352 
NALTORE 
[ FEBRUARY 7, 1907 
Lastly, Surgeon Ross, R.N., contributes a short paper 
on the habits of the marine mosquito (Acartomyia 
zammitit), 
(2) The second report contains papers on a new species 
of louse (Haematofinus stephensi) which acts as the inter- 
mediary host of a new hemogregarine parasite in the 
blood of the Indian field rat, by Mr. Christophers and Mr. 
Newstead ; a note on the anatomy of Gastrodiscus hominis, 
a human fluke, by Dr. Stephens; a revision of the Sarco- 
psyllide, by Dr. Karl Jordan and the Hon. N. C. 
Rothschild, a family of fleas which includes the jigger, 
and the rat flea supposed to transmit plague to man; and 
a description of the maiotic process in Mammalia, by 
Messrs. Moore and Walker. The last-named paper is 
illustrated with a number of beautiful plates, and is well 
worthy of study. 
(3) In this report the late Mr. Dutton and Dr. Todd, 
after some general remarks on the conditions favouring 
the spread of malaria, describe the conditions existing at 
some of the towns and posts of the Congo Free State, and 
formulate recommendations for remedying these. Dr. 
Breinl and Mr. Kinghorn describe experiments showing 
that the Spirochzta of African tick fever is infective for 
the horse, dog, rabbit, guinea-pig, rat, and mouse in 
addition to monkeys, whereas the Spirochaeta obermeicri 
of relapsing fever is infective for monkeys only. Dr. 
Breinl has also compared the immunity produced by these 
two Spirochztes, and finds that each strain produces con- 
siderable active immunity against re-infection, but does 
not produce immunity against infection with the other 
strain. The course of the disease also varies with the two 
strains, and the conclusion, therefore, is that tick fever 
and relapsing fever are produced by different species of 
Spirochztes. ; 
(4) The second report of the Wellcome Research Labor- 
atories of the Gordon College, Khartoum, by Dr. Andrew 
Balfour, the director, maintains the high standard of the 
first one (see Nature, vol. Ixxi., p. 605), both as regards 
the nature of the work recorded and the manner in which 
it is presented to the reader. Nearly half the volume 
comprises records of mosquito work in Khartoum, of biting 
and noxious insects, mosquitoes, and other human, animal, 
and vegetable pests of the Sudan. Dr. Balfour describes 
a hemogregarine parasite of the jerboa and a leucocyto- 
zoon of mammals, and contributes a report on cattle and 
equine trypanosomiasis in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. 
Fortunately, human trypanosomiasis and sleeping sickness 
do not yet seem to be endemic in this part of Africa, nor 
has the tsetse-fly which conveys it (G. palpalis) been de- 
scribed here. In the chemical laboratory a considerable 
amount of work has been done by Dr. W. Beam, the 
chemist, on water analysis, Sudan grains and gums, &c. 
The travelling naturalist, Mr. Sheffield Neave, records 
many interesting observations on blood, blood parasites, 
&c., of birds, fish, and other animals. 
R. T. Hew tert. 
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES AT THE NEW 
YORK MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 
ASSOCIATION. 
GENERAL article upon the proceedings of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science 
at the meeting held at New York during the Christmas 
vacation appeared in Nature of January 24 (p. 304). 
Through the kindness of the general secretary of the 
association, Dr. L. O. Howard, we have received copies 
of several of the addresses delivered by the president and 
by the chairmen of sections, but limitations of space will 
not permit us to publish any of them in full. The sub- 
joined extracts from these addresses will, however, afford 
an indication of the subjects considered and the views 
expressed, 
EpucationaL TuHeories, ANCIENT AND Mopern.? 
The Greek idea of education and culture was based 
woon the existence of a privileged class, fed, clothed, and 
sheltered by the labour of slaves—a real aristocracy devoted 
1 From an address delivered tby Prof. C. M.* Woodward, president of 
the American Association. 
NO. 1945, VOL. 75] 
to war, art, literature, and luxurious living. The sway 
of the so-called classic idea of education has been, and 
still is, one of the marvels of history. The splendour of 
Greek art, the brilliancy of Greel literature, and the keen- 
ness of Greek logic, have held the world as in a trance, 
unable to break away from its charms—though it has 
been unsuited to other peoples and other social conditions. 
Francis ‘Bacon more than any other man showed the 
inadequacy of the classic method, fine as it was along 
certain lines, and the comparative worthlessness of 
scholasticism, and he opened the eyes of the educated 
people of his time to the wealth of opportunity for interest- 
ing and profitable study in the great laboratory of nature, 
and, better than all else, he set forth the dignity and 
intellectual value of science study, and vigorously scouted 
the idea that the usefulness of scientific truth in any 
degree detracted from its educational value. 
But none of the writers touching on education, with 
the possible exception of Froebel and Pestalozzi, not even 
Locke, Milton, or Dr. Samuel Johnson, looked at the 
matter from the scientific standpoint, which takes into 
account, first, the physiological laws which govern the 
growth and development of the brain; secondly, the exterior 
stimuli for promoting that growth most successfully ; and, 
thirdly, the kind and quantity of knowledge and skill one 
must have in order to meet most completely the demands 
of a carefully selected occupation. 
Every good teacher aims to make his subject as interest- 
ing as possible to his pupils. If they fail to take a lively 
interest in it, something is wrong; either it is not properly 
presented, or it is over their heads, or it is clearly of no 
earthly use. Natural lack of capacity on the part cf the 
child is rarely a valid reason for failure if the child be 
healthy and normal. I have learned to discredit the truth 
of the oft-told tale that ‘* John has no capacity for ’’ such 
a subject—mathematics, for example. ‘‘ He never could 
learn mathematics—he takes no interest in algebra, and 
he haies geometry,’’ &c. Our higher schools and colleges 
are full of young people who protest vigorously that they 
never could, and never can, understand or take any pleasure 
in or gain any profit from certain studies. 1 firmly believe 
that every normal person, at least nine out of ten of the 
children and youth at school and college, can fairly master 
and actually enjoy and profit by, not only mathematics, 
laut by every subiect in the curriculum if it be properly 
taught, and under proper conditions as to age and pre- 
paration. 
Attention is as necessary to the growth and development 
of the brain as exercise is to the development of a muscle, 
and interest is the condition of a lively attention. When 
in a school or lecture-room the limit of close attention is 
reached, the lesson or lecture should close, for the educa- 
tional process has already stopped. It is not only useless, 
but it is worse than useless, to go on when the class or 
audience refuses for any reason to attend. I therefore 
doubt the educational value of subjects which are not, and 
perhaps cannot be, made interesting. 
Of course I do not claim that all selected studies can 
be made equally interesting, or that any one study can be 
made equally interesting to all pupils, even when the pupils 
are properly graded, but I do claim that a lively interest 
is necessary, and that educational progress is very nearly 
proportional to the strength of that interest. 
Perhaps the most valuable contribution to the science 
of education has come through a study of the laws which 
obtain in the growth and development of the brain, and 
the conditions under which that growth and development 
is most healthy and complete. There are times and 
seasons for the development of the mental and moral 
faculties as there are of the physical faculties. While such 
times and seasons are not precisely the same for all 
children, we find that all attempts at premature develop- 
ment are not only worthless, but are permanently injurious. 
Precocity is now regarded as a species of brain deformity. 
Plants and animals may be forced, and unusual and 
interesting results may be produced by forcing, but no one 
of us wishes a son or a daughter to be a prodigy in one 
direction at the cost of normal development in other 
directions. 
The psychologists tell us that the brain cells develop 
as do other physical organs, not only through thought, 
