February 6, 1919] 



NATURE 



453 



EDI CATIOh IND \ ITCOA I/. LIFE. 1 



ONE ol the rar< and valuable fruits oi hi san- 

 guinar) Struggle in which the civilised nations 



of the world have been engaged since the summer oi 

 m,ii is tn be found in the awakening of the publii 

 mind, at leas) in this country, to the consideration ol 

 the causes which provoked it, and in the disposition 

 to search out the remedies which in the future will 

 such com ulsions impossible oi occui i em e. 

 The grave events which siill await a sal 

 solution ha\c moved to serious reflection th< leaders 

 of the national Church, who two years ago, when 

 the issut "i th( struggle hung perilously in the 

 balance, fell called upon to ascertain the causes which 

 laj at the root of the great upheaval of civilised 

 humanity and to surest the remedies. Five influen- 

 tial committees, under the direction of the Arch- 

 bishops, were appointed to considei the subjects oi 

 the teaching office, the worship, the evangelistic work, 

 and the administrative reform of the Chinch, and, 

 finally, the question of Christianity and industrial 

 problems, in which was included the place and func- 

 tions of education, with which we are chiefly con- 

 Having regard to the historj ol educational enter- 

 prise in this country, the results of the labours ol tie 

 twenty-seven able and influential men and women 

 who constituted the last-named committee, with the 

 Bishop oi Winchestei (Dr. f"albot) as chairman, 

 assisted l>\ ih. Bishops oi Oxford, Peterborough, and 

 Lichfield, together with the Master of Balliol, can 

 only he characterised a- revolutionary, so striking is 



the' breadth of new the\ exhibit, and so complete the 



admission that education i- meant foi all the children 

 of the nation without exception of class or condition. 

 Education i- to assist human beings to become them- 

 s ... is tin witness of equalit) . . . the founda- 

 tion of democracy . . . and is, in short, the organised 

 aid to the development of human beings in a society." 

 This is the keynote of the admirable upon issued b\ 

 nber 19, 1918, with its well- 

 ground argument and the fruitful 

 sugges Hers for the radical reform of our 

 educational methods, incidences, and aims. "There 



must he," it states, "diversit) of educational method-, 



because then are diversities of gifts. The basis oi 

 differentiation should !»■ differences oi taste or of 

 capacity, no • ol class or of income. The 



manual worker needs a liberal education for the same 



01 I he doctor : that he ma 

 develop his faculties and pie nable part in 



the affairs oi the community." The basis of such an 

 education, it strongh pleads, must lie laid in tin 

 elementary school, from which all attempts at 



specialisation should l" ri- usl excluded, and it 



furthi that the onl) sound foundation for 



technical training is to be found in "the cultivation 

 of mental alertni 



sibilit) b\ means of an education of a general and 

 non-utilitai ian 1 hat ai 



laments tbe causes which ha 

 so much to hinder the development and diffusion 

 of education during tin- great industrial epoch, with its 

 materialistii aim- and subordination of human facul- 

 ties to tin exigent ies, or allege - lustr; . 

 and among them do.- not fail t" cite the strifi 

 lai 1 of he vai ion- religious bodii s. I 

 to an education, wisel) conceived and universally 

 applied, for the effective solution of domestic and 

 international problems b\ peaceful mi 111- The com- 

 pile welcomes the provisions oi tht Educa- 

 te Industrial Problems." (l^ondpi : S.P.C.K 



V 1. 257 1 . VOL. I02] 



lion Act id [918, espei alb those which ate concerned 



with the physical welfare ol children and voung 

 persons, and would make mandatory the supply ol 

 nureerj schools b\ thi local education authorities. 

 It looks forward to the time when the compulsorj 

 school-age will be raised to fifteen, and even to six- 

 teen, but recognises thai this cannot be expected until 

 the rewards of industn equitably distri- 

 buted and the great working < lass placed in a posi- 

 tion oi less anxiety and with 1 nable it 



-' a healthy and vigorous life. Fuller oppor- 

 tunities it is urged, should be provided for the higher 



education of specially capable children, and the educa- 

 tional system so organised as to raise to a higher level 

 the moral and intellectual standard oi tin whole 



people. 



Much stress is laid upon the necessitj foi the better 



payment of teachers and for more consideration for 

 their status, having regard to their important ser 

 to tbe State. The report strongly approves the pro- 

 posal- contained in the Act for the establishment of 

 compulsory continued education of young persons up 

 10 eighteen engaged in employment, but would extend 

 it from eight hours per week to twenty-four out of a 

 working week of forty-eight, or for a corresponding 

 proportion of the month or yeai according to tin- 

 special necessities id the case. The main aim of 

 such education should be to develop the physical and 

 mental capacities of the children and to strengthen 

 their character, liven in the continuation school- it 

 is thought desirable that a vocational bias should be 

 given only in the later year- of school attendance. It 

 i- noted that then is a wide- and increasing demand for 

 education of a non-vocational character among adult 

 men and women which should, it is considered, be 

 encouraged in every wa\ possible, and that such 

 opportunities of education should form part of tin 

 normal provision of the community. 



The report, which is sifted by all the members ol 

 the committee, quotes with approval Milton's definition 

 of education as "that which tits a man to perform, 

 justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, all the offices, 

 both private and public, of peace and war," but con- 

 templates a much wider application of it, in that all 

 men and women must be included within it- scopi 

 according to theit capacities and power-. A useful 

 bibliography accompanies the report. 



SEA-STUDIES.* 



OF the four papers contained in the part of the 

 Bergen Museum Year-book before us, the one 

 ot greatest scientific and practical importance i- 

 perhaps that In- Mr. Torbj0rn Gaarder entitled "Die 

 Hydroxylzahl des Meerswassers. " lie- extent of the 

 1 1 m 1 1 ntration of hydroxy! ion- in sea- water has a great 

 influence on the physiological processes of marine 

 in-: .1- Loeb and Herbsi have. shown, 'a Certain 

 concentration is necessary foi the development of 

 echinoderm ova, whether fertilised or not. In a word. 

 tlii produi tvi -1 a sea region depends largely on 

 the concentration of tin- hydroxy! ions It becomes, 

 Fori . of importance to stud} the variations of sea- 

 water in thi md to discover thi 

 w hii b they depend. 



Mr. Gaardei discusses the various method 

 estimating thi- concentration, which ho calls the 

 1 d-number, and enumerates the rai normally 



present in sea-water which may affect it. Of 

 ib. most important is carbonic acid, which serves as 

 a buffer against the factor- thai 1 he hydroxyl- 



n- Aarbok, 1916-17." 



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'idenskabelig Raekk 



