August 20, 1903] 



NA TURE 



383 



of study leading to the profession of journalism. But 

 though Dr. Eliot says " that a journalist needs, more than 

 most men, to be trained in the best methods of ascertain- 

 ing truth," his scheme does not appear to include a pro- 

 vision for the due instruction of the future journalist in 

 the broad principles of science, which, in view of the large 

 part taken by scientific questions in modern life, seems an 

 omission. 



The Commission of Inquiry into the educational systems 

 of the United States in their bearing upon national com- 

 merce and industry, projected last year by Mr. Alfred 

 Mosely, C.M.G., will start on October 3. The itinerary 

 1 the commission, drawn up with the assistance of Presi- 

 dent Butler, of Columbia University, embraces most of the 

 leading educational centres in the United States. Among 

 universities which will be visited may be mentioned 

 Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Cornell, and Pennsylvania, and 

 in addition to the work of these seats of learning, the com- 

 mission will study the methods, equipment, and curricula 

 of technical colleges and secondary schools for boys and 

 girls, and be given opportunities to examine the procedure 

 of educational institutions of special types. Each member 

 of the commission will, we understand, be invited to record 

 his own impressions, or to combine, if he prefers it, with 

 others interested in the same subjects of education. In 

 this way more varied light will be brought to bear upon 

 all the points in American education. The reports will be 

 printed in a volume or volumes, and distributed to 

 educational bodies throughout the United Kingdom. In 

 an article on the commission in the Times, it is stated 

 that _" the startling growth of American and German in- 

 dustrial competition is a fact, and a daily more alarming 

 fact. Closely related with it, and in the 'opinion of many 

 keen observers, largely responsible for it, is the fact tha't 

 these are precisely the two countries in which national 

 education of all grades has made the greatest strides, and 

 in which its importance is most widely recognised by the 

 people at large." These truths have long been insisted 

 upon in these columns, and we are glad to find they are 

 coming to be more generally appreciated, for it brings us 

 nearer to the day when this country will be properly 

 equipped educationally. The list of commissioners includes 

 with others the following names :— Prof. W. E. Ayrton 

 I-.R.S., Mr. R. Blair, Dr. J. Rose Bradford, F.R.S. Dr' 

 Magnus .Maclean, Principal Reichel, Prof. John Rhys', and 

 Prof. W. Ripper. 



The Royal Geographical Societv, in response to requests 

 from various school authorities, recently appointed a com- 

 mittee to draw up syllabuses in geography to guide teachers 

 in elementary and secondary schools in their work of 

 imparting geographical knowledge. This committee 

 -cured the assistance of Mr. H. J. Mackinder to draw 



!> the syllabus for secondary schools, and of the late Mr. 

 I . G. Rooper to prepare that for elementary schools 

 I 'wing to Mr. Rooper 's death, Mr. G. G. Chisholm con- 

 -nted to complete the revision of the latter syllabus. The 

 (ourse laid down for elementary schools includes first a 

 preliminary stage for children between five and eight years 

 who are, it is said, best taught by reading to them suitable 

 < xtracts from books of famous travellers, and accompany- 

 ing the readings by the explanation, with the aid of sand- 

 trays, &c., of geographical terms. The second stage is that 

 for children between eight and eleven years old, and includes 

 observational preparation with a view to the necessity of 

 reading maps. Some observations within the reach of town 

 children suggested are the use of the globe, the acquirement 

 of the idea of direction and differences in elevation, and 

 their representation on maps. Country children are, in 

 addition, to learn the use of the compass and to compare 

 Ordnance maps of the same district on different scales. In 

 <!! study of maps the same ideas must be emphasised as in 

 ihi observational work. In the third stage children of 

 - leven to fourteen years old begin the systematic study of 

 various parts of the world, and such subjects as climate, 

 rainfall, temperature ; the connection between geography 

 and history are also insisted upon. The syllabus for 

 -t'condary schools is divided into four years' work, and the 

 \ cars between thirteen and seventeen are particularly ;Con- 

 i irned — in fact, the student is supposed to have mastered 

 rhe contents of the elementary schedule. In the first year 



NO. 1764, VOL. 68] 



it is proposed that a portion of Britain, extending some 

 distance from the school, should be carefully studied. The 

 portion should be large enough to contain complete ex- 

 amples of river-basins, and such lengths of road and rail 

 to show the influence of physical features on their course. 

