360 
annually at some school or college, met at Rugby 
School on December 21-22. About 110 schools—in- 
cluding all the great public schools—are represented 
by the Conference. Among the conditions under which 
a school may be represented are that it contains 100 
boys, counts at least ten among the undergraduates of 
Oxford and Cambridge, and sends to these universities 
an average of five or six boys each year. Particulars 
of the schools admitted to representation are given in 
the ‘‘ Public Schools Year Book.’’ At the recent meet- 
ing of the Conference held at Rugby the following 
resolutions were passed, among others :— 
1. That this Conference welcomes the letter with 
regard to war memorials sent to headmasters in the 
early autumn by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, as the 
chairman of the Statutory Committee, and endorses the 
suggestion that provision of scholarships and exhibi- 
tions should form part of the measures taken at public 
schools to commemorate the fallen. : 
2, (a) That it is essential to a boy’s general educa- 
tion that he should have some knowledge of the 
natural laws underlying the phenomena of daily life, 
and some training in their experimental investigation. 
(b) That, in the opinion of ‘this Conference, this can 
best be ensured by giving to all boys adequate courses 
of generalised science work which would normally be 
completed for the ordinary boy at the age of sixteen. 
(c) That, after this stage, boys who require it should 
take up science work of a more specialised type, while 
the others should for some time continue to do some 
science work of a more general character. : 
3. That, while desirous of improving the teaching of 
science and making it a reality in all public schools, 
this Conference deprecates the present proposals of the 
Oxford Hebdomadal Council for making the passing 
of an examination in science an essential qualification 
for an Oxford degree. 
4. Board of Education Circulars 849, 933, and .956. 
That this Conference approves the general educational 
policy indicated by these circulars, and in particular 
the principles :—(a) That all boys in secondary schools 
should pursue a normal course of education up to the 
age of about sixteen, unimpaired by premature special- 
isation and unimpeded by the varying demands of 
external examinations. (b) That the universities 
should continue to be the responsible examining autho- 
rities in secondary schools, but holds that no further 
compulsion or restriction of any kind can be usefully 
applied to schools until a general acceptance of an 
approved ‘first examination” by universities and pro- 
fessional bodies has been secured. If in amy case 
acceptance is only conditional, the conditions must be 
of the simplest kind, and a clean sweep must be made 
of the present absurd complexities. In the details of 
the proposed first and second examinations there are 
many points calling for further discussion, and two 
only will be mentioned in the present resolution :— 
(i) The Conference holds that natural science and 
mathematics should count as two ‘‘ groups,” not as one 
only; (ii) it adheres to the view expressed in Circu- 
lar 849, section VI., regarding such subjects as music, 
drawing, manual work, and housecraft, to which may 
be added physical exercises. It is as far as possible 
from undervaluing such subjects as essential parts of 
a good education, but believes that their adequate in- 
clusion can be betier secured in other ways than by 
formal examination at the age of sixteen. 
5. That this Conference reaffirms its conviction that 
Greek ought no longer to be retained as a compulsory 
subject in the Entrance Examinations to the Universi- 
ties of Oxford and Cambridge. In urging this, the 
Conference in no way wishes to deny that for those 
boys who are fit for it there is no finer educational 
instrument than Greek, nor that there are other com- 
pulsory subjects which are onen to grave objectians. 
NO. 2462, vor. 98] 
i NATORE 
[JANUARY 4, 1917 
THE U.S. NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL. 
[% the Proceedings of the “National Academy of 
Sciences for October a report is given of the first 
meeting of the National Research Council, held in 
New York City on September 20 last.’ Dr. G. E. Hale 
was unanimously elected permanent chairman. 
Dr. Hale, as chairman of the organising committee - 
of the council, announced an agreement between the 
National Academy of Sciences’ and the Engineering 
Foundation by which the foundation has placed its 
funds at the disposal of the council for a period of one 
year, and has given the services of its secretary, Dr. 
Cary T. Hutchinson, to the National Research Coun- 
cil, to serve as its secretary. Dr. Hale announced 
that in accordance with this agreement the National 
Academy of Sciences has appointed Dr, Hutchinson 
secretary of the National Research Council. 
Later in the meeting Dr. Pupin emphasised the 
great value of co-operation in industrial research, as 
evidenced by the work of the Research Laboratory of 
the General Electric Company, and spoke of the diffi- 
culty in securing men adequately trained. Dr. Noyes 
urged the need that universities and colleges should 
interest more men in research work and train them 
more effectively. Dr. Carty pointed out that industrial 
research has as its objective commercial development, 
and that scientific research has no such immediate 
purpose. Dr. Vaughan believed that much good could 
be done by the council in stimulating the Congress of 
the United States to make larger grants to help pure 
science. Mr. Manning explained the assistance given 
to the U.S. Bureau of Mines by the great chemical 
and smelting companies, and suggested similar assist- 
ance for pure scientific research. 
After an adjournment for dinner, Mr. Rand dwelt 
upon the essential need of co-operation with the great 
industrial research organisations, instanced the assist- 
ance that the research laboratories of the U.S. Steel 
Corporation had rendered to the Institute of Mining 
Engineers, and expressed the belief that the co-opera- 
tion of the U.S. Steel Corporation with the Research 
Council could be secured. Mr. Herschel pledged the 
support of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 
and Mr. Dunn explained the relations of the Engineer- 
ing Foundation with the council. 
Two meetings of the Executive Committee were held 
in New York on September 21 and 29. At the first 
meeting it was resolved that the efforts of the Re- 
search Council shall be uniformly directed to the en- 
couragement of individual initiative in research work, 
and that co-operation and organisation, as understood 
by the Research Council, shall not be deemed to in- 
volve restrictions or limitations of any kind to be 
placed upon research workers. 
The following resolution was adopted, inviting the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science 
to co-operate with the Research Council :—‘‘ That the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science 
be informed that the National Research Council has 
been organised by the National Academy of Sciences 
at the request of the President of the United States 
for the purpose of bringing into co-operation existing 
governmental, educational, industrial, and other re- 
search organisations, with the object of encouragin 
the investigation of natural phenomena, the increase 
use of scientific research in the development of Amer- 
ican industries, the employment of scientific methods 
in strengthening the national defence, and such other 
applications of science as will promote the national 
security and welfare, and that the association, which 
has itself established the Committee of One Hundred 
on Research, be invited to co-operate with the Re- 
search Council.in the promotion of research, and that 
to this end it be asked to appoint a committee of three 
