NA TURE 



[January 8, 1903 



lVc. , the 

 and in 



reduced root-system, narrow leaves, pale colour, 

 niirogen-starved and phosphorus-starved specimen 

 those lacking all salts. 



In no case, however trealed were the starved or manured 

 seedlings rendered immune. All were successfully infected hy 



normal uredospores adapted to the normal species, though in the 

 phosphorus-free and in the nitrogen-free seedlings, and in those 

 deprived of all salts, there were sigt 



infection, and the resulting patches and pustules of fungus 

 spores (uredospores) were fewer and smaller. 



As regards the fungus, apart from the reduced size of the 

 mycelium, as expressed in the small pustules and retardation of 

 development above referred to, even the reduced number of 

 spores borne on the smallest pustules—*?.^, on phosphorus- 

 starved plants- showed no signs of morphological degeneration, 

 or of diminished germinating capacity or virulence— i.e. capacity 

 for infection. 



The positive results, therefore, are purely quantitative. A 

 starved plant develops smaller pu-tules and fe*er spores, simp'y 

 because it can offer smaller quantities of food materials to the 

 mycelium in its tissues ; these food-materials, however, are as 

 good in quality as they are in the case of a normal or highly 

 manured plant. Not only so : the experiments also show lhat 

 spores developed on starved seedlings can also infect seedlings 

 which have been similarly starved— Sax instance, the few spores 

 obtained from the very minute pustules of a phosphorus-starved 

 seedling can infect another phosphorus-starved seedling just as 

 readily as they can a normal plant, and so on through the 

 series. 



Consequently, we must infer that predisposition and immunity 

 on the part of the Brome, and impotence and virulence on the 

 part of the Fungus, are alike independent of mere nutrition ; 

 and since the author has shown in previous papers ' lhat these 

 properties are also independent of the anatomical structure of the 

 host-plant, it must be concluded lhat the phenomena of adaptive 

 parasitism depend on deep-seated peculiarities of the living pro- 

 toplasm of the cells— possibly their capacity for forming enzymes, 

 toxins and antitoxins, chemotactic bodies and the like, although 

 such bodies have as yet resisted all efforts at extraction. 

 The full piper is illustrated with photographs and tables. 



THE NORTH OF ENGLAND SCIENCE 

 CONFERENCE. 



THE first annual conference of persons in the north of 

 England concerned in primary, secondary, technical and 

 other forms of higher education, was held at Manchester on 

 January 2 and 3, and proved highly successful. The conference 

 may be regarded as a natural outcome of similar meetings which 

 have for some years past been held annually in London under the 

 auspices of the London Technical Education Board. Many 

 teachers and other educationists from the north of England 

 have, year by year, attended the conferences in London and 

 have become familiar with the benefits to be derived from a dis- 

 cussion of educational methods. Believing that many teachers 

 and others in the nonhern counties, anxious to reap the advan- 

 tages springing from such meetings, were debarred from 

 attendance by the expense of travelling, a number of prominent 

 educationists in Lancashire and Yorkshire arranged ihis series 

 ,of meetings in Manchester, and the phenomenally large attend- 

 ance at all the discussions has fully justified their enterprise. More 

 than three thousand persons accepted invitations to be present, 

 and every meeting was characterised by the greatest enthusiasm. 

 It had been intended to hold all the meetings at the Manchester 

 Municipal School of Technology, but the number of visitors to 

 be accommodated necessitated the duplication of meetings, and 

 a few days before the commencement of the conference 

 arrangements were made for additional papers to be read in 

 other places at the same time as those originally provided. 



In addition to the papers and discussions, the executive com- 

 mittee provided exhibitions to illustrate methods of nature- 

 sludy, the teaching of experimental science, school furniture 

 and other forms of school equipment. Demonstrations on 

 the teaching of light and magnetism were respectively given by 

 Messrs. Adamson and Moore, of the Manchester Technical 



School; and, in addition, the numerous excellent educational 

 institutions in different parls of the city were thrown open for 

 the inspection of visitors. A conversazione, held at the School 

 of Technology on the evening of the first day cf the conference, 

 provided a good opportunity for teachers in diffeient distiicts 

 to become acquainted. 