 The work should be correlated with instruction in elemen- 

 tary geology. In the second year, Britain as a whole is 

 prescribed as the subject of study, and its several parts are 

 to be traversed by the comparative method, the work of 

 the first year being the standard. For the third year the 

 subject suggested is Europe and the Mediterranean, and 

 it is proposed that the complexion of the teaching shall 

 depend on the other work of the school. The non- 

 European portions of the globe are reserved for the fourth 

 year's work. " What is essential throughout is that 

 nothing should be taught as an isolated fact, and yet that 

 the line of argument should be so chosen that, in the end, 

 every essential fact . . . would have been learnt in its due 

 setting of related facts, and in its proper perspective." 



The report of the Technical Education Committee of the 

 Derbyshire County Council for the session 1901-2 has 

 reached us, and contains detailed statistical information as 

 to recent progress in secondary and technical education in 

 Derbyshire. The statistics relating to the subject of mining 

 are of especial interest. Prior to 189 1 not more than twenty 

 students appear to have been attending public classes in 

 this subject, whilst the average enrolment in local classes 

 in coal mining for the past eight years has been about 500. 

 It is also mentioned that, whereas at the time of the initia- 

 tion of the scholarship scheme in Derbyshire in 1892 only 

 six out of sixty successful candidates were sent to schools 

 in the county, at the present time, out of about 250 minor 

 scholarships, 230 are being held at schools within the 

 administrative county, and only twenty at schools outside 

 the administrative area. 



The catalogue of books on the useful arts contained in 

 the central library at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which was 

 recently published by the Public Libraries Committee of 

 the city, is the third of a useful series of catalogues pre- 

 pared by Mr. Basil Anderton, chief librarian. The cata- 

 logues provide satisfactory evidence that students residing 

 in Newcastle have at their disposal an excellent library con- 

 ducted with tact and intelligence. The useful arts dealt 

 with in the present catalogue include all branches of agri- 

 cultural, chemical, engineering, and mechanical technology, 

 as well as many aspects of medical and domestic science. 

 Some idea of the number of books in the Newcastle central 

 library may be obtained from the statement that the author- 

 list of books on the useful arts runs to 115 closely printed 

 pages of large size. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Edinburgh. 

 Royal Society, July 6.— Principal Sir Wm. Turner, 

 K.C.B., in the chair. — Mr. William Murray communicated 

 a paper on statistical evidence regarding the influence of 

 artificial propagation upon the salmon fisheries of the 

 American rivers. — In a paper on the origin of the pineal 

 body as an amesial structure deduced from the study of 

 its development in Amphibia, Dr. John Cameron showed 

 that the epiphysis in certain types of Amphibia arose in 

 the form of two recesses or outgrowths from the roof of 

 the fore-brain. The right outgrowth disappeared very early 

 by blending with the left. The latter showed most active 

 growth, and the result of this was to cause the epiphysial 

 opening to become situated to the left of the mesial plane 

 in most cases. The epiphysis in Amphibia was therefore 

 to be regarded as a bilateral, and not as a mesial, struc- 

 ture. These results corresponded in the main with those of 

 B^raneck, Dendy, Gaskell, Hill, and Locy in other verte- 

 brate types. — Dr. O. Charnock Bradley communicated an 

 elaborate paper on the abdominal viscera of Cercocebus 

 fuliginosus and Lagothrix humboldti. — Mr. A. Cameron 

 Smith described his final form of apparatus for determining 

 by a direct method latent heats of evaporation at the boil- 

 ing point in electrical units. The essence of the method 

 is to determine the electrical energy required to effect the 

 evaporation of a measured mass of the liquid. The energy 



