May 1 8, 191 6] 



NATURE 



241 



more to be said than that science teaches us to think 

 and literary education to express our thoughts, do we 

 not require both?" Most reasonable people would 

 probably be prepared to concede the soundness of 

 Mill's opinion. Is not therefore the educational 

 S5'stem of a country* which concerns itself in no way 

 as to the status of science altogether imperfect and 

 lopsided? The educational value of science was excel- 

 lently assessed nearly half a century ago by the dis- 

 tinguished author of the words above quoted, in the 

 following terms {yide Rectorial Address, St. Andrews 

 University, 1867) : — ■ 



• But it is time to speak of the uses of Scientific 

 Instruction : or rather its indispensable necessity, for 

 it is recommended by every consideration which pleads 

 for any high order of inteflectual education at all. 



"The most obvious part of the value of scientific 

 instruction, the mere information that it gives, speaks 

 for itself. We are born into a world which we have 

 not made — a world whose phenomena take place 

 according to fixed laws, of which we do not bring any 

 knowledge into the world with us. In such a world 

 we are appointed to live, and in it all our work is to 

 be done. Our whole working power depends on 

 knowing the laws of the world — in other words, the 

 properties of the things we have to work with, and 

 to work among, and to work upon. . . . 



" It is surely no small part of education to put 

 us in intelligent possession of the most important and 

 most universally interesting facts of the universe, so 

 that the world which surrounds us may not be a 

 sealed book to us, uninteresting because unintelligible. 

 This, however, is but the simplest and most obvious 

 part of the utility of science, and the part which, if 

 neglected in vouth, may be the most easily made up 

 for afterwards. It is more important to understand 

 the value of scientific instruction as a training and 

 disciplining process, to fit the intellect for the proper 

 work of a human being." 



Since Mill's day there have been many realisations 

 and warnings that those in charge of the country's 

 affairs were not maintaining its position in the inter- 

 national scale of scientific efficiency, the probable con- 

 tingent future effects being at the same time pointed 

 out. The Government have no doubt always listened 

 respectfully to the representations, emanating from 

 conviction, that have from time to time been made to 

 them, but, having no thoroughly intelligent appre- 

 hension, the central fact remains — they have done 

 nothing. The country, in a matter vital to its wel- 

 fare, has been allowed to fall back while parliamentary 

 gentlemen have occupied themselves, and the minds of 

 the majority of their fellow-countrj'men, with domestic 

 questions of only accessory, not essential, importance. 



How can matters be remedied? In what possible 

 way can progress in the future be ensured? Experi- 

 ence does not readily incline one to the belief that any 

 number of memorials, deputations, or advisor}^ boards 

 will be able adequately to effect the greatly desired 

 result. Would it not be an excellent thing and solve 

 many difficulties were there a body of scientific opinion 

 in the House of Commons? An old teaching of 

 Bagehot's was that any notion, or creed, which could 

 get a decent number of English members to stand up 

 for it, might be a false, and, indeed, pernicious, 

 opinion, but it was felt by nearly all Englishmen to 

 be at all events possible — an opinion within the in- 

 tellectual sphere, and to be reckoned with. And it 

 was an immense achievement. This, of course, means 

 rhat scientific men would require to stand as candi- j 

 dates for election to Parliament. The assertion that • 

 in general therr very specialised scientific training , 

 would disqualify them from being useful participators , 

 in the ordinarA* business of the • Legislature appears j 

 quite unfounded. 



NO. 2429, VOL. 97] 



To the writer the foregoing suggests itself as one 

 likely solution of our difficulty. The country, in an 

 educational sense, appears to have got somewhat out 

 of adjustment with external national requirement. 

 Equilibrium with environment is, perhaps, not always 

 easy of maintenance, but it is worth continually striv- 

 ing after, so far as is humanly possible; for, without 

 this, insidiously begin the multifarious processes of 

 destruction compassing an end which it is never p>os- 

 sible precisely to define, D. Balsillie. 



St. Andrews, April 30. 



A Mysterious Meteorite. 



The photograph here reproduced is of a meteoritic 

 stone which was recently obtained by Mr. A. S. Ken- 

 nard from a curio-dealer in Beckenham, Kent. All 

 that could be discovered of its history was that it had 



been purchased at the sale of the effects of a local 

 auctioneer named Harris. Hitherto also all efforts 

 definitely to fix the locality given on the label have 

 failed. Any help' in the solution of the mystery will 

 be welcomed by me. G. T. Prior. 



Natural History Museum, South Kensington. 



THE RELIEF OF THE SHACKLETON 



ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 

 A S the middle of May has been reached without 

 -^ *- news of the Endurance, action for the relief 

 of Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition has to be 

 taken on the expectation that there will be no 

 further news this season. It is possible that the 

 Endurance, damaged and short of coal, may still 

 be slowly working- her way northward, and that 

 any day we may hear of her return to South Geor- 

 gia with perhaps the whole of the expedition on 

 board. But such a solution of the difficulty must 

 be regarded as highly improbable, and the relief 

 expedition must be prepared with the information 

 already available. 



The more detailed news received from the 

 Atirora encourages the hope that she can be re- 

 fitted in New Zealand and entrusted with the re- 

 lief work necessary on the Australasian side of the 

 Antarctic. If so, the problem there is compara- 

 tively simple. The main anxiety in regard to 

 that section of the expedition is due to the fact 

 that when the Aurora was blown out to sea there 

 had been no news of the dep6t-Iaying parties for 

 two months. Three sledge parties had started at 

 the end of Januar}', 1915, from the Discovery Hut 

 at the southern end of Macmurdo Sound. Some 

 depots were successfully laid on the Ice Barrier. 



