NA TURE 



[January 2, i< 



however, may be a consequence either of a difference of 

 alimentation or of the rate at which the ice is moving. 

 Thus long and cart'ful observations are necessary of 

 the latter, of the nature of the advance or retreat, and 

 of other matters, before suflicient data can be obtained 

 to allow of the results obtauied in different regions 

 being- compared, and their bearing on questions of 

 general meteorology ascertained, but the investigation 

 now begun in the vast northern mountain barrier of 

 Hindustan must ultimately prove to be highly 

 valuable. T. G. Bonney. 



TIDAL INVESTIGATIONS IN CANADA. 

 "T^HERE are few countries which possess so large 

 •*• an e.xtent of navigable land-locked waters as does 

 Canada. In such situations the tidal currents are apt 

 to assume great importance, and the prediction of the 

 tides is a task of great difficulty. The Canadian 

 Government has naturally paid much attention to this 

 complex subject, and they are fortunate in having so 

 able an officer as Mr. W. Bell Dawson to place in 

 charge of the operations. 



In a paper on " The Currents of the Belle Isle 

 .Strait " (Government Printing Office, Ottawa, 1907), 

 Mr. Dawson gives an account of the investigations 

 carried out in the seasons of 1894 and of 1906. The 

 run of the tide in the strait in places is sometimes 

 apparently capricious, but Mr. Dawson shows that in 

 many cases the abnormalities become explicable when 

 properly examined. The results should prove of much 

 value to mariners. 



Mr. Dawson has also contributed a paper on 

 " Variations in the Leading Features of the Tide 

 in Different Regions " to the Royal Astronomical 

 Society of Canada (July-.iXugust). 



It is obvious that in the vast tract of navigable 

 Canadian waters, the cost would be prohibitive of 

 erecting tide-gauges at all the places at which tide- 

 tables are wanted. Hence the calculation of the tides 

 by reference to neighbouring harbours becomes a 

 matter of necessity. It is a subject to which Mr. 

 Dawson has already paid much attention. The ordin- 

 ary rough rule is to multiply the range of tide at the 

 port of reference by a constant factor, and to apply 

 a constant correction to the times of high and low 

 water. But such a simple rule often leads to enor- 

 mous errors of prediction. Now Mr. Dawson shows 

 that this factor and correction of time should not be 

 regarded as constant, but should be taken as variable 

 with the position of the moon. 



The three points in which the position of the moon 

 is influential are phase, declination, and parallax. 

 These undergo variations in months of slightly 

 different lengths, called the synodic, the tropical, and 

 the anomalistic months. The corrections should be 

 dependent on all these three periods, and thus they 

 acquire a considerable amount of complexity. The 

 most interesting point in Mr. Dawson's investigation 

 is that he finds that, in some cases, it is one of the three 

 factors which is dominant, and elsewhere it is another. 

 .So much is this the case that it is often possible to 

 omit all corrections except those which are periodic 

 in one of the three months. The determination of the 

 dominant factor appears to be empirical, and no 

 physical explanation is assigned for this curious con- 

 clusion. May we not suspect that when one or two 

 of the monthly variabilities in the corrections are 

 evanescent as regards time and height of high and 

 low water, they are really affecting the tidal currents? 



In any case these partially empirical corrections are 

 found to be satisfactory in providing fairly trust- 

 worthy tide-tables, by reference to ports where there 

 are tide-gauges and directly computed tide-tables. 



G. H. D. 



NO. 1992, VOL. yy] 



EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN INDIA. 

 'T'HE battle between those who believe the sole 

 -'• duty of our professors in universities, colleges 

 and other high educational institutions is to teach, 

 and the best professor one who devotes the whole of 

 his time to teaching, and those who believe that the 

 highest and most fertile kind of teaching is that 

 carried on by a professor who is an investigator as 

 well as a teacher, has been fought out on many 

 occasions and in many places. 



Fortunately the latter view in late years has largely 

 prevailed over the former, though the battle has still 

 to be actively carried on in many places. The uni- 

 versities of Europe, at all events those which are the 

 most progressive and of greatest importance, have 

 accepted the fact that in the selection of their pro- 

 fessors they must now take only such men as have 

 given distinct proof of capacity for original work in 

 one or other of the great departments of knowledge, 

 and who may be expected to continue their original 

 researches at every possible opportunity. 



Unfortunately, in England this spirit has not always 

 been acted on, and the condition of a good many of 

 the institutions devoted to the highest culture is in 

 the matter of research most unsatisfactory, and com- 

 pares most unfavourably with' institutions o* similar 

 grade on the Continent... 



Nor, indeed, is this lack of original work in Eng- 

 land confined to what may be called centres of the 

 highest intellectual activity, but it largely pervades 

 educational and technical institutions of all grades, 

 and it is stated that in many cases where the manage- 

 ment of such institutions is in the hands of com- 

 mittees, whose membefs are distinguished mainly by 

 their success in trade, original research on the part 

 of the staff is practically barred, and, if a professor 

 or teacher is known to be an enthusiastic investigator, 

 he is at once considered to be one who is not doing 

 full justice to the students entrusted to his charge. 



It is to be hoped that such instances will become 

 more and more rare as the proper functions of a 

 teacher are better understood, and it is for our 

 universities, and for all educational institutions more 

 or less controlled or influenced by Government, to 

 take the lead in this matter and to insist on the 

 inseparability of research from the highest branches 

 of teaching. 



An opportunity of taking such a stand and of doing 

 an almost incalculable amount of good to the higher 

 teaching of a country now appears to lie in the hands 

 of the Indian Government. For a good many years 

 India may be said to have been suffering from an 

 educational unrest, for it was understood by all those 

 who had studied the subject that Indian education 

 had been working on unfortunate lines. Lord 

 Curzon, during the time he was Viceroy, was the 

 first who boldly faced a very difficult problem, and 

 under his direction Indian education was placed upon 

 a much more satisfactory basis. The changes brought 

 about by Lord Curzon 's action were very numerous; 

 primary education was largely extended and made 

 more practical, female education was fostered in every 

 possible way, secondary education was also improved, 

 and, lastly, universitv education was dealt with. 

 Under a new Indian LIniversity Act a complete set 

 of new regulations has been prepared, and speaking 

 generallv of these regulations il may be said that 

 they have aimed at, first, the influencing of the 

 characters of the students in the colleges and high 

 schools, and, secondly, at securing a practical rather 

 than a book knowledge of the subjects dealt with. 



It mav also be mentioned that, in cases where a 

 science is being studied, the regulations require each 

 student to have had personal practical instruction 



