196 



NATURE 



[November 7. 19 18 



The crux oi the success of both 

 li, s with the teachers, who must now, whatevei the 

 cost, alike in respfici ol payment, prospects, .mil pen- 

 sions, be attracted to the most vital and worthy of 

 the national services. 



fill-: SCOTTISH JOl RNAL of agri- 

 culture. 



Till'; appearance of an official organ ol the Board 

 of Agriculture for Scotland marks an important 

 development in the activity oi thai body, which, though 

 created but six years ago, has already accomplished 

 much good work in the development and guidance of 

 agriculture and forestr) north ol the Border. On the 

 educational side of its work it has co-ordinated under 

 its a-gis the agricultural colleges and other educa- 

 tional agencies with a success which is noted with 

 warm approval in the report of the Agricultural Sub- 

 ( ommittee of the Reconstruction Committee. Much 

 useful information has also been furnished for the 

 Scottish farmer in the annual reports and leaflets 

 issued by the Board. Its rapidly growing activities 

 rendered inevitable, however, the creation of some 

 more suitable medium of publication of mailers 

 of general interest to the agricultural community, and 

 this has been found in the new journal, of which the 

 first three quarterly issues are now available. In 

 appearance and general character the Journal is not 

 unlike the older-established Journal of the English 

 Board, but the resemblance is little more than super- 

 ficial, and the design to cater for the specific needs 

 of Scotland is clearly evident throughout. 



Original articles of educational value form the most 

 prominent feature, and are supplemented with notes 

 on varied topics of current interest, summaries of 

 official notices and statistics, and a useful review of 

 recent agricultural periodical literature. 



The interest aroused in practical circles in Scot- 

 land, as in other parts of the kingdom, in the subject 

 of the costs of production of agricultural products is 

 indicated by the inclusion of articles on this subject 

 in each of the three issues, no fewer than four articles 

 dealing with the cost of production of milk alone. 

 Crop production is represented by articles on oats, 

 potatoes, and flax. Other articles selected at random, 

 such as the effects of the war on Scottish forestry, the 

 improvement of hill pasture, the restocking of deer 

 its, farmers and income tax, rural housing, and 

 women's institutes, illustrate the varied and interest- 

 ing character of the problems discussed, and inci- 

 dentally the wide scope of the activities of the Board. 



The Journal is secure of a heart) welcome from the 

 Scottish agricultural public, and will assuredly in 

 due course be in considerable demand throughout fat- 

 wider circles of British agriculture as a standard 

 educational publication. C. C. 



CHEMISTRY IN EDUCATION AND 



ixnr-STRYA 



IN the early eighties of last century the great Livery 

 Companies of the City of London combined for 

 the promotion of technical and scientific education in 

 this countrv; by reason of their great wealth, the 

 administrative capacity at their command, and their 

 complete freedom from Slate interference, the Citv 

 Companies were admirably titled for this task. 

 Amongst their circle they numbered many men of 

 high scientific and technical standing, such as the late 

 Sir Frederick Abel and Mr. George Matthey, both of 



> From the first Strealfeild Memorial Lecture delivered .it the Citv and 

 Guilds Technical College, Finsbury, on October 17, ty Prof. W. J. Pope, 

 F.R.S. 



NO. 2558, VOL. I02] 



whom worked nobly to ensure the success of the new 



movent, nt. Without describing in more detail the 

 . hirh was adopted, it will suffice to m 



the great Liver) Companies established and financed, 

 first, th. ( ii\ and Guilds Technical College, and, a 

 year or two later, the larger Central Institution at 

 South Kensington. Both these institutions v 

 signed with the view of popularising scientific and 

 technical education and of counteracting to some 

 extent the overwhelming influence of the older uni- 

 versities; both Oxford and Cambridge, with their 

 glorious history and their scholastic traditions, 

 remained vm exclusive, and contributed but little at 

 that lime towards the advanced teaching in pure and 

 applied science of which our countrv stood in urgent 

 need. 



We have always been accustomed to attribute im- 

 portance 1.1 aristocracy of birth and family position. 

 This attitude is probably sound; other things being 

 equal, the son of able and influential parents is more 

 likely than another to exhibit ability and a sense f 

 responsibility ; we find no cause 10 revise this opinion 

 in the light of the record of our great families during 

 the last four years. During recent times, however, 

 the conclusion must have thrust itself more and more 

 upon us all that there is another aristocracy, equal 

 in nobilin to the first, if not greater an aristocracy of 

 real achievement and of intellectual attainment. Pro- 

 motion to this modern aristocracy i< slow and painful, 

 but is worth attaining; it can be attained by anv 

 young man who possesses the requisite physical anil 

 mental equipment. The City Fathers understood this 

 forty or fifty years ago; they realised that one ,.f the 

 great, si needs of the British Empire was the proper 

 utilisation and cultivation of every intellectual talent 

 latent in its children; they believed it desirable that 

 these potentialities should be directed into the wide 

 channels opened bv the advance of science and the 

 exploitation of the scientific industries. Acting upon 

 these convictions, thev founded our two colleges. 



As time went on, the municipal authorities estab- 

 lished technical schools and similar institutions broad- 

 cast, and the initial striking success of the Cit] and 

 Guilds Colleges waned somewhat under the stress of 

 competition. Although the instinct which guided the 

 Livery Companies in their great scheme of technical 

 instruction was sound, one cannot but think that that 

 instinct played them false at a later date; the closing 

 of the chemical laboratories at the Central Technical 

 College was a real calamitv to the nation, as well as 

 a disaster to science. The countrv needed facilities 

 for still more advanced education and research in 

 applied science — needed them so urgentlv that the 

 Coy. rnmenl lias had to provide them at South Ken- 

 sington. An institution for this purpose established 

 under the auspices of the Citv Companies could 

 scarcely fail to become reallv great, whilst under 

 Government administration it incurs some danger of 

 becoming merely colossal. 



The scheme initiated by the Citv and Guilds of 

 London some fortv or fiftv years ago, having for its 

 object the promotion of scientific and technical educa- 

 tion, attracted a number of ardent teachers well known 

 to us all. of whom F. W. Stn atfeild was one. With 

 the collaboration of this band of workers the new move- 

 ment rapidlv became fruitful, not only by pouring a 

 host of well-trained workers into the scientific indus- 

 tries of the countrv, but also bv the way in which its 

 verv success stimulated' other public bodies to emula- 

 tion, and ultimately provoked intense competition. 

 Since, as we have had to deplore, the original scheme 

 was p., 1 raised above this competition bv a further 

 spontaneous effort of its initiators, it is onlv gaining 

 but slowly upon its initial success. \i the same time. 



