December 12. 1918] 



NATURE 



29: 



for u-'ing the telescope in the Cassegrain form is 

 .•.I in. in diameter. I In- mounting "I the teiescopi 

 i- ..1 the "English" pattern, and permits the ob- 

 n of all parts of the sky. It i- satisfactory 

 to find that the pel ol the optical parts, 



the mounting and the dome, and the character of the 

 -. eing are quite equal to. and even exceed, expecta- 

 tion. With the single-prism spectrograph now in um' 

 excellent spectra of stars of photographic magnitude 

 7-0 are secured in about twenty-five minutes, and the 

 change from one star to another ran be made in less 

 than five minute-. Canada is to be congratulated on 

 having obtained so fine an instrument for astronomical 



THE EDI < ATION M T OF 1918 AND ITS 

 POSSIBILITIES. 



'pllE Education Act, which received the Royal 

 A Assent on August 8, contains within it poten- 

 tialities of the higtii st mi ment for the well-being of 

 the nation, and only needs goodwill and a progressive 

 spirit to realise to the full the ideals ol its chief pro- 

 moter. On the same day that it became law the 

 i of Education put into legal effect thirty-three 

 (Hi; of the fifty-two sections which comprise the Act, 

 some of them of considerable importance as paving 

 the way for the more revolutionary changes which 

 th( V I is ultimately designed to accomplish. 



The chief sections made immediately operative are 

 intended (7) to remove the limitations as to expendi- 

 ture from the rates by the council of a county for 

 die purposes of education other than elementary; 

 empower the education authority to require the 

 attendance of any child at special classes or courses 

 of practical instruction or demonstrations held in 

 oilier than the school buildings; 11-, im 1,1 enable the 

 irity, upon the reporl of the medical officer, to 

 prohibit the continued employment of a child, or to 

 allevis litions, where it is shown to be pre- 



judicial to the health and physical development of the 

 child, and to impose penalties on an employer for 

 ch of ii> by-laws; (17) to authorise the authorit) 

 to maintain, or to aid the establishment of, school 

 camps, centre-, and equipment for physical training, 

 playing fields, school baths and swimming baths, and 

 other facilities for social and physical training in the 

 dav or evening: (tend the provision of 



1 and treatment to other than ele- 

 i schools SO as tc. include secondary and con- 

 - - ols and other schools and institutions 

 ed b) the education authority; (19J to provide 

 or aid the provision of nursery schools for children 

 between two and five years of age, or to a later age, 

 - if the health, nourishment, and physical 

 welfare of such children; I .• 1 . 24) to make suitable 

 sion, inclusive of board and lodging, so a- to 

 enable children in exceptional circumstances, such as 

 tin remoteness of their homes, or other special condi- 

 tion-, 'iie full benefit of efficienl elementan 

 ition. and to make agreements with the parents 

 and to provide, in addition to scholar- 

 foi higher education, allowances for mainten- 

 ipi r the education authority to aid 

 research with the view of promoting the efficiency of 

 teaching .and advanced study, and of aiding investigation 

 for thi advancement of learning; and (34) to acquire 

 land compulsorilv for educational purposes, substituting 

 the authority of the Board of Education for that of 

 the Local Government Board; and, further, (35) to 

 provide a public elementary school immediately outsidi 

 ils area for the use of rhidren within it- area. 



\ very important provision is made in sections 4.,, 

 nd 47 wherebv by an Order in Council the 

 NO. 2563, VOL. I02] 



Crown can appoint an official trustee or trustees of 

 educational trust property, which property is relieved 

 of the restrictions imposed In the .Mortmain Acts, 

 and its control is now vested in the Board of Educa- 

 tion and differentiated from all other charitable trusts. 

 The removal of the limitation in the Act of 1902, 

 wherebj the council of a count) shall not exceed in 

 11- expenditure in respect of higher education a sum 

 out of the rate- exceeding 2d. in the pound — a provision 

 the reason for which it is difficult to understand, 

 seeing thai the county boroughs had unlimited powers 



will enable the more progressive among these 

 authorities to make much more extensive provision 

 for advanced education; to provide efficient and 



• ' 11 - dat and special schools in rural areas ; 



to increase the number of scholarships and the means 

 of maintenance, since no child is to be debarred from 

 receiving the benefit- of any form of education by his 

 inability to pay fees; to secure due facilities for 

 medical inspection and treatment for children and 

 young persons in secondary and in continuation 

 schools; and to provide all desirable means and op- 

 portunities for ensuring social and physical training 

 among those pursuing the various branches of higher 

 and continued education. Already the more advanced 

 and enterprising of the county authorities are busv 

 considering schemes of educational development with 

 a view to their immediate application. 



The mandatory powers now assured by the Act to 

 the Board of Education will enable it to require from 

 all local education authorities the provision of 

 schemes for the development and comprehensive 

 organisation of education within their areas, to which, 

 when approved, it shall be the duty of the several 

 authorities to give effect. This marks a great ad- 

 vance upon the Act of 1902, which in this regard 

 was largely permissive in its requirements, of which 

 many laggard authorities took advantage. 



The provision of nursery schools will ensure a very 

 large saving of infant life and a much more vigorous 

 child-population, since the children in poor and 

 crowded districts, especiallv in the industrial areas, 

 will be better fed and cared for and their infantile 

 ailments dealt with effectively. Nor will the medical 

 inspection and treatment of the adolescent in the con- 

 tinuation schools be less beneficial, securing as it will, 

 at a critical period of life, that desirable attention to 

 the health and vigour of the body which will ulti- 

 matelv ensure a much higher standard of virility in 

 the adults of the nation. There is abundant evidence 

 since the advent of the war of the avoidably large 

 percentage of the vouthful population who are far 

 below a satisfactorv standard of health and vigour 1 

 arising from neglect in childhood and early youth. 



So soon as the Act comes into full operation (which. 

 judging bv the course of events of the present war, 

 may happily be within a few months), half-time, 

 which prevails mainly in the textile- districts of Lanca- 

 shire and York-shire, and all other exemptions en- 

 abling children under fourteen years of age to leave 

 school, will he abolished. Provision is made in the 

 Act for a large extension of the sphere of the elemen- 

 tarv school, fees in which are abolished. Central 

 schools ni.o bi established in which at appropriate 

 stages practical instruction suitable to the ages, abili- 

 ties, and requirements of the children must he set up. 

 Courses of advanced instruction for older pupils 

 desirous of remaining at school bevond fourteen years 

 of age must be provided, and measures taken for the 

 preparation of children who desire further education 

 in school- other than elementary and for their trans- 

 fereni >■ thereto. 



Provision must be made for a sufficient supph of 

 lion schools, free of all fees, for voting 



