286 



NA TURE 



[January 18, 1906 



because gold has been established by long experience to 

 be an excellent if not ideal metal for coinage. 

 Analysing what this means, we find that an extremely 

 complex condition must be satisfied. We are not a stereo- 

 typed or stagnant civilisation, and the demand for coinage 

 metal experiences great fluctuations. With the scientific 

 awakening of last century, an enormously increased de- 

 mand arose in consequence of the rapid extension of com- 

 merce. In spite of this it is of the utmost importance 

 that the value of other commodities expressed in terms of 

 that of the coinage-metal must remain fairly constant 

 from year to year, otherwise debtors and creditors might 

 awake to find themselves ruined by some great variation 

 ,n the value-ratio. Experience shows that this complex 

 condition is, as a matter of fact, nearly fulfilled for the 

 element gold. The first requirement that gold possesses 

 enabling it to fulfil the condition is that it is a technically 

 worthless metal. It possesses usefulness only on account 

 of its value. Platinum, on the other hand, is unsuited 

 for coinage because it possesses value on account of its 

 usefulness. In the latter case the demand increases with 

 fall of price, while in the former it decreases. 



The second requirement that has to be satisfied if the 

 value-ratio is to remain constant is that the output of 

 gold should, on the average, bear some fixed ratio to the 

 amount of human endeavour expended in the search. 

 The scarcity must be relative, and some definite number 

 of tons of the auriferous material must on the average 

 be extracted to produce an ounce of the metal. That is 

 to say, the scarcity must be mainly of concentration, as in 

 the case of radium in the uranium minerals. If a tech- 

 nically worthless metal is a member of a disintegration 

 series, so that its concentration in its ores is on the 

 average fixed, it would obey the complex condition required 

 for a coinage metal. So that the argument may be in- 

 verted, and indirect evidence obtained that gold is, like 

 radium, a member of a disintegration series. The gold 

 currency cost the world seventy million pounds worth of 

 unproductive labour last year. A sum, which expressed in 

 pounds runs into ten figures, representing the world's 

 accumulated stock of bullion, has been spent in the past. 

 To-day it exchanges at il> face-value ; to-morrow, with 

 the introduction of a less expensive and more scientific 

 system of book-keeping, it will become a mass of tech- 

 nicallv worthless metal. 



This extension of the idea of atomb disintegrationshows 

 how powerfully the recent theories are bound in time to 

 affect the life and thought of the community. Those who 

 have grasped their significance know well that nothing 

 appears the same or can again appear quite the same as 

 before. It is not necessary that we should ever approach 

 nearer than at present to the control and application ol 

 ih, new processes and reservoirs of energy. The mere 

 possibility of being able to do so in the future cannot fail 

 to leave its mark. Bv these discoveries the relation of 

 mankind to nature has undergone a certain change, and 

 man ha- caught a glimpse of some latent possibilities within 

 his legitimate destiny which cannot be effaced. Energy is 

 the hi. of the physical universe. You cannot multiply the 

 existing store bv a million and leave things as they were. 

 Man. " nature's rebel," as Prof. Ray Lankester has 

 , depicted him, left isolated among the forces of nature to 

 work out his own salvation, has had placed before his 

 eyes a new material destiny. So far as physical possi- 

 bility is concerned, he may 'one day attain to the power 

 as well as the wish expressed in the quatrain of Omar : — 

 " O love ! couH you and I with fate conspire 



To grasp this sorry scheme of thing', entire, 

 Would not »e shatter it to bi's— and then 



Remould it nearer to the heart's desire ! " 



MEDICAL INSPECTIOX AND FEEDING OF 

 CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS. 1 



WE welcome this extension of the inquiry begun in the 

 physical deterioration report, however limited be 

 the terms of reference, viz. (i) to report on what is being 

 done, and with what result, in respect to medical inspec- 

 tion ; (2) to inquire into the methods employed, the sums 

 1 Report of Interdepartmental Committee on Medical Inspection and 

 Feeding of Children attending Public Elementary Schools. (Cd. 2779.) 



expended, and the relief given by various voluntary agencies 

 lor the provision of meals, and to report whether relief of 

 this kind could be better organised without any charge upon 

 the public funds. 



