June i6, 1904J 



NA TURE 



16' 



arrange general meetings where scientific subjects were dealt 

 with in a popular manner. The fact had to be remembered 

 that many of the members came to the meetings after work- 

 ing hard all day, and with their brains more or less ex- 

 hausted and in need of recreation. 



.Mr. Rudler also dealt with the craze for athleticism, 

 which tended to lessen the ranks of the local societies and 

 ■even of the British Association itself. He said that a party 

 on a field e.\cursion would get more physical benefit than 

 3, crowd of spectators watching competitions between pro- 

 fessional athletes. He contended that the taste for " sport " 

 of to-day was only a part of a large subject, the excessive 

 love of pleasure. He said that different people had different 

 ideas with regard to recreation, but that those who turned 

 to natural history were exceptionally wise in their choice. 

 Parents, and especially ladies, would, he suggested, do well 

 to join a natural history society, if only as an example for 

 the young, and to introduce them to a healthy atmosphere. 

 Now that nature-study was successfully edging its way into 

 •our schools, there should be a fine crop of young naturalists 

 in the making, and Mr. Rudler told the societies not to wait 

 for the students to grow up, but to found branches for 

 junior members. 



.Vfter saying a word as to the secondary place that the 

 results of the camera and the magic lantern should take in 

 popular lectures, Mr. Rudler passed on to speak of the 

 scientific w^ork done by Maidstone men in the past, and to 

 congratulate the town upon its museum. 



On the morning of June lo business was transacted, and 

 officers and committee elected " For the Photographic 

 Record and Survey of Kent," after a report of the work 

 of the provisional committee had been read by Mr. H. 

 Snowden Ward, who had acted as organising secretary. 



Mr. F. J. Bennett, in a short paper, pointed out that the 

 Kentish megaliths, like those in Wiltshire, follow lines 

 which run from north to south, and this is also true in the 

 case of earthworks and churches. \ paper on the Lepi- 

 doptera of mid-Kent, by Captain Saville G. Reid, was taken 

 as read, and the meeting concluded with some excellent 

 suggestions by Mr. Bennett with regard to the utilisation 

 of the twenty-five inch Ordnance maps by farmers. On 

 these a plan of the drainage, the arrangements for 

 which are often completely forgotten, could be entered, 

 together with details of the work carried on from 

 year to year. Mr. Bennett urged that such work should 

 be secured by legislation, and the suggestion met with 

 cordial approval. On the afternoon of June lo there were 

 two excursions ; the first — geological and archaeological — 

 was to Aylesford, under the leadership of Mr. Whitaker 

 and Mr. W. H. Benstead. Ihe second was of a botanical 

 and entomological character to the North Downs, under the 

 leadership of Prof. Boulger, Captain Reid, and Mr. Elgar. 

 In the evening the Mayor and Mayoress (.\lderman and 

 Mrs. Morling) held a reception in the Museum, .^rt Gallery 

 and Technical Schools, which adjoin one another in a very 

 convenient way. Afterwards the visitors had an opportunity 

 of examining the Congress Museum, which consisted of 

 specimens sent by members of affiliated societies, and 

 arranged by .Mr. E. W. Swanton. There were also on view 

 nature-study exhibits from Kent schools to illustrate the 

 paper to be read on the following morning. During the 

 evening Mr. A. B. Harding read a paper on " Ice Streams 

 and Ice Caves," and Mr. Paul Matthews described the 

 possibilities of an artificial language, and gave an explan- 

 ation of that which is known as " Esperanto." 



On June ii the election of officers took place. Prof. 

 Flinders Petrie was elected president, and Dr. Abbott, to 

 whom the union owes its origin, exchanged his office of 

 honorary secretary with the Rev. R. Ashington Bullen for 

 that of treasurer, which the latter occupied. The two 

 vacancies on the council were filled with Miss Lawrence, 

 of Reigate, and Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb. 



