488 



NATURE 



[March 21, 1895 



■which, especially compared with that afforded by some 

 other sciences, is relatively slight when the knowledge 

 is elementan.'. increasing rapidly as the study becomes 

 advanced. Further, while I have just urged that 

 elementar>- physiology as an awakening study may be 

 and indeed should be taught by itself, independent of 

 other kinds of knowledge, I can now urge equally 

 strongly that a study of physiology, beyond the mere 

 elements, is impossible without a previous adequate 

 knowledge of chemistry and physics. -Again, while the 

 practical teaching of the rudiments of physiology can be 

 carried out anywhere and by any one, the further study 

 of physiolog)' demands no inconsiderable laboratory 

 accommodation, complicated apparatus, and experiments 

 on animals. Lastly, if the study of physiology is to be 

 real, the whole body must be dealt with, no parts being 

 excluded for special reasons : and this means that the real 

 study cannot be taken up until after puberty. For these 

 reasons it seemstobe undesirable to press the introduction 

 of physiology into schools as an educational subject ; all 

 the more so, since not only both chemistry and physics 

 are admirably adapted for this purpose, but also a not 

 inconsiderable knowledge of both these sciences is needed 

 for the proper study of physiology ; and I imagine that 

 by the time a boy or girl is thus prepared to study 

 physiolog)', it is time that he or she should leave school. 

 While 1 am thus opposed to physiology being placed 

 in a false position in the school curriculum, I feel myself 

 all the more free to urge the very general introduction of 

 an elementary study of the subject on account of its 

 awakening value. I cannot define the amount of phy- 

 siology which should thus be introduced more closely 

 than by saying that the ground covered should be about 

 that covered by my Primer. I would add that so far as 

 is possible the pupils should sec for themselves ever>'- 

 thing which is talked about in the lesson. 



As to " physiology- being a proper subject to be in- 

 cluded among subjects for scholarship examinations for 

 young pupils, ' I am so impressed with the painful evils 

 of the present scholarship system, that I am most loth 

 to say anything that would in any way lead to an addition 

 to that system. If the scholarship examination is to be 

 a test of education, of intellectual training, it is obvious 

 from what I have said above, that physiology cannot be 

 put on the same level with chemistry and physics. At 

 the same time, if such subjects as physiology or botany 

 are excluded from scholarship examinations, no little 

 injustice, it appears to me, is likely to be done in the 

 following way. A lad, let us say, shows an early bent 

 towards physiology, and acquires at school a very con- 

 siderable knowledge of its rudiments. His future career 

 depends on his gaining a certain scholarship. If in the 

 examination for that scholarship his place depends solely 

 on the way in which he has acquitted himself in chemistry 

 and physics, in which his interest isofasecondary character 

 — he regarding them merely as helps to physiology the 

 world may be robbed of an eminent physiologist. Hence 

 I would say that if the evil of a scholarship examination 

 must come, I would give an opportunity of an elementary 

 knowledge ol physiolog)' being, in some way, rewarded. 



NOTES. 



Prof. Ramsay has been good enough to forward to us 

 the following translation of a passage in a letter he has recently 

 received from Prof. Olszewski : " I have at last succeeded in 

 determining the critical temperature and the boiling-point of 

 hydrogen. I have found for the former - 233° and for the 

 latter -243'. I havejuied the dynamical melho<l, which I 

 desciibed in the Philoiophicat Afai;tr-ine .\ thermal couple 

 proved of no use, and I was obliged to avail myself of a 

 platiDum-wiic Ihcrmomeler, measuring the temperatures by the 



NO. 7325, VOL. 51] 



alteration in resistance of the wire. I have obtained satisfactory 

 results, and intend to publish an account of them in English." 



Mr. Frederick Weui: has piesenttd the sum of /looo to 

 the Medical School of St. George's Hospital, to found an annual 

 prize in bacteriology. 



Prof. Victor Horsley, F.R.S., has been elected into the 

 Atheraeum Club, under the provisions of the rule which em- 

 powers the annual election by the committee of nine persons 

 '■ of distinguished eminence in science, literature, the arts, or 

 for public services. " 



We are glad to learn that there is no foundation for the 

 report of the death of I'rof. H. Wild, of St. Petersburg, noted 

 in these columns on February 2S. The mist.ike arose owing to 

 the announcement of the decease of a German investigator of 

 {he same name. 



At the meeting of the Royal Irish Academy, on March 16, 

 the following were elected honorary members. In the section 

 of Science : Dr. Karl Weierstrass and Prof, du Bois Reymond, 

 and Prof. E. Suess. In the section of Polite Literature and 

 Antiquities: Prof. A. Erman, Dr. E. Zeller, Lieut. -General H. 

 L. F. Pitt- Rivers, and Mr. S. R. Gardiner. 



At the Paris Academy of Sciences last week, a bronze medal, 

 engraved by Chaplain, was presented to M. Bertrand, in 

 honour of his jubilee. The medal has on one side a likeness 

 of M. Kertrand, and the reverse side bears the following senti- 

 ment : "To Joseph Bertrand, member of the French Acidemy, 

 Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, in honour of 

 fifty years' devotion to science and education, from his pupils, 

 admirers, and friends. March, 1844-1S94." 



The Acniversaty Dinner of the Fellows of the Chemical 

 Society will be held at the Hotel Mctropole on Wednesday, 

 March 27, when Dr. Henry E. Aimstrong, President of the 

 Society, will occuj y the chair. The Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, 

 M.P., James Brjce, M.P., the Piesidents of some of the 

 learned Societies, and several other distinguished guests have 

 accepted invitations to the dinner. 



A NUMBER of organisations for scientific research in the 

 le.idi rg cities of the .American sea-board, including Philadel- 

 phia, Princeton, New Yoik, Biookljn, and Boston, have com- 

 bined to organise an exptdition to the west coast of Greenland. 

 The expedition will be fitted out at Newfoundland, and will 

 sail next June. Elaborate preparations are under way to insure 

 important results to science. Each of the Societies participat- 

 ing will send a representative, including several who went last 

 year, such as Profs. Libley and Chambcrlin. The Brooklyn 

 Institute will send a representative, to be chosen hereafter. 



The death is announced of Mr. A. W. Beelliam, at Dawlisbi 

 in his ninety-fifth year ; he was elected a Fellow of the Royal 

 Society in 1835. We also notice the death of Mr. J. C. Smith, 

 presi dent of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland ; of 

 Dr. Htrmann Grote, one of the most eminent experts in 

 numismatics ; of Mr. (I. N. Lawrence, a leading American 

 ornithologist ; of General de Nosouty, founder and director of 

 the Pic du Midi ( Ihservatory, which for twenty-one years has 

 rendered great service to agriculturists in the I'rench Pyrenees ; 

 and of Prof. Julien Brunhes, at Dijon. 



The Belgian f Academy of Sciences offers a prize of 600 

 francs for the best essay on each of the following subjects :— 

 (i) On the number of chromosomes before impregnation in an 

 animal or a plant ; (2) On the Quaternary Flora, especially 

 that of peat-bogs; (3) Is there a nucleus in the Schizophyta? 

 if so, what is its structure and its mode of division? The 

 essay must contain a critical review of the publications existing 

 on the subject. Each essay must be the result of original 

 investigation. 