The method of conducting the meetings deserves to be more 

 widely imitated in educational conferences. Immediately after 

 the reading of a paper, the discussion of the subject was opened 

 by one or two speakers of wide expeiience, who had been 

 previously selected for the purpose and had prepared their 

 remarks, with the result that the discussion was much more 

 helpful to teachers than is usually the case on similar occasions. 

 Moreover, as printed copies of the papers for discussion could 

 be obtained immediately before the commencement of the 

 meetings, subsequent speakers were able to contribute some- 

 thing of value to the debate, and general remarks having little 

 relation to the subject in hand were reduced to a minimum. 

 Messrs. \. H. Reynolds and II. Llo)d Snape, the honorary 

 secretaries, are to be congratulated upon the complete success 

 of the conference. 



Half an hour before the commencement of the serious business 

 of the conference, the visitors were welcomed by the Lord Mayor 

 of Manchester, and his remarks were warmly endorsed by Dr. 

 Maclure, Dean of Manchester, by Prof. Hopkinson, principal 

 of Owens College, and by other prominent educational 

 authorities of the district. 



School Curricula. 



the con- 

 lims of 



J Pro:. Cambridge Philcs. So 

 Botany, vol. xvi. ig02, pp. 233-3!: 



ol. xi. 1902. pp. 307-^23 ; and Anunh of 



Mr. M. E. Sadler presided at the first meeting of 

 ference, and in his introductory speech dealt with the 

 education. The purpose of all practical inquiry and experiment 

 was, he said, to find the kind of training which would best equip 

 the rising generation for their life as home-makers or wealth- 

 makers, under the actual conditions of the modern world. The 

 reform of the curricula of our schools would, he thought, involve 

 certain practical changes in the conditions under which many 

 English teachers at present worked. Little boys ought not to 

 be prematurely specialised in classical erudition in order to win 

 scholarships at the public schools. In no school should any 

 pupil fail to gain insight into the meaning of scientific method 

 and into the operation of physical laws. In any type of cur- 

 riculum, drawing and other forms of expression by means of the 

 hand should be given a permanent place and should be worked 

 in, as far as possible, in connection with the other subjects of 

 study. There was a need that scientific and experimental study 

 of education should be actively carried on at the universities, with 

 encouragement of similar investigation among teachers already 

 at work in the schools. 



Miss Burstall, head mistress of the Manchester High School 

 for Girls, then read a paper on the curriculum in different types 

 of schools, in which she endeavoured to find general principles by 

 which school curricula may be tested and, if necessary, amended. 

 Three principles were deduced ; first, the gradual adjustment of 

 the child to the spiritual possession; of the race ; second, that of 

 training ; and third, the theorem that the order of subjects in 

 school life is conditioned by the laws of development of the 

 child. These principles, Miss Burstall contended, lead to a 

 broad rather than a narrow curriculum. The compulsory 

 subjects of the curriculum for all children could be divided into 

 three groups— English, including literature, history and geo- 

 graphy, the humanities; science, i.e. arithmetic and nature- 

 study for young children, mathematics and science later ; physical 

 and manual training. Technical education should be reserved 

 for the last year of school life, when the specialised study of 

 mathematics and science required for engineering, or house- 

 wifery and the domestic arts for girls, might be taken up. 

 The subsequent discussion was very animated, and many 

 teachers took part in it. Mr. King, high master of the 

 Manchester Grammar School, contended that the subjects of 

 education did not so much matter as the method in which they 

 were taught. Prof. Armstrong, F.R.S., deprecated a statement 

 of Miss Burstall's that a child's reasoning powers developed 

 late. 



A paper by Mr. W. E. Hoyle, of the Manchester Museum, 

 on the value of natural history collections for teaching purposes, 

 was also read at Owens College during the first morning of 

 the conference. 



NO. l'/32, VOL. 67] 



