384 
which the instruction is efficient. If two languages 
are taken (other than English), one of the two must 
be Latin unless ‘tthe Board are satisfied that the 
omission of Latin is for the educational advantage 
of the school.” This regulation has done injury to 
the study of German, and the British Science Guild 
and several teachers’ organisations have objected. 
The Board now state that Latin will not be demanded 
if instruction therein is available in other accessible 
schools. The Board fear that the prospects of the 
pupils will be prejudiced if Latin is omitted, as they 
may be debarred from entry into professions and from 
university work in literary subjects. To the present 
writer it appears prejudicial to national progress that 
the education of thousands of boys and girls should 
be made less efficient because certain chartered cor- 
porations hold antiquated views regarding school 
curricula (on which subject they are seldom qualified 
to advise), or because those corporations may regard 
the exclusion of the un-Latined as a convenient social 
precaution. 
The memorandum contains many useful sugges- 
tions with reference to the work of the more 
advanced pupils, and, so far as science is concerned, 
the recommendations will be approved by most of 
those who have had practical experience. Modified 
specialisation is the keynote—thus pupils specialis- 
ing in science and mathematics should take 
English literature and composition and one foreign 
language, ‘“‘which for those who have already spent 
some years in the study of French should by prefer- 
ence be German."’ Specialisation in art, economics, 
and domestic courses are also contemplated by the 
Board as permissible in selected schools, but with 
provision for the continuance of general education. 
As regards the main portion of the school, the study 
of science (including practical work) should extend 
continuously over four years. ‘‘This will be required 
in all schools unless special reasons to the contrary 
can be given.’’ Boys who are working in preparation 
for an advanced course in classics may have a science 
course for three years (instead of four) between the 
ages of twelve and sixteen, if this course be supple- 
mented by the inclusion of science among the sub- 
sidiary subjects taken at the specialising stage. This 
and similar statements in the memorandum should 
strengthen the resistance of enlightened headmasters 
to the injuriously narrow specialisation which still 
appears requisite for winning a scholarship at the 
older universities. G. F. Dante.u. 
THE SPREAD OF THE METRIC SYSTEM. 
IN a circular letter, dealing with the world-wide 
spread of the metric system, the Decimal Associa- 
tion points out that the time is soon coming when 
metric usage, instead of being regarded as a hindrance 
to British trade with the Far East, will have to be 
adopted as a necessity in our dealings with China, 
Japan, and Siam, which have each taken definite 
steps to establish that system. Already the Advisory 
Council of China has passed the first reading of a 
law to that effect, and two Chinese gentlemen are 
now in Paris studying the technical details of the 
subject. Japan has for the present four legal systems 
of weight and measure, but the Government has 
declared its preference for the metric system by 
making it obligatory for the services of the customs 
excepting a few articles. The metric system is taught 
in all the public schools of Japan, and is prescribed for 
the army, for medicine, and for electrical work. Siam 
has employed the system with success on its railways 
and public works for some years, and last year joined 
the Internationak Convention of the Metre, from 
NO. 2300, VOL. 92] 
NATURE 
‘ the wild gallinaceous birds, by introducing species 
[NovEMBER 27, 1913 in 
which it has received the apparatus needed for 
Central Bureau of Standards at Bangkok. Siam pi 
poses not to make metric reform compulsory at one and 
the same time in all parts of “the kingdom, 'but to 
deal with each province separately at convenient 
times. Russia alsot has adopted the metric systen 
for several purposes, and has announced to th 
Decimal Association that the metric system i 
favoured, but has to await the necessary arrangement 
of control and inspection throughout the Russian 
Empire. This conversion of Russia is notable as com. 
pleting the solidarity of all Continental Europe in 
metric reform. All South and Central America are 
either metric or tending to be so. The Australasian 
Dominions of Great Britain have urgently pressed 
the question; and last, but most important of all, are 
the United States of America, which have gone far 
in preparing for reform, and will act with vigour 
when the time comes. - 
ZOOLOGY AT THE BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION. 
ECTION D presented a full programme, the large 
number of communications rendering necessary — 
morning and afternoon sessions. Interest in the pro-— 
ceedings was well maintained, good audiences being _ 
present throughout the meetings. A striking feature 
of this year’s programme was the large number of 
papers dealing with vertebrate anatomy and 
morphology. ; 
Some Aspects of the Sleeping Sickness Problem. 
A lecture on this subject was delivered by Prof. 
E. A. Minchin. He referred briefly to the chief signs — 
and symptoms of sleeping sickness, and described — 
the main features of trypanosomes, remarking that 
the tendency of natural evolution appeared to be for 
the pathogenic species to adapt themselves to certain — 
species of hosts, to which they become quite harmless. 
Trypanosoma brucei, gambiense, and rhodesiense, 
however deadly to domestic cattle and man, are harm- 
less to the wild game, which appear to be their 
natural hosts. There is evidence that T. rhodesiense 
is a newly arisen strain of T. brucei, which has 
recently acquired the power of living in human blood, 
and, as a “new” parasite of man, is extremely viru- 
lent. Prof. Minchin pointed out the principal char- 
acters of tsetse-flies (Glossina), and the part played — 
by certain species in transmitting the trypanosomes of 
sleeping sickness. In about 5 per cent. of the flies 
fed on infected blood, the trypanosomes ingested go 
through a complicated developmental cycle, multiply- 
ing in the fly’s digestive tract, and, after a time, — 
migrating forwards and passing into the salivary 
glands, where they establish themselves, multiplying 
constantly so long as the fly lives. It has been pro- 
posed to exterminate the wild game on a large scale 
in order to remove this ‘reservoir’ of the disease, 
but Prof. Minchin considered it to be doubtful whether 
this would bring about the desired effect. Destruc- 
tion of the game would remove only a_ portion of 
the reservoir, for ruminants generally, including 
domestic stock, can harbour the trypanosomes in 
question, and, further, such destruction, by removing 
the natural food of the flies, might cause the flies 
to move closer to human habitations, and hence in- 
crease the transmission of the disease among human 
beings and domestic stock. He hoped, therefore, that — 
if game is to be destroyed, this will be done in limited 
areas only, until more accurate knowledge of the 
results has been acquired. He suggested that reduc- 
tion of tsetse-flies might be effected, (1) by protecting 
