April 30, 1908] 



NA TURE 



617 



three determinations agree within 7° of the position 

 R.A. =90°, dec. = -12°, and for Stream II. within 14° of 

 the position R.A. = 263°, dec. = -60° (Proc. Roy. Soc. 

 Edinburgh, vol. xxviii., part iii., No. 13, p. 231, February). 



Dktermination of the Errors of the P.^ris Observ.v 

 TOKY RliSEAUX. — In a paper communicated to the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, M. Jules Baillaud describes a novel 

 method whereby he has determined the errors of the 

 riseaiix used in connection with the Carte du del plates 

 at the Paris Observatory. By this method the influences 

 of variations of temperature and of deformation of the 

 gelatin film during development are eliminated, and .M. 

 Baillaud finds that the errors attain the value 3 /i, the 

 variations between measures on several plates not exceed- 

 ing 05 /i. This is of the same order of size as the grain 

 of the plate used, and it would probably be possible to 

 reduce the apparent discordance by using plates of a finer 

 grain (Coniptes rendiis. No. 12, March 23, p. 6i5). 



The Hersciiels' Nebul.^. — No. 4, vol. ii., of the Rivista 

 di Astronoinia (Turin, April, p. 82) contains an article 

 of especial interest and value by Madame Dorothea Isaac- 

 Roberts, who discusses the nebulae discovered by the 

 Herschels as photographed by the late Dr. Isaac Roberts. 

 The author first gives a brief review of the history of 

 nebula; observations from the time that Galileo discovered 

 the first true nebula in 1610; then follows an explanation 

 of the classification of nebul.t made by Sir William 

 Herschel, and of the code used by Sir John Herschel in 

 his descriptions of nebulai. -X brief description of the plates 

 shown in the latter's memoir of 1833 is followed by a 

 discussion of the groups of nebulous bodies as classified 

 by Dr. Roberts. The paper concludes with a brief sketch 

 of the lines which the author's discussion of Dr. Roberts's 

 plates will follow, and is to be continued in the following 

 number of the review. 



Horizon and Prime-vertical Curves for I^atitudes 

 4-30° TO -(-60°. — In these columns for January 30 (N."\ture, 

 No. 1996, p. 302) we described briefly a useful sun and 

 planet chart submitted for our inspection by Messrs. Carl 

 Zeiss. The same firm has now sent us a transparent 

 celluloid scale, devised by Herr H. H. Kritzinger, which, 

 when used in conjunction with the charts, enables one to 

 see at a glance the relative positions of the local horizon 

 and prime vertical for any place between latitudes 30° 

 and 60° north. This allows the approximate sidereal time 

 of rising and setting of the stars, and of their transit 

 through the prime vertical, to be found at once, and with 

 no trouble beyond that involved in superposing two sets of 

 I'nes. Messrs. Zeiss will be pleased to send copies of this 

 .lew scale on receiving applications. 



T 



ED UCA TIQNA L LEA KA GE. 



HE success of any system of technical instruction or 

 higher education depends ultimately upon the pre- 

 paratory education of the students in our technical schools 

 and other institutions of higher education. The results 

 hitherto obtained from the work of colleges and technical 

 schools in this country have been discounted seriously by 

 the inadequacy in the nature and supply of the education 

 for boys of school age. Mr. V. k. Mundella, in an address 

 delivered last year to the .Association of Teachers in 

 Technical Institutions, directed attention to the subject, and 

 also by means of curves illustrating recent statistics demon- 

 strated the serious leakage of children at twelve and 

 thirteen years of age, wht) afterwards receive no education 

 whatever. 



The accompanying diagram shows the number of 

 children at stated ages, and the grade of education, if any, 

 they are receiving. Mr. Mundella states that there are in 

 England and Wales, between the ages of eleven and twelve 

 years, 718,000 children, of whom 620,000 are in elementary 

 schools, and at the outside 40,000 in public and private 

 secondary schools. The curve T shows the total number 

 of children at each year of age up to twenty-one years, 

 and the curve S. the total number of these children in 



NO. 2009, VOL. 77] 



elementary schools. The form of \ shows strikingly the 

 rapid decrease in school attendance between the thirteenth 

 and fifteenth vears. The curve t exhibits the number of 

 children surviving, at each year of age, who have attended 

 an elementary school, and a comparison of this curve with 

 those marked B, C, X, shows how little has been accom- 

 plished in the direction of continuing tlie education of the 

 nation's children after the elementary school has beenleft. 

 Curve B illustrates the total number of children in science 

 and art classes, C in evening continuation schools, X in 

 secondary schools, and U— a continuation of X— in universi- 

 ties and university colleges. The curve X is based upon 

 statistics published in 189S, no later statistics being avail- 

 able. The curve D represents the number of surviving 



Diagram showing the number of youns people in England and Wale 

 between the ages of 11 and 21, and the number receiving education ir 

 schools and colleges of v 



children who have attended elementary schools, but are 

 receiving no further organised education, and E shows the 

 total number of children at each age taking approved 

 courses of instruction in State-aided secondary schools. 



The facts embodied in this diagram demonstrate very 

 clearly the need for strenuous national effort to insist upon 

 children attending primary schools until they are fourteen 

 years of age and abolish the present system of half-timers 

 and other exemptions, to provide for continuation schools 

 at which attendance shall be compulsory, and to establish 

 secondarv schools which are really schools of a high educa- 

 tional type. Schools in which So per cent, of the pupils 

 leave at fifteen vears of age or under are better described 

 as higher elementary schools than as secondary schools, 

 under which title they are at present classified. 