When the last paper, which was on " The Teaching of 

 Nature-study," was read by Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb, a 

 number of teachers and pupil teachers were present through 

 the efforts of the Kent County Education Committee and 

 the local committee of the congress. Considerable dis- 

 cussion took place afterwards. Sir Henry Howorth sup- 

 ported the aim that the pupil should be made to ask why 

 and to find out the answer for himself, and dwelt for some 

 time on the advisability of studying animals in captivity. 



NO. 1807, VOL. 70] 



Prof. Boulger thought that nature-study should, in the 

 case of young children, be correlated with poetry. Mr. 

 Tutt pointed out the difficulties that occur in town schools, 

 and urged the claims of more formal work than had been 

 outlined, which savoured somewhat of science teaching. 

 Mr. J. B. Groom, of St. Paul's Schools, Maidstone, who 

 has made a speciality of rambles, begged the young 

 teachers present to follow informal lines rather than those 

 advocated by Mr. Tutt. 



The number of societies now affiliated is forty-three, with 

 upwards of five thousand members, while the funds of the 

 union are in a satisfactory condition, and an invitation has 

 been accepted to visit Reigate during 1905. 



EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE AT THE 



HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION. 



Cy^ June 7 a conference was held at the Royal Botanic 



Gardens, Regent's Park, in connection with the 



educational section of the Horticultural Exhibition, which 



was open during the whole of last week. 



Sir William J. Collins, chairman of the Education Com- 

 mittee of the London County Council, and president of the 

 section, took the chair, and Mr. F. W. Verney read a paper 

 on " Allotment Gardens and Working Men." In the course 

 of this a good deal of stress was laid upon the need for 

 teaching which would prepare country boys to work on 

 the land, and a scheme for their education was mapped out. 

 It seems to be generally recognised that if a boy is ever 

 to do much good on a farm he must become acquainted 

 with its working at an early age, and the compromise de- 

 sired by Mr. Verney that a boy should be allowed to do 

 some practical work on a farm before his school days are 

 over would not only satisfy practical requirements, but 

 would also probably keep the pupils under the influence of the 

 schoolmaster for a longer period than is at present the case. 



Miss Lilian Clark afterwards read a paper upon " Direct 

 Methods of Studying Nature," such as are employed at the 

 James Allen School for Girls, Dulwich. The papers which 

 Miss Clark has read in the past at various science con- 

 ferences have made us familiar with her work in garden 

 and classroom, where real plants and not books are studied. 

 It is interesting to be able to chronicle that a special room, 

 which is a combination of laboratory and greenhouse, has 

 been built as an aid to the experiments and observations 

 which she directs. 



Later in the morning Sir George Kekewich, who is 

 president of the School Nature Study Union, gave an 

 address on " Nature-study and its Cognate Educational 

 Subjects." He made a special point of nature-study as a 

 part of general education, saying that he would like to see 

 it taught in every school in this country. The kind of 

 training outlined was that now generally recognised 

 as being really nature-study, and as Sir George Kekewich 

 is one of those who think that the work, to be done properly, 

 should be carried on out of doors, he spoke of the great 

 difficulties which must exist in the case of most town 

 schools. These difficulties would be all the greater if 

 teachers felt, as Sir George Kekewich seems to do, that to 

 keep animals in captivity (Sir George afterwards excepted 

 canaries) is calculated to teach cruelty. 



In the discussion the speakers were practically unanimous 

 in disagreeing with the contention last alluded to. Mr. 

 Hedger Wallace (honorary secretary of the section), Miss 

 Kate Hall, and Miss Von Wyss were among those who 

 thought that many animals could be properly studied 

 " under control." The present writer expressed his opinion 

 that as children see plenty of cruelty in their everyday life, 

 it would be advisable to teach them kindness by keeping 

 pets, and that if this were not done in nature-study, a great 

 power for good would be thrown away. 



Sir William Collins summed up nature-study; he said 

 that it was not a new subject, though its recognition and 

 the enthusiasm for it were new, and he emphasised the fact 

 alluded to by Sir George Kekewich that it was not science 

 teaching. 



The opinion expressed by Sir George Kekewich that 

 nature-study would not stay the rural exodus, and that its 

 far-reaching effects would not be felt until other means 



