I20 



NATURE 



[April 6, 191 6 



of such alloys, and thus gives scientific workers 

 definite problems of first-rate technical import- 

 ance to work out. Prof. Edwards's paper on 

 metallic crystal twinning by direct mechanical 

 strain is illustrated by some very fine photomicro- 

 graphs, which will repay detailed study, and prove 

 that, in the case of tin, at any rate, twins are 

 formed by mechanical strain. 



The outstanding feature of the volume, how- 

 ever, is the text of the May lecture delivered 

 before the Institute by Sir Joseph Thomson on the 

 conduction of electricity through metals, in which 

 he enunciated a new theory and directed attention 

 to the remarkable results on super-conductivity 

 obtained by Kamerlingh Onnes, of which there 

 is no sign at the temperature of liquid hydrogen, 

 but which are fully displayed at that of liquid 

 helium. H. C. H. C. 



Memoirs of Die IVistar Institute of Anatomy and 

 Biology, No. 6. The Rat : Reference Tables 

 and Data for the Albino Rat (Mus norvegicus 

 albinus) and the Norway Rat (Mus norvegicus). 

 Compiled and edited by H. H. Donaldson. Pp. 

 v + 278. (Philadelphia: Wistar Institute, 1915.) 

 Price 3.00 dollars. 

 The white rat, like the frc^, is one of that select 

 little group known as laboratory animals. For 

 the study of problems connected with mammalian 

 physiology it offers conveniences which in most 

 cases place it beyond competition. After a brief 

 introduction on the classification and early records 

 of the common rats, the greater part of the book 

 is devoted to the white rat, by which is under- 

 stood the albino variety of the Norway rat {Mus 

 norvegicus). 



Following some short chapters on the biology, 

 anatomy, and physiology of this animal, the bulk 

 of the work is taken up by statistical tables deal- 

 ing with the growth of the body and of its various 

 organs in relation to it and to one another, a 

 subject in which the author has conducted research 

 for some years past. The general results of the 

 growth records are also illustrated by a series of 

 graphs by means of which the reader can at once 

 obtain the general drift of the figures. A few 

 pages are devoted to the wild Norway rat, for 

 which far fewer data have been collected than for 

 its pink-eyed relative, and the work concludes w-ith 

 a bibliography of more than fifty oages. A most 

 useful feature of the book is the list of references 

 arranged under headings at the end of each chap- 

 ter. By means of these and of the bibliography 

 at the end the student can at once ascertain what 

 has been written on, for example, the anatomy of 

 the urogenital system or the physiology of respira- 

 tion in the white rat. Indeed, we think that this 

 part of the work would bear some amplification. 

 Under "Reproduction," for instance, no mention 

 is made of Marshall's "Physiology of Reproduc- 

 tion," in which work occur other references not 

 given here. Some omissions there are doubtless 

 bound to be, but in this guide to the white rat 

 the author has produced a valuable work of refer- 

 ence which should find a place in every physiologi- 

 cal laboratory. 



NO. 2423, VOL. 97] 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for 

 opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither 

 can he undertake to return, or to correspond with 

 the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for 

 this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 

 taken of anonymous communications.] 



Science versus Classics. 



In "Musings without Method" — which might with 

 equal alliteration be termed "Ravings without 

 Reason "—the editor of Blackwood gives in the March 

 number his views on the claim of science to occupy a 

 more prominent position in general education than 

 has hitherto been allotted to her. He calls this 

 claim "a ferocious attack on the humanities," an 

 evidence of "" unbalanced minds " devoid of " the 

 sense of humour and proportion." He gratuitously 

 assumes that men of science desire " to kill 

 all other learning than their own," and asserts 

 that for all men there is a need of verbal expres- 

 sion "which is most easily satisfied by the study 

 of Greek and Latin." He endeavours to pour scorn 

 on the usefulness of scientific knowledge by the story 

 — probably apocryphal— of a " commercial house in the 

 East" which sent to Cambridge for a chemist, and 

 when a chemist was forwarded to them, promptly 

 returned him on the ground that although there was 

 nothing wrong with him as a chemist, he had no 

 knowl^ge of the world ! One wonders what has be- 

 come of "Maga's " "sense of humour"? Clearly the 

 "commercial house in the East" did not want a 

 chemist ! Had they asked for what they really wanted - 

 they would have been sent a classical don ; who doubt- 

 less would have proved more than a match for the 

 heathen Chinee, which was probably the problem to 

 be tackled ! 



It is essentially the cause of Oxford and Cambridge 

 which our knight of the pen comes forward to cham- 

 pion — at least, it is what he conceives to be the cause 

 of Oxford and Cambridge. But why should Oxford 

 and Cambridge furnish an exception? They might, it 

 is true, from their more ancient standing, claim to 

 give a lead to the others, but it should surely be the 

 aim of all the universities to provide the best system 

 of education which the needs of the country require. 



The question is : What is the best system ? We 

 others believe that it is to be found in the introductioa 

 of the study of natural science into the upbringing 

 of everyone, whatever his ultimate aim in life = 

 may be. The prime object of education is, or 

 should be, the attainment of a knowledge of ourselves 

 and our surroundings : this knowledge can only be 

 obtained through the study of natural science. That 

 other branches of learning — mathematics, philosophy, 

 history, language, and literature — may help, is not 

 contested, but the basis of education in an age in 

 which all our prosperity, present and prospective, 

 depends upon proficiency in science must be scientific. 

 If he who runs cannot read as much as this, he is 

 either purblind or hopelessly slow of understanding ! 



We need not go outside the pages of " Maga " to 

 prove the inadequacy of the classics. Of what is this 

 Cabinet composed which the editor has denounced in 

 unmeasured terms from month to month as patterns of : 

 imbecility, hesitation, and vacillation, unable to see , 

 beyond the ends of their noses, incompetent to manage 

 any department of State? Are not the ranks of the 

 "gallant twenty-two" (now twenty-three) recruited ' 

 almost exclusively from the institutions on the system i 

 of education of which "Maga " sets so high a value? j 

 Is not the Prime Minister, against whom par- 

 ticularly the editorial fulminations of " Maga " have 

 so often been directed, himself a notable example of 





