226 



NA 7 URE 



[January 8, 1903 



large districts of the earth though varying from one 

 region to another." 



He says further : — 



" If we compare the successive pressure groups with 

 the prominence curve, it will be seen that India and 

 south-eastern Asia are in very close synchronous agree- 

 ment. This synchronism extends also to New South 

 Wales, the Indian Ocean and even to South Africa. In 

 Siberia and Russia, the synchronism begins to break a 

 little and seems to be transferred somewhat towards the 

 right, although this raav be due in part to defective data. 

 In Europe and in the United States, while the same curve 

 is developed as to the number of the maxima and minima, 

 the synchronism becomes more irregular. In South 

 America, on the other hand, the synchronism is resumed 

 very distinctly, but the entire curve is reversed as re- 

 ferred to India and the Eastern Hemisphere. Thus we 

 perceive that around the Indian Ocean the synchronism 

 is clearly developed ; it weakens in Europe and North 

 America, and it becomes a distinct reversal in South 

 America . . " 



From the above, it will be seen that Prof. Bigelow also 

 demonstrates the existence of large areas which are in 

 excess and in defect of pressure simultaneously, while 

 others are not in such close synchronism. 



It may here be mentioned that he treats North America 

 as a whole and gives a curve showing the short period 

 variation of pressure. It is of interest, however, to note, 

 as has been shown earlier in this article, that the southern 



+S0-1 



PRESSURE 

 VARIATIONS 



POSlT/¥£ 



onO 0- 



NCCATIVC 



[8 1 CE LOW] 



PRESSURE 

 BOHBAY 



[At>H-»EP] 



I I I I I 



rA^^A^Jv 



part of the United States, as represented by stations 

 shown in Fig. 3, is in very close agreement with Cordoba, 

 while it is the more northern parts and Canada where the 

 synchronism more apparently begins to break. 



At the conclusion of his paper, Prof. Bigelow makes a 

 summation of all those areas which give positive and 

 negative values respectively for the pressure variations, 

 and the curves of these are reproduced here (Fig. 4) with 

 a slight change to make the scale homogeneous with 

 others reproduced in this article. The Bombay pressure 

 curve has also been added, and a smooth curve is drawn 

 through the points instead of connecting them with 

 straight lines as in Fig. 2. 



The parallelism of the two upper curves indicates, as 

 Prof. Bigelow points out, that " the values do not cancel 

 each other," and that as " the curves match fairly well 

 with the prominence curve, ... I take it to mean that 

 some external force is at luorkto raise and lower the total 

 atmospheric pressure by a small amount from year to 

 year." 



The two investigations are in agreement as regards the 

 following three main points. First, the close connection 

 between solar activity and barometric pressure ; second, 

 the great extent of areas over which very similar pressure 

 variations exist ; and, third and last, the presence of two 

 large areas the pressure variations over which are the 

 reciprocal of each other. 



NO. 1/32, VOL. 67] 



It is interesting to remark that, from the comparisons 

 of the pressure variations over the different areas, the 

 authors of both these investigations were led to con- 

 sider whether these suggestive features were connected 

 with the idea of a periodical see-saw of pressure extend- 

 ing over a few years between these two nearly antipodal 

 areas, or whether we were in presence of a barometric 

 wave travelling round the earth. 



There seems little doubt that when more facts are 

 collected these reciprocal pressure variations will in time 

 play an important part in forecasting the general features 

 of seasons and thus supply meteorologists with another 

 means of helping them in their difficult task. 



The value that must in future be placed on observations 

 of the sun which inform us of his state of activity or 

 quiescence, since these pressure variations are apparently 

 so closely connected with them, cannot any longer be 

 laid on one side, but must be recognised as of a high 

 order of importance. William J. S. Lockyer. 



EDUCATION IN GERMANY AND ENGLAND. 



MANY people in this country, eminent men of science 

 and literature, leading men in commerce and in- 

 dustry, and politicians who place efficiency before party 

 shibboleths, have for many years felt apprehensive as to 

 the condition of our national system of education. For a 

 long time, they have been speaking and writing upon the 

 subject and endeavouring — by pointing to advancements 

 and achievements of other nations who have put their 

 educational house in order — to stir up the nation at large 

 to realise the enormous interests which are at stake. For 

 many years, the warnings fell upon deaf ears and the 

 advocates of reform were either looked upon as bores or 

 cranks. To-day all this is changed, and it is almost un- 

 fashionable not at least to talk about education ; this 

 does not, however, necessarily imply a knowledge of the 

 subject. 



Were it not for its terrible prolixity, those who really 

 desire to know the ins and outs of the German educa- 

 tional system could not do better than carefully study 

 vol. ix. of " Special Reports on Educational Subjects," 

 dealing with Germany, which is issued by the Board of 

 Education. A mere glance at this report shows that, 

 although the present system of education in Germany 

 has been of such incalculable value to the Empire, yet 

 those interested in education in that country — and their 

 name is legion — are questioning whether their system is 

 after all so good as it might be. There are many in 

 Germany who think that some of our freedom from 

 restraint would give a breadth of idea and a broadness 

 of horizon which is not obtained by their methods of 

 abstract reasoning and rigid exactness. 



The report embraces primary, secondary and technical 

 education. The first 200 pages consist of dissertations 

 by different writers upon different aspects or phases of 

 education. The first of these is by Mr. M. E. Sadler, 

 who has compiled the report, upon "The Unrest in 

 Secondary Education in Germany and Elsewhere." This 

 also includes a comparison between English and German 

 methods. Mr. Sadler admits at once that we have an in- 

 sufficiency of good secondary day schools and that 

 education at our public schools is not what it should be. 

 Further, our technical training is defective, and. owing to 

 our comparative neglect of national education for many 

 years past, " as a nation we are much less intelligently 

 interested than the Germans in methods of instruction." 

 It is true that German and French methods are now very 

 much advocated in this country, but the great difficulty 

 is that those who desire us indiscriminately to imitate 

 and introduce curricula and methods from other nations 

 seem totally unable to realise that if we wish for an exact 

 copy, we must at the same time reproduce the social and 

 economic conditions of these other countries. 



