xxxiiia] EXCURSIONS AND EXAMINATIONS 415 



following questions were asked : " Point out the errors in 



the following statements : — 



" (a) Earthquakes have raised to heaven the ocean bed." 

 " (b) Volcanoes are burning mountains that vomit fire and 



smoke." To which the following replies were given : — 



(1) Earthquakes swallow the ocean bed. 



(2) In ancient times volcanoes were called burning mountains, but we 

 do not call them by that name now, because we have a new name for 

 them derived from the Latin words volca to burn and noe mountain, and 

 the two put together " volcanoe." 



In the same year, in reply to the very elementary question, 

 " How is angular space measured ? " — without a clear concep- 

 tion of which no knowledge of mechanics or any comprehen- 

 sion of many of the simplest facts of nature is possible — such 

 replies as the following were given : — 



(1) By multiplying the number of seconds a body is falling by 32. 



(2) Angular space is measured by a delicate instrument which brings 

 the rays to one position on a stand or anything you like to put in the 

 way, and they take the angle and measure it and keep on like this at all 

 times of the year and then find the average. 



(3) You take a pair of compasses and put a point on one star and a 

 point on the other, and then you look between your legs where they join 

 and judge the distance between them thus. 



In 1895 we again had a simple question as to a very 

 common instrument, the construction and use of which can be 

 taught to any child — " Describe the mariner's compass and 

 its chief uses ; " — and we had a set of answers as bad as those 

 seven years earlier : — 



(1) The Mariner's Compass is a thin bit of steel cut into 32 points. 



(2) The Mariner's Compass is a box with a card and a lot of needles. 



(3) The Mariner's Compass is a brass box with 24 circular cards 

 hinged on, no matter which way it rolls it carries these around with it. 



(4) The Mariner's Compass is a box and a card with 32 points. 



(5) If a sailor was shipwrecked on a desert island he could find a 

 north and south line if he had a Nautical Almanack. 



(6) The Mariner's Compass is a circular bit of wood with a nail put 

 through it, and into this is a pivot which is very easily shook about, and 

 the Captain brings this to sea with him. Of course it has the Cardinal 

 points on it, N.E., S.W. etc., and he knows where he is. 



