NATURE 
245 


SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1923. 


CONTENTS. — 
Intellectual Regimentation - 245 
Formalism and Mysticism. By Prof. H. Whldon = r 246 
Outlines of Astronomy. By H. C. P. 247 
A Text-book of Metallography. By Cap 249 
Our Bookshelf F x 250 
Letters to the Editor :— 
On the New Element Hafnium.—Dr. D. Coster 
and Prof. G. Hevesy 252 
Hafnium and Titanium.—Sir T. E. Thorpe, F.R. S. 252 
Insulin.—Dr. H. H. Dale, F.R.S. 253 
Multiple Resonance. (With diagram. Lop, Rothwell 254 
Destruction of the Polarisation of Resonance Radia- 
tion by weak Magnetic Fields.—Prof. R. W. 
Wood, For. Mem. R.S., and Alexander Ellet 255 
Volcanic Activity in Iceland and Long Distance 
Transport of ‘* Dust.”—J. N. Carruthers . cass 
The Wegener Hypothesis and the Origin of the Oceans. 
—T. Crook . 255 
Aster tripolium on Salt Marshes. —H. W. Chapman 256 
The Cause of Anticyclones.—R. M. Deeley . 256 
The High Temperature of the Upper Atmosphere. — 
Prof. F. A. Lindemann and Gordon M. B. 
Dobson . 256 
The Bicentenary of Sir Clitistopher Wren. By Eng.- 
Capt. Edgar C. Smith, O.B.E., R.N 257 
Absolute Measure and the C. G.S. Units. By Sir 
George Greenhill . ‘ 259 
The Royal Society: Muniricent Girt From Sir 
ALFRED YARROW . . . . . . + 261 
Obituary :— 
Prof. W. K. von Réntgen. = GWG: = 262 
Mr. Bernard Bosanquet 263 
r. A. H. Fison 7 263 
- Rawdon Levett. By W. J. G. 264 
Prof. Gaston Bonnier : 264 
Current Topics and Events 265 
Research Items 2 268 
Comparative Embryology of Plants’ 270 
Exploitation of South African Fisheries. By Prof. 
J. Stanley Gardiner, F.R.S . 
_ The Teaching of Elementary Geometry ; : 275 
Photograph of a Bright Meteor. ( Mlustrated) = - 272 
An Australasian Biological Collecting Expedition . 272 
University and Educational Intelligence . . = 2a 
Societies and Academies. 5 r : : - 274 
Official Publications Received . J < ° = 276 
Diary of Societies - 2 3 . 276 
Recent Scientific and Technical Books Supp. iii 


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NO. 2782, VOL. I11] 
Intellectual Regimentation. 
. MICHAEL SADLER has done a good service, 
one stroke of faithful work,” by envisaging 
again the question whether teachers should be Civil 
Servants. The title of this article is one of many 
happy phrases in his brilliant, if not altogether con- 
clusive, address at the annual meeting of the Assistant 
Masters’ Association. Our present measure of freedom 
from State control in education, he said, was the 
possibility of resisting, if the need arose, “ intellectual 
regimentation.” Against this important but contin- 
gent attribute of intellectual freedom, the primrose path 
-of State control of education appears to lead to rare 
_and refreshing fruit for teachers. 
One of the sequele 
of the Burnham salary scale with its regular increments 
has been that senior assistant masters and mistresses 
in secondary schools run considerable risk of being dis- 
placed by younger teachers entitled to lower salaries 
under the scale. It is stated indeed that teachers have 
been dismissed in this way purely on grounds of 
economy. In any event, there must be a tendency 
under existing conditions for the teaching profession 
to become immobile. 
State control of education would offer to teachers 
security of tenure, fair if not generous salaries and 
pensions, an impartial system of promotion and 
transfer. It would secure greater uniformity in the 
work and organisation of our schools, a higher standard 
of scholarship and training in the teaching profession, 
and a stricter discipline. These results have been 
attained more or less completely in France and Ger- 
many, where the influence of the State on education is 
decisive and peremptory ” than in Great Britain. 
English-speaking countries have usually preferred to 
leave the appointment of teachers in the hands of local 
boards, corporate bodies, or individual employers. 
But with the Labour Party definitely committed to 
a policy of nationalisation on a large scale, the question 
of State control of education in Great Britain cannot 
be regarded as purely academic. Sir Michael Sadler, 
while expressing his personal preference for our present 
system, thought the trend during the last five years 
had been in the direction of State control. Mr. Fisher’s 
Superannuation Act for teachers, for example, was 
closely modelled on the Civil Service pension system. 
Further, the finance of public education has in recent 
years become so chaotic that the magic wand of 
bureaucratic control may be invoked to produce some 
sort of order. We must not forget that, two generations 
ago, under somewhat similar conditions as regards the 
standard and efficiency of elementary education, Mr. 
Robert Lowe introduced the system of “ payment by 
results ”’ ; a system which its author commended on the 
more “ 
