NA TURE 



[May 5, 1904 



summit are conspicuous. Tliese are apparently as yet 

 unidentified and unmeasured. Tiiey rise at no great 

 distance beyond Cliomokankar, and are probably south 

 of the Tingri Maidan." 



During late years much has been written about the 

 effect of rarefied air at high altitudes on the human 

 system. Mr. Freshfield and his party suffered but 

 little inconvenience, even when on the summit of the 

 Jonsong La (20,207 feet). That the effects of low 

 barometric pressure have been much exaggerated is 

 also borne out by the experience of Mr. White, political 

 officer in Sikkim, who says : — " I find that the height 

 is felt most at from 14,000 to 16,000 feet, and that if 

 they (the coolies) once get over that, going to a still 

 higher altitude has very little further effect. 

 Personally the height does not affect me, and I felt 

 perfectly well at 21,200 feet." 



The geology of the district is most ably described 

 by Prof. Garwood, by whom also an excellent map of 

 the whole Kanchenjunga range has been made. 



Mrs. Le Mesurier has contributed a chapler on 

 Tibetan curios, and in the appendix, besides the ex- 

 haustive description by Prof. Garwood of the geo- 

 logical structure and physical features of Sikkim, there 

 is a mass of important and interesting matter collected 

 by the author; on the narratives of journeys made by 

 native surveyors ; on the various native names for the 

 highest measured peak (Mount Everest) ; also a most 

 useful list of books and maps consulted, and last, but 

 not least, a list of photographs taken by Signor V. 

 Sella during the tour of Kanchenjunga. 



" Round Kanchenjunga " is a book worth reading 

 from many points of view; it is not merely a tale of 

 mountaineering adventure, but is full of information, 

 artistic description, and new facts. It is a book whicli 

 undoubtedly will be " serviceable to Alpine climbers 

 and men of science, and not without interest for those 

 who ' love the glories of the world ' and count among 

 them great mountains." 



HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED 

 STATES.'^ 

 A LL intelligent attempts to make known in this 

 -^*- country the extent and success of American 

 educational enterprise deserve encouragement. So 

 well considered an effort as that of Mr. Mosely not 

 only merited but has received enthusiastic appreciation. 

 By securing the assistance of educationists representa- 

 tive of successive steps in a complete educational 

 system, Mr. Mosely has been able to bring together 

 in convenient compass authoritative expressions of 

 opinion as to the precise state of each grade of educa- 

 tion in the United States, and to provide our new 

 educational authorities with information as to the 

 characteristics of American education which good 

 judges think might with advantage be copied in this 

 country. Similarly, the features of the work of 

 schools and colleges in the States which should be 

 discouraged among us are in this report duly indi- 

 cated. Mr. Mosely has, too, made arrangements 

 to ensure a wide circulation for the valuable 

 material collected under his auspices. By for- 

 warding to the publishers of the volume the 

 cost of postage and stating his qualifications, 

 any member of an educational authority, any 

 county councillor, local manager, headmaster, or 

 registered teacher may obtain a copy of the book free. 

 The twenty-six separate reports contained in the 

 volume cover the whole field of education from the 

 kindergarten to post-graduate university study, but it 



1 '■ Reports of the Moseiy Educational Commission to the United Slates 

 of .America, October-December, 190^." Pp. xxiv4-4oo. (London : Co- 

 operative Printing Society, Ltd., 1904.) Price is., post free is. i^d. 



NO. 1 80 1, VOL. 70] 



will be possible in this place to refer to a few only 

 of the more important directions in which .\merican 

 practice offers British educationists food for serious 

 reflection. The most prominent place may well be 

 given to an impression received by all the commis- 

 sioners alike, and recorded first in their joint report; 

 we refer to " the absolute belief in the value of educa- 

 tion both to the community at large and to agricul- 

 ture, commerce, manufactures, and the service of the 

 State " which distinguishes the inhabitants of all the 

 United States. Side by side with this record of their 

 observations must be placed the commissioners' 

 message to their countrymen, which is e.xpressed as 

 a desire " to impress on the British public the absolute 

 need of immediate preparation on our part to meet 

 such competition " as this enthusiasm for education in 

 America will lead us to experience. Evidence of the 

 advances in American education, and also of the sacri- 

 fices made in the States to endow and develop colleges 

 and universities, have been frequently laid before 

 readers of Nature But though here and there in 

 Great Britain a desire has been manifested to found 

 new universities, and though we are glad to admit 

 that a few of our men of wealth have emulated the 

 examp'e common among American millionaires of 

 giving largely to educational institutions, a general 

 awakening on the part of the nation so far as a 

 thorough belief in education is concerned is still a 

 matter of the future. Meanwhile, the schools and 

 colleges of the United States go steadily on with 

 their work of preparing the rising generation. As 

 Mr. W. P. Groser, who was nominated to the com- 

 mission by the Parliamentary Industry Committee, 

 says in his report, " England is now competing with 

 American commerce in the making. In the next 

 generation our manufacturers will meet trained men, 

 adding culture to their enterprise and knowledge to 

 their ambition." 



Another striking difference between the English and 

 American attitude towards education is appreciated 

 by comparing the relations in the two countries be- 

 between industry and higher scientific and technical 

 instruction. The report makes it abundantly clear 

 that in America there is complete sympathy between 

 the manufacturers and the college professors, and 

 that properly trained college men are in great demand. 

 Says Prof. Ayrton, " I saw that there actually existed 

 that close bond of union between the industry and the 

 teaching which only the more sanguine of us have 

 hoped they might, perhaps, live to see introduced into 

 our own countr}'." Mr. Blair asserts, "the relation- 

 ship between the schools and the industries has become 

 one of suppl)' and demand." Prof. Ripper states, 

 " We were frequently told that ' the American manu- 

 facturer twenty years ago, like the English of to-day, 

 thought little of the technically trained men. The 

 difference between us now is that the American has 

 changed his opinion, while England appears to be 

 where she was ' " Commissioner after commissioner 

 gives instances of the large proportion of men educated 

 at college who are engaged in great manufacturing 

 concerns in the .States. Out of 10,000 employees in 

 the Westinghouse shops and offices, there are 160 

 college-trained men employed. At the Carnegie Steel 

 Works, where there are 7000 hands, about a hundred 

 technically trained men are engaged, seven of the 

 twenty-three leading officers being college graduates, 

 and similar cases might be multiplied indefinitely. 



The same enlightened policy is adopted in the matter 

 of apprentices. Prof. Ayrton was told everywhere, 

 " an engineering apprentice in a factory should be a 

 college trained man," and the foreman of the appren- 

 tices at the Westinghouse works informed him, " the 

 engineering apprentices, of whom we have about 150, 



