March 29, 1906] 



NA TURE 



rinding a new genus, Barkerwebbia, under the 

 Arecineae, and a revision of the order for the Philip- 

 pines. Prof. U. Martelli describes a number of 

 new species of Pandanus. A review of European 

 umbellifefs, in which the writer includes the 

 Araliaceae, forms the subject of a lengthy paper by 

 Dr. B. Castellani. Prof. E. Bartoni publishes a short 

 MS. bv Parlatore on Linnaeus's herbarium which 

 is especially appropriate, as Webb and Parlatore were 

 friends, and held each other in mutual esteem. 



A Course in Mathematical Analysis. By Edouard 

 Goursat. Translated by E. R. Hedrick. Vol^ i. 

 Pp. viii + 54S. (London and Boston : Ginn and Co., 

 n.d.) Price 16s. 

 This readable and trustworthy translation will be 

 welcome to those who cannot enjoy the original, the 

 merits of which are by this time well known. The 

 typography is unusually good, and is very creditable 

 to all concerned, such symbols as the square of a lt or 

 even of a', being printed in a satisfactory way, which 

 English printers might imitate with advantage. There 

 are a few terms here and there which are ungrateful 

 to an English ear; " involutional-}' " or "involu- 

 tional " would be more agreeable to analogy than 

 " involutory, " and "nappe" is retained instead of 

 being rendered by " sheet." But these are trifles, and 

 those of us who have no French can now study a 

 treatise which is eminently lucid and attractive, as 

 well as being up to date and sufficiently rigorous for 

 the purpose it is designed to fulfil. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can lie undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



Agriculture and the Empire. 



The article by Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer in your issue 

 of March 22 is a fair statement of the position the Home 

 Country should take in the development of agriculture in 

 the Empire at large, and of the necessary training the 

 future experts and researchers in Indian agriculture should 

 receive ; and this view requires pressing upon those re- 

 sponsible for the development of agriculture in our colonies, 

 so that the policy of employing as agricultural experts men 

 with a mere smattering of scientific method, combined 

 with a more or less thorough knowledge of British agri- 

 culture, may not be followed. Investigation and careful 

 research are wanted, and the only men who can perform this 

 are those whose sense of proportion and scientific methods 

 of attack have been developed by a systematic training in 

 the sciences having a bearing on agriculture. Agriculture 

 is at once a science, an art, and a business, and the 

 successful agriculturist at home must be a man equipped 

 with an adequate knowledge of all these subjects, combined 

 with a special ability for one or more of them. 



The agricultural colleges of Great Britain afford a train- 

 ing in the science and art of agriculture, but on the 

 business side of the subject not much can be attempted, 

 as personal experience and responsibility of the individual 

 for his business transactions are necessary conditions. 

 Many agricultural colleges and agricultural departments of 

 our universities possess the necessary scientific equipment 

 and a staff of adequate attainments to give to the future 

 Indian or colonial expert a thorough systematic training 

 in such sciences as chemistry, botany, and zoology, in an 

 agricultural atmosphere. The latter condition must be of 

 immense importance in impressing on the student the re- 

 lations of the pure science to practice ; and although the 

 practical application he will experience abroad will diftVr 

 essentially from that observed at home, he will at all 

 events be prepared to use his science to solve problems of 

 economical value, and, if his training has been broad and 



NO. 1900, VOL. 73] 



thorough, to become a most useful factor in developing the 

 agriculture of the country. It is certain that a man trained 

 at an agricultural college or at an institution equipped 

 with the necessary facilities for the study of animal or 

 plant life will be better able to enter upon his duties as 

 investigator of agricultural science in India than a man 

 whose training has been received at the ordinary technical 

 college. From the staff and students of this college during 

 the past few years experts have gone : to South Africa, 

 four, including the director of the Transvaal Agricultural 

 Department ; to India, four, including two to Pusa ; to 

 British Guiana, the West Indies, and Egypt, two, as well 

 as to other countries, so that it can claim some connection 

 with agriculture in our colonies. 



Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer says that notice should be given 

 five years in advance of the requirements for trained men ; 

 with this opinion I agree, though I doubt its practicability. 

 What we require is more men of recognised ability to train 

 for such position. Hitherto some branch of technical work 

 other than agriculture has been the object, to a great 

 extent, of the trained student, but now that there is a 

 future for highly trained men who will bring their scientific 

 knowledge and spirit of investigation to bear upon the 

 problems of agriculture at home and abroad, we hope that 

 men of the right stamp will come to be trained partly 

 perhaps in this country, and afterwards under the con- 

 ditions in which their future work will lie, but in any case 

 to go through a complete course of systematic study in the 

 science to which they intend to devote themselves when 

 thev have gained their technical experience. It is a fact, 

 and one to be deplored, that the agricultural students are 

 not always drawn from the best of our rising generation, 

 since farming is looked upon as the profession to be 

 engaged in by those " who are too clever for the Army and 

 not stupid enough for. the Church "; but now that we can 

 offer a field for a well trained man to make a name and a 

 living in the domain of agricultural research, we should 

 secure a greater proportion of suitable men. In this 

 country, for the researcher, apart from the teacher, there 

 is little chance for a trained man to earn a livelihood, but 

 abroad, where the resources of the soil have yet to be 

 developed, there is a good prospect of employment for 

 men who are thoroughly equipped with the requisite scien- 

 tific knowledge and possess the spirit of investigation. 



Another point to which Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer has 

 directed attention is the proper teaching of science in our 

 rural elementary schools, and, I would add, our rural 

 secondary schools. How often do we see, especially in the 

 latter class of school, the teacher (who is often selected for 

 his chemical knowledge) teaching by book alone, and with- 

 out reference to the conditions amid which his scholars live. 

 Chemistry is one of the least suitable of the natural sciences 

 to teach children whose lives will be, or ought to be, spent 

 in the country. Botany or zoology taught by a teacher 

 who has learnt these subjects, and has been trained in their 

 application to outdoor life as it exists in an English farm 

 or country village, would be far preferable, and I venture 

 to think that Kew, the agricultural departments of our 

 universities, and our agricultural colleges could supply such 

 teachers, and so could influence to a considerable extent 

 the value of the teaching in country districts. 



The Board of Education has, I understand, the latter 

 matter in hand, and I trust that under the advice of their 

 excellent rural inspector a scheme will be formulated which 

 will in some way check the tendency of modern education 

 to prepare solely for town life. M. J. R. Dunstan. 



South-Eastern Agricultural College (University of 

 London), Wye, Kent, March 26. 



Sea-sickness and Equilibration of the Eyes. 



Many people have no doubt noticed, when travelling by 

 sea, that the motion of the ship could be seen very dis- 

 tinctly, even when there were no hanging lamps, draperies, 

 or fixed points, such as the horizon or clouds, within range 

 of sight. 



Some may think that seeing the motion in this way is 

 due to the imagination receiving its suggestions from the 

 motion of the internal organs, and especially the stomach, 

 for I am here supposing the body to be held perfectly 

 rigid. 



