386 
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[ FEBRUARY 25, 1897 
assured by success in the examination than by investi- 
gation. This is no fault of his. It is the fault of 
those who having once grasped the fact hat ability of a 
certain kind can be tested, without any suspicion of 
unfairness, by marks assigned by examiners to candidates 
whose names they do not know, insist on applying this 
test, and this test alone, in as many cases as possible, 
without inquiry as to whether the ability of the examina- 
tion-room is the kind of ability for which they are in 
search, or whether other evidence could not be 
obtained, sifted and allowed to weigh in the final 
decision. It is the fault of the public, which regards 
the mystic letters B.A. or B.Sc. as an infallible test of 
the merits of a schoolmaster, but would not have a 
notion of the meaning of the words if he were described 
as the author of a memoir in the Zyamsactions of the Royal 
Society. Nowhere is a more strenuous condemnation of 
the defects of the examination system found than among 
sc’entific investigators who are also examiners in science. 
It is, of course, impossible to change suddenly a method 
to which the public assign a value far above that which 
it deserves; but if teachers of science suggest any 
mitigation of its severity, they are at once told that they 
are seeking to fill their class-rooms with candidates for 
their patronage, and that they are trying to evade the 
only satisfactory test of the value of their teaching. Under 
these conditions they are helpless. It is not they, but 
those whose motives cannot be misrepresented as self- 
seeking, whose opinions cannot be misrepresented as 
biassed, who can loosen the fetters which English 
public opinion binds around the intelligence of English 
youth, and, unfortunately, the majority of such persons 
are convinced that the present system is the best. 
We have followed the precedent set by the 7zmes in 
passing from the proposal for the establishment of a 
National Physical Laboratory to the discussion of the 
examination system, for we agree that the rejection of 
the scheme for carrying out research in the one, and the 
general acceptance of the other, are alike indicative of 
the present temper of the English people on such 
questions. They do not believe that scientific ability is 
worth the cost of training and using it. They refuse to 
supply laboratories for advanced students, such as 
German students possess. They make the advancement 
of a middle-class youth depend entirely on his success 
in examinations. As represented by the London County 
Council, they appear to think that the best use to which 
they can put a Huxley, when they are fortunate enough 
to secure his services, is to set him to lecture to evening 
students. 
They refuse to admit that there are certain conditions 
which must be fulfilled if the tasks of giving advanced 
instruction in science, and of advancing science, are to 
be carried out successfully, and then they turn and rend 
those who, in spite of these difficulties, have done some- 
thing to advance both education and learning. Truly, 
history repeats itself. . 
“He said, Ye are idle, ye are idle. Go therefore now 
and work ; for there shall no straw be given you, yet 
shall ye deliver the tale of bricks. And the children of 
Israel did see that they were in evil case.” 
NO. 1426, VOL. 55 | 
RONTGEN RAYS AND CONSTITUTION OF 
GASES. 
Rontgen Rays and Phenomena of the Anode and Kathode. 
By Edward P. Thompson, M.E., C.E.; with a con- 
cluding chapter by Prof. William A. Anthony. Pp. 
xiv + 190. (New York: Van Nostrand. London: 
Spon.) 
The Constitution and Functions of Gases, the Nature of 
Radiance and the Law of Radiation. By Severinus Ne 
Corrigan. Pp. viii + 127. (St. Paul: Pioneer Press 
Company, 1895.) 
LTHOUGH it is but a short time since Réntgen 
published his famous work on the X-rays, the very 
large number of scientific papers dealing with the sub- 
ject, which have been published in all parts of the civilised 
world, makes the labour entailed in the production of a 
book of this kind very large. 
Mr. Thompson, in his book on the X-rays, has en- 
deavoured to give as complete an account as possible, 
not only of Rontgen’s discovery, but of all the phe- 
nomena attending the passage of electrification through 
gases. With a view to make the subject intelligible to 
the lay mind, a short account is first given of induced 
currents and the discharge through gases at atmospheric 
and lower pressures. The author then passes to the 
consideration of the magnetic effects of the discharge, 
and the phenomena observed in the very high vacua 
of the Crookes’ tube. A detailed description is given of 
Lenard’s famous researches on the kathode rays, and of 
Rontgen’s discovery of the X-rays and their properties. 
Considerable space is devoted to experiments dealing 
with the photographic developments and the use of the 
Rontgen rays in surgery. In the concluding chapter, 
Prof. Anthony sums up the results, and gives a short 
discussion on wave motion, without, however, venturing 
to suggest any explanation of the real nature and origin 
of the X-radiation. 
A large number of X-ray photographs, or sciagraphs, 
as they are termed, are scattered throughout the volume, 
and some dust figures are also shown, a chapter being 
devoted to the description of them. 
The author has adopted the method of dividing the 
book into numbered paragraphs, each of which is headed 
by the experiment to be explained, while references to 
the original publication are in nearly all cases given. 
The consequence of this is that the chapters consist of a 
detailed description of a number of experiments which 
are quite independent of one another ; and as no attempt 
is made to criticise the results, or connect them together 
in any way, the result is somewhat confusing. The 
author, in many cases, lacks discrimination as to the re- 
lative importance which he assigns to the various experi- 
ments, and much of the earlier part of the book, notably 
the opening chapter, might be omitted with advantage. 
The part of the book which deals with the X-rays, and 
the recent experiments on the subject, is much the best, 
and great praise is due to the author for the accurate 
vésumé which has been given of nearly all recent work ; 
and it is as a collected and condensed account of recent 
experimental work on the. X-rays and allied phenomena 
that the book will be found most useful. 
