^5° 



NA TURE 



[December 15, 1904 



good plates prepared from working drawings supplied 

 by makers, but in many cases tlie figures indicating 

 dimensions are, unfortunately, so small as scarcely to 

 be legible. 



.'lu Elementary Class-book of Practical Coal-mining. 

 By T. H. Cockin. Pp. xii + 42S. (London; Crosby 

 Lockwood and Son, 1904.) Price 4s. 6d. net. 



Ix general character this useful volume resembles the 

 text-books already available for students of coal- 

 mining. The work is, however, carried to a rather 

 more advanced stage than has hitherto been considered 

 necessary for an elementary class-book, and chapters 

 are given dealing with allied subjects, such as 

 chemistry, mechanics, the steam-engine, and elec- 

 tricity. The order of treatment ditlers from that 

 usually adopted, the subjects dealt with being : — 

 n) geology; (2) structure of stratified rocks; (3) coal 

 and coalfields ; (4) search for coal ; (5) sinking ; (6) 

 opening out; (7) miners' tools; (S) e.xplosives; (9) 

 methods of work; (10) working by long wall; (11) 

 methods of working by pillar and stall; (12) special 

 methods of work; (13) timbering; (14) coal cutting by 

 machinery; (15) mechanics; (16) steam; (17) gases; 

 (18) ventilation; (19) instruments; (20) lighting; (21) 

 winding; (22) haulage; (23) pumping; (24) surface 

 arrangements; (25) coke making; (26) accidents; and 

 {27) electricit}-. This arrangement is not so logical 

 as that adopted by the late Sir C. Le Neve Foster in his 

 elementary work. For example, sinking with rock- 

 drills is described before mining tools, coal-cutting 

 machinery before the elements of mechanics, and 

 electric signals before electric terms are defined. The 

 brief chapter on coke making is hardly necessary, as 

 this subject is usually dealt with in metallurgical 

 treatises. It is doubtiful, too, whether the chapters 

 on chemistry, mechanics, steam, and electricity are 

 sufficiently full to give an insight into the allied sub- 

 jects, for the study of which excellent text-books are 

 available. The illustrations are clear and diagram- 

 matic, and possess the advantage of having been 

 specially drawn for the book. 



Bird Notes from the Nile. By Lady William Cecil. 

 Pp. xii+113; illustrated. (London: Archibald 

 Constable and Co., Ltd., 1904.) Price 2s. 6d. 

 net. 



Three claims to high commendation present them- 

 selves on the first glance at this elegant Httle popular 

 work. In the first place, the numerous illustrations 

 are simply exquisite ; secondly, technical names are 

 banished from the text ; and, thirdly, in the long list 

 of species forming the appendix such names appear to 

 be correctly spelt, and are thoroughly up to date, even 

 to the adoption of the so-called " Scomber scomber " 

 system of alliteration. In her preface Lady William 

 confesses that the notes were written originally solely 

 for her children, who doubtless were desirous of 

 possessing a memento of their parents' Nile trip, but 

 that friends persuaded her to offer them to the public. 

 The adoption of this advice is, in our opinion, fully 

 justified, and while the book has no doubt been found 

 delightful by the young people of the family, it 

 can scarcely fail to be a pleasant companion to the 

 many bird-lovers who make a winter excursion up the 

 Nile. -Although no attempt (and very properl}') is made 

 at technical descriptions of the various species 

 encountered during the voyage, such notes as are given 

 are in most cases sufficient to render identification an 

 easy matter, to say nothing of the instances when this 

 is rendered self-evident by the illustrations. 



R. L. 



NO. 1833, VOL. 71] 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



Education and National EfKciency in Japan. 



The notice of my book " Dai Nippon, the Britain of the 

 East," which appeared in Nature of December i, directed 

 attention to a nation from which much may be learnt at 

 the present time, and it may interest your readers if I 

 supplement your article by a few notes from my personal 

 experience and observation. In the memorandum issued by 

 Sir Norman Lockyer suggesting the formation of a British 

 Science Guild, it is stated that the people of this country 

 do not manifest that interest in and belief in the power of 

 science which are noticeable among the peoples of the 

 Continent or of America, and that, in spite of the efforts 

 of many years, the scientific spirit essential to all true 

 progress is still too rare, and, indeed, is often sadly lacking 

 in some of those who are responsible for the proper conduct 

 of many of the nation's activities. The British Science 

 Guild has been proposed with the view of attempting to 

 remedy this evil, and to bring home to all classes the 

 necessity of applying scientific treatment to affairs of all 

 kinds. 



The objects of such a guild have been attained, to a very 

 remarkable degree, in Japan, not so much by the formation 

 of a special organisation for the purpose, as by the awaken- 

 ing of the national consciousness to the necessity of keeping 

 in mind certain definite aims, and by the earnest cooper- 

 ation of the various departments of Government, of scien- 

 tific associations, and of private organisations of many 

 different kinds. There is, indeed, a danger at the present 

 time in this country of too much importance being attached 

 to mere organisation and machinery, and too little to the 

 spirit which pervades them. Mr. Matthew Arnold, in one 

 of his last official reports on elementary schools, pointed 

 out that " our existing popular school was far too little form- 

 ative and humanising, and that much of it to which 

 administrators point as valuable results is in truth mere 

 machinery." This applies with far greater force to a great 

 deal which has been done in recent years in the way of 

 scientific and technical education. Instruction and know- 

 ledge are too often confounded with education, and mere 

 machinery and organisation prevent the development of the 

 scientific spirit. Many of the men w'ho are supposed to 

 have had a complete technical education are very poor 

 specimens of humanity, wanting in individuality and 

 character, devoid of all originality, and with a very narrow 

 view of the world. Some of them may manage to pile up 

 fortunes for themselves, but they will do little to make their 

 country great. Even from a practical point of view, success 

 in any trade or profession does not depend so much on the 

 amount of information which may have been crammed into 

 the learners' heads as is often supposed. It depends in- 

 comparably more upon their capacity for useful action than 

 upon their acquirements in knowledge. All experience 

 proves that the spiritual is the parent and first cause of the 

 practical, and especially the economic history of the Middle 

 .■\ges shows us that an ounce of manly pride and enthusiasm 

 is worth more than a pound of technical skill. 



The recent history of Japan has emphasised this fact. 

 While attention has been paid to details, the spirit which 

 has animated the leaders of public opinion and action has 

 been the chief cause of the great developments which have 

 taken place. The complete study of this aspect of Japanese 

 national life would take us into many interesting psycho- 

 logical discussions, but it is sufficient for our present pur- 

 pose to note that the Japanese mind, unlike the British 

 (which is strongly individualistic), is dominated to a very 

 great extent by collective opinion. At the same time, 

 while Japanese philosophy and their former social order were 

 essentially communistic in their nature, still (contradictory 

 as it may seem) their genius is individualistic, and they 

 impress their personal qualities on their work, although 

 they are willing to sacrifice results to a rigid organisation. 

 The outcome of it all is that the national consciousness is 



