Jury 2, 1914] 
NATURE 
465 
national Time Conference which was held in Paris in 
October, 1913. Reterence is next made to the arrange- 
ments for the determination of the difference of longi- 
tude between the observatories of Paris and Washing- 
ton using the Eiffel Tower and Arlington as the radio 
stations for the transmission of the signals. A sug- 
gestion is made that owing to the great range of. the 
signals to be sent out from Arlington, advantage will 
be taken of these signals by other institutions to 
determine their own longitude. The replies to the 
issue of a circular letter giving information concern- 
ing the special signals have indicated that a number 
of institutions widely scattered in the United States 
will utilise the opportunity offered. The report then 
describes the work carried out during the past year 
in the different instrumental divisions. These relate 
to the g-in. transit circle, 5-in. altazimuth instrument, 
6-in, transit circle, 26-in. and 12-in. equatorials, photo- 
heliograph, etc. The reduction work is next sum- 
marised, followed finally by that of the department 
of compasses, chronometers, and other nautical and 
surveying instruments, 
TRADE AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION. IN 
FRANCE AND GERMANY.! 
“PT HE interesting and important report recently pre- 
sented to the Education Committee of the 
London County Council by one of its officers, specially 
deputed to make the inquiry, on recent developments 
in the provision of continued and specialised educa- 
tion in France and Germany, deserves the closest 
attention of all who are seriously concerned with the 
educational well-being of the children of the United 
Kingdom, and with the conditions necessary to the 
maintenance in the highest state of efficiency of our 
industries and commerce. 
The report confines itself to the educational activities 
of four great cities, namely, Paris, Munich, Leipzig, 
and Berlin, dealing especially with measures having 
for their object the continued education of the child 
on leaving the elementary school, the thorough techni- 
cal training of the apprentice, and the adequate pre- 
paration of the capable young workman or business 
man for positions of responsibility and leadership. 
The question of the higher scientific and technical 
training is only incidentally treated, its ample pro- 
vision, especially in the case of Germany, being fully 
recognised. 
The report is, therefore, devoted in the main to the 
facilities offered in specialised and  monotechnic 
schools, whether day or evening, dealing with specific 
trades and industries, of which the city of Paris 
affords abundant illustration in its apprenticeship 
schools and in its schools of applied design, the work 
of which was a most interesting feature of the educa- 
tional section of the Paris Centennial Exhibition of 
1900. 
But the chief interest of the report is to be found 
in its description of the provision made, in the three 
important German cities named, for the continued 
effective education of German youth on leaving the 
elementary school and entering upon their respective 
occupations, ‘blind alley’’ or otherwise. 
Much stress is laid upon the successful working of 
the Imperial Law of Industry, establishing compul- 
sory continuation schools, applying especially to all 
boys on leaving school at fourteen years of age and 
requiring attendance from six to nine hours a week 
over a session of forty weeks during a period of three 
or four years—-time for which must be provided by 
the employer within the usual hours of labour. 
1 Trade and Technical Education in France and Germany. Report by 
J. C. Smail, Organiser of Trade Schools for Boys, London County Council. 
(Westminster: P. S. King and Son.) Price 1s. 
NO. 2331, VOL. 93] 
The result has been, notably in Berlin, Munich, and 
Leipzig, that provision has been made for almost every 
class of occupation, skilled and unskilled—the instruc- 
tion dealing not only with vocational needs, but also 
preparing the boy for his future responsible domestic 
and public duties. 
Evidence is forthcoming that after a period of doubt 
and difficulty employers are beginning to appreciate 
,the value and advantage of this continued education 
and training, though it is somewhat disconcerting to 
learn that in 1912 in Berlin there were proceedings 
pending, either on account of school neglect or of 
offences against school laws under this Act number- 
ing 6,448. 
In England, not to speak of the girl population, 
only 13 per cent. of the boys between fourteen and 
seventeen years of age are continuing their education, 
and even this small percentage attends the continua- 
tion classes on the average only fifty-eight hours per 
annum, whilst in Munich virtually all boys engaged 
in occupation are in the continuation classes and 
receive 375 hours’ instruction per annum for a period 
of four years. Much praise is given to the admirable 
facilities existing, especially in the cities of Munich 
and Leipzig, for the effective training of the com- 
mercial and industrial rank and file. 
The leaders of German thought and business enter- 
prise are persuaded that in the best interests of the 
nation all ranks of the industrial army must be 
thoroughly trained, not only vocationally, but as 
citizens. They do not fear that they will be less able 
to compete with their industrial rivals, but, on the 
contrary; and unless we are prepared to better their 
example we cannot hope to maintain the industrial 
and commercial pre-eminence we now enjoy. 
We have still to abolish half-time for young children 
now at school, and to adapt our factory and work- 
shop organisation to conditions which shall secure the 
educational well-being of the children employed 
therein. J. H. ReyNoLps. 
MARINE BIOLOGY IN THE TROPICS;} 
6) pe 2 Department of Marine Biology of the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington has issued in this fifth 
volume of contributions from its laboratory on the 
Tortugas, near Florida, a number of important papers. 
Three of these deal with the origin of Oolitic rocks, 
such as those of the Bahamas and of Florida, and 
inferentially with the origin of oolitic structure in 
other deposits. The first paper is the last work of a 
brilliant English investigator, Mr. G. H. Drew, whose 
recent death has deprived marine biology of one of the 
most original and fertile workers, and to whose 
memory the director of the department, Mr. A. G. 
Mayer, contributes a sympathetic and appreciative 
notice. Drew’s memoir deals with the action of de- 
nitrifying bacteria in the tropical seas, and also with 
the precipitation of calcium carbonate by marine bac- 
teria. Though necessarily incomplete, the results are 
a fine contribution to the difficult subject of marine 
bacteriology. They show that the reason why marine 
plankton is less abundant in the tropics than in tem- 
perate seas lies in the rapid and complete action of 
the denitrifying organisms in the warmer parts of the 
ocean; and Drew was able also to point to the extra- 
ordinary interest and importance of Bacterium calcis 
in inducing such precipitation of the calcium carbon- 
ates as to give rise to nodules of chalk. He suggests 
that chalk and oolitic rocks have been formed in 
shallow seas and are being produced round the 
Bahamas by this peculiar bacterial action. 
1 Papers from the Tortugas Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of 
Washington. Vol. v. Pp. 222+plates+maps. (1914 ) 
