286 



NA TURE 



[January 19, 1899 



Other iniporlant work carried on under this Division during 

 the year lias included the sendinj; successfully of beneficial 

 species to foreign Governments suffering from outbreaks of the 

 white or fluted scale, the preparation of an account of the work 

 accomplished during the past two years against the San Jose 

 scale, an investigation of the injurious grasshoppers of the 

 Western Stales, work upon remedies to be used against the 

 house fly, suggested by the growing belief in the importance of 

 this insect as a carrier of disease ; work upon the geographic 

 distribution of injurious insects of the United States, and experi- 

 mental work in agriculture. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 



INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The Board of Electors will meet on February 



1 1 for the purpose of electing a successor to the late Professor 



of Pathology, Dr. Kanthack. Candidates are to send their 



names to the Vice-Chancellor on or before February 4. 



The Clerk Maxwell Studentship in Experimental Physics has 

 been awarded to Mr. J. S. E. Townsend, of Trinity College. 



At a meeting in Birmingham, last week, of the Court of 

 Governors of Mason University College, Mr. Chamberlain, in 

 his capacity of president of the College, occupied the chair. In 

 the course of his remarks, Mr. Chamberlain mentioned that the 

 endowment fund of the proposed University of Birmingham 

 had made very considerable progress, and that further .-issist- 

 ance was to be expected from the leading managers and 

 directors of the great limited liability firms, who were inclined 

 to take a proper view of their responsibilities and obligations in 

 a question upon which the future of the city so largely de- 

 pended. Referring in more detail to the University scheme, 

 Mr. Chamberlain emphasised the importance of establishing a 

 faculty of commerce in connection with the curriculum. 

 "Whilst," he remarked, "we shall always hope that in the 

 University the highest culture will receive its due attention, 

 still I think it important, to justify our separate existence, that 

 we should have distinctive features in our curriculum, and no- 

 where shall we find that better than in such a faculty of 

 commerce." Mr. Chamberlain's ambition is that in the future 

 the business men of Birmingham and the district who enjoy a 

 fair social position will not consider themselves properly 

 equipped for their career without having obtained a degree in 

 the University faculty of commerce. 



The annual meeting of the Geographical Association was 

 held on Wednesday, January 11. .\s already stated {p. 23S), 

 the Association was founded in 1893, and its aim is to raise 

 geography as a school subject from its present low level in 

 secondary schools by spreading the knowledge of all such 

 methods of geographical teaching as bring into play the pupil's 

 intelligence and reasoning powers, instead of merely loading the 

 memory with names and isolated facts. A memorial to boards 

 of public examiners on the subject of reforms in examinations in 

 geography has already, in many cases, led to a marked improve- 

 ment in the character of the questions set. Amongst other 

 means adopted by the Association for the furtherance of its aim, 

 are lectures and meetings for discussion ; the adoption of the 

 foitrnal of School Geography as a medium for the publica- 

 tion of information of service to teachers of geography; 

 and the circulation of lantern slides (maps, diagrams, and 

 views of scenery). The question of a syllabus has been 

 before the .\ssociation for some time, but the Committee are 

 unwilling to lend their authority to any definite scheme of work, 

 preferring rather to encourage individual teachers to exi)lain in 

 detail their own ideas of method, the outcome of their own 

 practical experience. Mr. Douglas W. Freshfield, the pre- 

 sident of the Association, delivered a short address at the 

 annual meeting, and in the course of his remarks he referred 

 to points dealt with in the report, and commended the decision 

 of the Committee in not insisting upon any particular form of 

 syllabus. 



