied to the dog. The spots may, however, be more general 

 than I am aware. The spots are by no means always tan ; a 

 black dog will sometimes have thei! white, and a white dc^ 

 black. 1 have a whiteand tan fox-terrier, in which the spots 

 are very eye-like and jet black ; in a brown bull-pug of mine, 

 the spots are also black. These spots are so eye-like , that when 

 the dogs are asleep they seem at first sight to be wide awake. 



Has not the human eyebrow, highly developed in some crude 

 races, as in Australians and Ainos, a similar meaning ? The 

 eyebrow gives many sleeping persons the appearance of being 

 awake. Worthing roN G. Smith. 



Dunstable. 



Gravitation. 



In his interesting paper upon the "Mechanical Stretching 

 of Liquids" {Phil. Trans. 1892, A, p. 370), Prof. Worthington 

 describes a phenomenon of attraction bitweeu bodies immersed 



N J. 1307, VOL. 51] 