(1) Upon the first subject, the results are shown to be 

 most beneficial, the percentage of sufferers being by no 

 means small ; thus in defects of vision found in 7 per cent, 

 to 20 per cent, of children examined, headache and 

 apparent dulness often disappear. Twenty per cent, seems 

 a common experience of the incidence of vermin, uncleanli- 

 ness, and ringworm ; here beneficial results have been 

 generally of a marked character, cases being diminished 

 by one-half in nine months in Gloucestershire. 



The medical officer of health at Salford demonstrates to 

 the teachers the symptoms to expect in infectious diseases, 

 and the teachers are becoming so skilful in detecting 

 symptoms, and at once excluding all suspected cases, that 

 outbreaks of infectious disease demanding medical inspec- 

 tion are much less frequent. So will necessity for closing 

 the schools diminish. 



Diphtheria, it is stated, is now in several areas under 

 such complete control that it can be stopped in a few 

 days. We read in this and similar evidence an urgent call 

 for the extension of medical inspection, and regret that 

 the committee should water their conclusions with a 

 comment that the " results " are to be given as state- 

 ments of opinion rather than as ascertained facts. The 

 contrary is the case, the facts are ascertained, and if the 

 dozen witnesses coincide, surely we have progressed beyond 

 opinion. 



(2) In the second inquiry, in which the committee is to 

 report whether relief can be better organised without any 

 charge upon the public funds, much valuable sociological 

 information has been collected. In many schools 2 per 

 cent, to 5 per cent, of children require this aid, and a meal 

 may cost from a penny to twopence. Seventeen recom- 

 mendations outline business-like cooperation for charitable 

 relief. 



The committee has stated that in the ordinary run of 

 cases which will come up to be dealt with, a woman's 

 opinion upon the need of a household will be more valuable 

 than a man's, and the opinion of two lady witnesses is 

 given that the existing attendance officer is not sufficiently 

 trained, and therefore of no use for the purpose. One 

 would imagine a recommendation would follow that a lady 

 official should be secured for this primary duty of selection 

 of recipients. This omission does not seem explicable on 

 financial grounds, for it might as readily be a charge upon 

 voluntary subscription as upon the public funds. One feels 

 that without such aid the frequent abuse of free meals, as 

 reported in the evidence, is likely to recur. 



In this inquiry, all who seek to avoid pauperising parents 

 on the one hand, or the underfeeding of school children on 

 the other, will find much useful information. 



NO. 189O, VOL. 73] 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — Bv the will of the late Sir J. S. Burdon- 

 Sanderson, the laboratory of the pathological department 

 of the University is bequeathed the sum of 2000/., payable 

 within six months of his death, as an endowment to provide 

 for pathological research there, the fund to be vested in 

 the professors for the time being of human anatomy, 

 physiology, and pathology, who are to have absolute dis- 

 cretion as to the application of the fund. 



( iMBRIDGE. — Last Sunday completed the fiftieth year 

 during which Dr. Atkinson has presided as Master over 

 the fortunes of Clare College, and the University will on 

 February 1 present him with an address of congratulation 

 similar to that presented to the late Lord Braybrooke two 

 years ago. 



Mr. II. O. Jones, of Clare College, has been approved 

 as deputy for the Jacksonian professor of experimental 

 philosophy during the current Lent term. 



The following awards to scholarships in mathematics 

 have been made at Queens' College :— N. R. Krishnamma, 

 Merchant Taylors', 4S^- ; C. F. Waterfall, Manchester 

 Grammar School. 45/.'; A. H. Pinder, Malvern College, 