A CONI'ERENCE On science teaching in connection with the 

 Technical Education Board of the London County Council was 

 held, under the direction of Dr. Kimniins, at the South-West 

 London I'olylechnic, on January 12 and 13. The following 

 papers occupied the morning of January 12 : — "The Teaching of 

 Optics," by Mr. Sanderson, heailinaster of Oundle School ; 

 " The Method of Teaching Science," by Mr. Frank Weedon, 



NO. 1525, VOL. 59] 



of Alleyn's School, Dulwich. Dr. Garnett presided. In the 

 afternoon Miss Edna Walter, of the Central Foundation School 

 for Girls, and Mr. Burkhardt, of Owen's School, Islington, read 

 papers on "The Teaching of Chemistry." Prof. Armstrong 

 occupied the chair. At the third meeting Mr. S. H. Wells, 

 Principal of the Battersea Polytechnic, and Mr. S. Whalley, of 

 Simon Langton School, Canterbury, read papers on "'Tlie 

 Teaching of Elementary .Mechanics in Schools." Prof. Hud.son 

 Beare presided. At the fourth meeting, papers on " The 

 Teaching of Heat," by Mr. Arthur Adamson, of the Central 

 Higher Grade School, Manchester: and on ".Magnetism and 

 Static Electricity," by Dr. T. Buchanan, of Gordon College, 

 Aberdeen, took up the attention of the meeting. Prof. Ewing pie- 

 sided. It is much to be hoped that this very successful experiment 

 will be repeated next year. The attendance at each meeting 

 was large, and included, in addition to many science teachers 

 from all parts of the country, several of the inspectors of the 

 Science and Art Department, and such well-known men of 

 science as Dr. (Gladstone and Captain Abney. Enthusiastic 

 discussions followed each paper, and the number of practical 

 hints which were to be gleaned at each meeting well repaid 

 attendance. The collection of apparatus, specially designed for 

 use in schools, which Dr. Kimniins had got together and had 

 arranged in the physical, chemical and mechanical laboratories, 

 should do a great deal in the direction of acquainting science 

 masters with what other teachers are doing. Many of the 

 exhibits were original, and highly ingenious. 



At a meeting of Convocation of the University of London, 

 held on Monday, it was resolved : — " That, in the opinion of 

 this house, the new regulations for the matriculation e.xaminatioh 

 tend to discourage the study of modern languages in schools, by 

 making them entirely option.al and alternative to science." The 

 following resolution was referred to the standing committee : — 

 "That the examin.ition in general elementary science should be 

 restricted to the first part of the subject, and comprised in one 

 paper ; the second part to be made optional with the other 

 sciences, and a third language to form a separate and obligatory 

 section taking its place." 



At the annual general meeting of the Headmasters' Associa- 

 tion, on Friday last, the following resolutions were adopted : (l) 

 " That this Association cordially welcomes the Board of Educa- 

 tion Bill as a first step towards the organisation of secondary 

 education in England, and is of opinion that the consultative 

 committee proposed therein ought to be permanent and to con- 

 tain representatives of the Universities and of bodies of teachers." 

 (2) " "That this .\ssociation records with satisfaction the state- 

 ment made by the Lord President in introducing the Board of 

 Education Bill — viz. that the proposed Education Office would 

 probably be so organised as to consist of three departments, 

 dealing with primary, secondary, and teclinical education 

 respectively." 



The Association of Technical Institutions held its annual 

 conference in London on Thursday last. Lord Spencer was 

 elected president for the ensuing year, and delivered an address, 

 on which he dwelt on the extreme importance of improved 

 technical education in the interests of our commerce and in- 

 dustr)', and indicated some of the more pressing reforms that 

 were needed. The following resolution was afterwards carried : — 

 " That the Association desires to place on record its appreciation 

 of the Board of Education Bill, 1898, as a first instalment of 

 legislation on the lines recommended by the recent Royal Com- 

 mission, and its hope that the Government may see its way to 

 proceed further in the same direction." 



The .Association of Directors and Organising Secretaries for 

 technical and secondary education held its annual meeting on 

 Friday last, -Mr. H. Macan presiding. The chief subject dis- 

 cussed was the Government Secondary Education Bill, and the 

 constitution of the proposed local authority to be responsible for 

 technical and secondary education. It has already been agreed 

 among the bodies interested that on the new local education 

 authorities the County Council should have half the represent- 

 ation, and the .School Boards a third, the remainder being made up 

 of co-opted members. At Friday's meeting, some hostility was 

 shown towards the proposal to give School Boards so large a 

 representation as a third, or even any at all, the opinion being 

 expressed that the present powers possessed by County 

 Councils are sufficient to secure the representation of all edu- 

 cational interests in the areas of administrative counties. 

 Among the ^resolutions agreed to was one expressing the view 



