462 
THREE letters on ‘‘Science in the School,’ con- 
tributed during last autumn to the Educational Supple- 
ment of the Times by Sir Clifford Allbutt, K.C.B., 
have been published in pamphlet form by Messrs. 
W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., of Cambridge, at the price 
of 6d. net. Attention has been directed already in 
these columns (vol. xeviii., p. 241) to the argument 
-of the letters, and it will be sufficient here to point 
-out that the first letter may be summarised by quoting 
its concluding sentence :—‘‘The ‘ science’ we need 
in schools is a scientific method of teaching all things.’ 
The subsequent letters elaborate this definition. ‘It 
matters less,’’ says the second letter. ‘“‘what a boy 
is taught than how it is taught.’? ‘tWe need science 
in our ‘classics ’ as we need humanity in our science.’’ 
Similarly, in the third letter, we find :—‘The cry of 
what is to be taught to boys is of less importance than 
the vision of how things are to be taught.’ ‘‘To 
regenerate all teaching by the spirit and method of 
science is far more important than the inculcation of 
special sciences.” It may be hoped that the pamphlet 
~will secure a wide distribution, for its lessons deserve 
frequent repetition in view of the reconstruction which 
the coming of peace will bring. 
At the opening of the New York State Museum in 
the State Education Building, Albany, New York, on 
December 29 last, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt gave an 
address on productive scientific scholarship, which is 
published in the issue of Science for January 5. De- 
scribing thé functions of a museum, Mr. Roosevelt 
laid special emphasis on the need for it to give research 
facilities to the extraordinary and exceptional student, 
*“‘the man who has in him a touch of the purple; the 
man who can supply that leadership without which 
it is so rare for even the laborious and well-directed 
work of multitudes of ordinary men to realise the 
ideal of large productive achievement.” Later, in con- 
trasting utilitarian with pure science, he said there is a 
twofold warrant for the encouragement of the study 
of pure science by the State. First, the knowledge 
justifies itself. Secondly, the greatest utilitarian dis- 
coveries have often resulted from scientific investiga- 
tions which had no distinct utilitarian purpose. It is 
impossible to tell at what point independent investiga- 
tion into he workings of Nature may prove to have 
an immediate and direct connection with the better- 
ment of man’s physical condition. The greatest need 
to-day, and the need most difficult to meet, is to 
develop great leaders, and to give full play to their 
activities. But it must also be our aim to develop 
men who, if they do not stand on the heights of 
greatness, shall at least occupy responsible positions of 
Jeadership. i 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
Lonpon. 
Royal Meteorological Society, January 17.—Major 
H. G. Lyons, president, in the chair.—Major H. G. 
Lyons (presidential address): The winds of North 
Africa., It is now thirty years since the distribution 
of pressure over the region lying to the south of Europe 
was discussed, and during this period many new sta- 
tions have been established. From the Mediterranean 
to the equator material is now available from about 
eighty stations, and a more trustworthy estimate of 
the distribution of pressure over North Africa and 
the consequent flow of the air currents can now be 
formed. 
Geological Society, January 24.—Dr. Alfred Harker, 
president, in the chair.—Dr. Aubrey Strahan said that 
in 1914 a proposal was made to subscribe for a bust 
NO. 2467, VoL. 98] 
NATURE 
oe oh Ou 
ca 
[FesRuary 8, 1917 
of Sir Archibald Geikie which would be presented to 
the Board of Education for preservation in the Museum — 
of Practical Geology. A gone bust, executed by 
Prof. E. Lantéri, was presented to the board on 
March 14, 1916, and placed in the museum. The staff 
of the Geological Survey and Museum, thinking that 
a copy of the original model of the bust would be a ~ 
suitable gift to the Geological Society of London, had 
caused a cast to be made, and Dr. Strahan, on their 
behalf, offered it for the acceptance of the society. © 
The president gratefully accepted the gift on behalf of 
the fellows.—Scoresby Routledge: An account of Easter — 
Island. An expedition was organised so that Easter 
Island, and other islands most near to it, should be — 
thoroughly examined, and all information and material — 
should be considered on the spot, or, if possible, be | 
brought back for comparative study. The geologist — 
of the expedition, the late Mr. F. L. Corry, contracted — 
typhoid fever on the Chilean coast and never recovered | 
sufficiently to rejoin the expedition. Hence no formal — 
geological réport on the island could be submitted. 
The conditions on Easter Island were illustrated by 
a series of photographs taken to illustrate geological 
features. The island was described as a plateau of 
basalt raised from 50 to 100 ft. above the sea. Super- 
imposed on this were numerous cones ranging up to a 
nearly 2000 feet. The plateau was covered but sparsely — 
with soil, and could only be crossed with difficulty in — 
any direct line. The cones, ‘on the other hand, were — 
generally smooth of surface, with a good depth of soil. — 
MANCHESTER. 
" 
Literary and Philosophic Society, January 9.—Prof. — 
S. J. Hickson, president, in the chair.—F, Jones: 
Note on the action of hydrogen on sulphuric acid. © 
Many years ago the author noticed that pure hydrogen, 
when left in contact with strong sulphuric acid, had — 
a strong odour of sulphur dioxide. It appeared that 
hydrogen had reduced the acid in accordance with the 4 
equation H,SO,+H,=SO,+2H.O. The action of — 
nascent hydrogen on the acid was examined by q 
Faraday in 1834. He found that when the strong — 
acid was submitted to electrolysis, oxygen appeared — 
at the anode, and hydrogen and sulphur at the 
cathode. Subsequent observers stated that no action 
took place between hydrogen and sulphuric acid at 
ordinary temperatures, but Berthelot maintained the 
opposite view. The author devised an experiment to 
show that action does take place at ordinary tempera- — 
tures. Sulphuric acid is placed in the bulb of a non- — 
tubulated retort containing hydrogen. The point is 
dipped under water, which slowly rises in the neck 
of the retort as the formation of sulphur dioxide — 
proceeds.—T. A. Coward: An, undescribed habit of the — 
field vole. Mr. Coward said that towards the close — 
of 1916 he found three field voles in nests, three to 
six feet above ground, in an osier-bed at Rostherne, 
Cheshire. One nest had probably been entirely con- 
structed by the vole; the others were built upon old 
nests of birds. The voles were dead—one so recently 
that the fleas had not left it. The field vole, though — 
capable of climbing, is terrestrial in habits, nesting 
on or beneath the ground; it is not known to hiber- 
nate, and is constantly abroad in hard weather. 
Collett records a bank vole making a similar elevated 
nest in Norway, but as an exceptional case. The 
osier-bed is frequently flooded, and during the frosts 
and thaws in December underground nests would | 
have been death-traps, and the cause of death may _ 
perhaps be explained by the rapid changes in the 
weather, driving the voles to the elevated but exposed 
positions, where from habit they gathered only the 
quantity of material which would have sufficed to 
protect them in a burrow. ‘ / 
