3io 



NATURE 



[December ig, 1918 



far from a large town), and he was Oil equally 

 sound ground when he urged that the teaching of 

 physics should he revivified and kept in touch with 

 everyday life, so as to defeat any attempt to 

 standardise it and use it merely as a training in 

 logical method (cf. Euclid). 



The meeting was saved from the peril of a tame 

 unanimity by a difference of view as to approach- 

 ing the subject synthetically, e.g. by building up 

 .1 theory of heat from observations of the dissected 

 phenomena of expansion, etc., or analytically, e.g. 

 by starting with a steam-engine and inquiring how 

 it works. 



The difference was somewhat unreal — at least, 

 the real issues were not clearly defined. Surely 

 the problem is how to harness the "wonder " and 

 "utility" motives, and this has to be solved for 

 each method-unit according to the characteristics 

 of each class and teacher and of the method-unit 

 itself. Here it may be said that the existence of 

 a method-unit was only once referred to, when 

 Mr. F. B. Stead directed attention to the fault 

 that the laboratory exercise that can be done in 

 one lesson period tends to become the unit of 

 teaching. We are of opinion that teachers should 

 give more attention to sectioning their .subject 

 into natural method-units, using them for revision, 

 for the pupil's more elaborate note-taking, and for 

 essays. Perhaps the simplest example is "ex- 

 pansion by heat," which is so obvious that in 

 practice regard to this topic as a method-unit is 

 fairly well observed. 



It is not possible within the limits of this article 

 to refer to many useful practical suggestions 

 which teachers may gain by reading this report. 

 We have no doubt that many will be grateful to 

 the Physical Society and to the speakers, not for- 

 getting Dr. H. S. Allen, who organised the 

 symposium. G. F. D. 



NOTES. 



The mineral resources of Spitsbergen have lately 

 been receiving much attention. The signing of the 

 armistice has allowed the two British companies which 

 hold the principal mining estates in that country to 

 make plans for resuming operations. A correspond- 

 ence in the Times, initiated by Prof. F. Haverfield, of 

 Oxford, has dealt with the value of the coal and iron- 

 ores. Prof. Haverfield, who seems to prefer the German 

 spelling of Spitsbergen with a "z," quotes Swedish geo- 

 logists as denying the existence of high-grade iron-ores, 

 and he characterises the attempts to utilise Spitsbergen 

 commercially as a long series of failures from the 

 time of the Dutch onwards. In these respects he has 

 been misinformed. The Dutch and English whalers, 

 and later the Russian and Norwegian trappers, did 

 a rich trade in Spitsbergen produce. Mining ventures 

 have not always been successful, but cases of failure 

 have been due, not to lack of mineral ores, but to 

 ignorance of Spitsbergen, to lack of political control 

 in the country, and. in some instances, to mismanage- 

 ment and amateur effort. During the war various 

 Norwegian and Swedish companies, in several cases 

 trespassers on British estates, mined large quantities 

 of coal. This year about 100,000 tons of coal were 

 sent to Scandinavian ports. Ii is merely a question 

 of effort to make Spitsbergen one of the chief coal- 

 producing countries in Europe. The accessible coal- 



V). 2564, VOL. I02] 



fields are estimated to have a content of at least 

 4,000,000,000 tons of good steam-coal. The iron-ore 

 deposits have yet to be examined by competent geo- 

 logists and mining engineers, but the samples brought 

 to this country promise well. Other mineral resources 

 include gypsum in enormous quantities, asbestos, 

 copper-ore, oil shale, and probably free oil. I lie 

 mineral prospects of Spitsbergen are great, but, with 

 the exception of coal and gypsum, need to be 

 thoroughly prospected by qualified men before com- 

 mercial development can proceed. Meanwhile, it is 

 essential that Great Britain should keep a watchful 

 eye on the fate of this term nullius, in which British 

 subjects have the principal claims. 



With the view of meeting the growing demand fur 

 technical literature, the council of the Chemical Society 

 decided early in 1917 to increase the scope of the 

 library of the societ} by a more liberal provision of 

 suitable technical works and journals. It was also 

 thought that by placing the existing library of 23,000 

 volumes and the proposed extension at the disposal of 

 members of other societies ami associations the) 

 might relieve themselves of the necessity of collecting 

 and maintaining the litsraturs relating to their special 

 subjects, and assist in the formation of a representa- 

 tive library of chemical literature, such as would lie 

 difficult to obtain by individual effort. A conference 

 of representatives of societies and associations con- 

 nected with chemical science and industry was held 

 to consider the means by which other societies, etc., 

 might co-operate in this extension, and financial assist- 

 ance was afterwards offered by the following societies, 

 etc. : — Association of British Chemical Manufacturers, 

 Biochemical Society, Faraday Society, Institute of 

 Chemistry, Society of Dyers and Colourists, and 

 Society of Public Analysts. Members of these con- 

 tributing societies, etc., will be permitted to consult 

 the library and borrow books from January 1, 1919. 

 The hours of opening the library will be as follows : — 

 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, from 10 a.m. 

 to 6 p.m. ; Tuesdays and Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 

 9 p.m.; and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 



In the Fortnightly Review for December 

 " Fabricius " refers to the manifesto in support of 

 Germany's policy and action relating to the war 

 signed by ninety-three university professors in that 

 country in 1914, and widely distributed. Among these 

 professors were several occupying scientific chairs, 

 and they must share the righteous condemnation 

 which has been given by the intellectual world out- 

 side Germany to their misuse of authority on behalf 

 of dishonourable dreams of conquest. As, however, 

 most of the signatories of the manifesto were repre- 

 sentatives of theology, law, literature, and like 

 branches of knowledge, and not of science as it is 

 usually understood, it is misleading to refer to them 

 as a group of "scientists," as "Fabricius" does in 

 the following extract from his article: — "Scientists 

 are supposed to devote themselves to the promotion of 

 science and of truth, for science is incompatible with 

 untruth. However, the unceasing advocacy of a 

 robber-policy and the exaltation of a robber-morality 

 had so completely destroyed the instinct of respon- 

 sibility and of truth amongst Germany's intellectual 

 leaders that ninety-three of Germany's most eminent 

 scientists, among them many prominent theologians 

 and legists, disgraced themselves and German science 

 for all lime by issuing in 1914 a manifesto to the 

 world in which they mendaciously proclaimed that 

 the other Powers had forced a war upon innocent and 

 peaceful Germany; that upon France, Kngland, and 

 Russia rested the blood-guiltiness ; thai Germany 



