322 



NA TURE 



[January 14, 1909 



play is not brilliant. The light is comparable with that 

 uf the Milky Way, and the moonlight between the first 

 and third quarters is usually sufficient to overcome that 

 of the aurora. Owing to this feeble light, the spectro- 

 scopic observations were not successful. On some occasions 

 the characteristic yellow line near D was seen in a direct- 

 vision spectroscope, but no record was obtained by photo- 

 graphy, though plates were exposed from a few minutes 

 to twenty-four hours and longer. 



In the last section Commander Chetwynd and Dr. Chree 

 discuss the results of the magnetic observations. One 

 interesting result is the determination of the position of 

 the south magnetic pole by the method of observed declina- 

 tions and inclinations. The results are as follows : — 



By declination 

 ,, inclnation 



72° 50' S. lat. 

 72° 52' „ 



150° 20' E. long. 

 The close agreement is curious and eminently satisfactorv. 



THE NORTH OF ENGLAND EDUCATION 

 CONFERENCE. 

 'T'HE seventh annual meeting of the above conference 

 ■*■ was held at Manchester during the latter half of 

 last week, January 7-9. The meeting was very well 

 attended, and the arrangements for social intercourse and 

 general comfort were excellent. There was a conversazione 

 on Thursday evening at the Municipal School of Techno- 

 logy, and a reception at the Town Hall on Friday even- 

 ing. A convenient handbook was issued containing a full 

 programme. 



The actual work of the conference began on Friday, 

 when the president, the Right Rev. Bishop WcUdon, Dean 

 of Manchester, delivered his presidential address. He put 

 great stress on the fact that everything in education de- 

 pends ultimately on the teacher, who cannot be too highly 

 trained ; but the success of education depends also on the 

 completeness with which the good scholar can ascend the 

 educational ladder right up to the university. The ultimate 

 aim of all educational efforts is "to fit the young, young 

 men and women alike, to be good husbands and wives, 

 good parents of families, good citizens." 



In his address on " The Incidence of the Cost of Educa- 

 tion," Lord Stanley of .Mderley appealed for more Oovern- 

 ment aid in the shape of money, and he suggested that a 

 Royal Commission should be appointed in order to inquire 

 into the cost of education. He maintained, in anv case, 

 that a large share of the cost should be borne locally bv 

 the levying of rates, whereas .Alderman Oulton (Liver- 

 pool) was rather in favour of increased taxation for educa- 

 tional purposes. There was genera! agreement on one 

 point — that more money is necessary. It is to be hoped 

 that this suggestion made during the conference on the 

 ouestion of increased financial aid will bear fruit in some 

 form or other. We want to get the best men and women 

 into the teaching profession. They must be well trained, 

 .ind should be able to expect a reasonably adequate return 

 for the expense of their training and education. The 

 building of modern schools and their outfitting of course 

 also cost money, and every teacher knows how much 

 better he ran teach in a good and well equipped than in 

 a poorly furnished and badly lighted and ventilated class- 

 100m. 



In the afternoon " The Supply of Teachers " was under 

 discussion. It appears that tlie supply far exceeds the 

 demand at present, but that circumstances should be made 

 use of to weed out inefficient teachers and replace them by 

 belter ones. " The Teaching of Langu.ages " and " The 

 Training of Girls in Domestic Subjects " also came in for 

 debate during the afternoon. In the former. Prof. Sonnen- 

 schein appeared as the champion of Latin, though not to 

 the exclusion of German and French. French might even 

 be taken at school before Latin. In the latter. Miss 

 Margaret .Ashton argued that it would not be right that 

 girls and boys should be educated entirely on the same 

 lines. 



On Saturday, at the general meeting, " The Coordination 



of the Curricula in Primary and Secondary Schools " 



formed the subject of a papeV by Mr. Paton 'fMnnchesfer 



Grammar School). He maintained that the teaching of 



NO. 2046, VOL. 79] 



science is adequately cared for in the scliool curricula, 

 but that there is a lack of continuity in the teaching of 

 classics. He mentioned the fact that at the present day 

 most members of the Church, of the Civil Services, of the 

 journalistic and diplomatic professions have been through 

 mainly a classical education ; and he held that therefore 

 more attention should be paid to classical education. Most 

 men of science, however, would arrive at the opposite 

 conclusion. Reference may here be made to some re- 

 marks made by Lord Fitzmaurice at a recent Royal 

 Society dinner, and quoted by Sir E. Ray Lankester in 

 one of his essays " From an Easy Chair." " It is every 

 day becoming more and more certain that science is the 

 master." Lord Fitzmaurice further said that at no distant 

 date it may be considered not only reasonable, but neces- 

 sary, to replace the present-day diplomatists by men of 

 science. 



We must always remember, however, that the teaching 

 of science at school is still a comparatively recent develop- 

 ment. We are not only still learning and experimenting 

 how to teach the subject as well or better than the ancient 

 languages are taught, but we have to contend against a 

 great deal of traditional, and perhaps not unnatural, pre- 

 judice. 



In the afternoon a powerful plea was put in for the 

 evening instruction of the .so-called " masses." There is 

 no doubt that there are really a very large number of 

 men and women workers willing to improve their minds, 

 not only along technical, but also along purely academic 

 lines ; but this can only to a limited extent be done by 

 the provision of evening courses. A university degree 

 based on an " evening-class " knowledge cannot, on the 

 average, be so well earned as a degree depending on day 

 work. The idea of giving full university degrees on the 

 strength of evening work should not be encouraged ; but 

 everything should be done by universities to encourage 

 the attendance of day workers as students at evening 

 classes in order to cultivate their minds, without any 

 intention of taking a degree. Scholarships obtained at 

 evening courses might then lead on to day courses. 



A detailed discussion on the subject of " Methods of 

 Teaching Mathematics " concluded the business of the 

 conference on Saturday afternoon. On this occasion the 

 two chief papers were read by Mr. Garstang (Bed.iles 

 School. Petersfield) and Mr. Brothcrton (School of Techno- 

 logy, Manchester). 



THE .'ETHER OF SPACE.' 

 •yHIRTV years ago Clerk Maxwell gave in this place 

 ■* a remarkable address on " Action at a Distance. 

 It is reported in the Journal of the institution, vol. vii., and 

 to it I would direct attention. Most natural philosophers 

 hold, and have held, that action at a distance across empty 

 space is impossible; in other words, that matter cannot act 

 where it is not, but only where it is. The question, "Where 

 is it?" is a further question that may demand attention 

 and require more than a superficial answer. For it can 

 be argued on the hydrodynamic or vortex theory of matter, 

 as well as on the electrical theory, that every atom of 

 matter has a universal, though nearly infinitesimal, pre- 

 valence, and extends everywhere, since there is no definite 

 sharp boundary or limiting periphery to the region dis- 

 turbed by its existence. The lines of force of an 

 isolated electric charge extend throughout illimitable space ; 

 and though a charge of opposite sign will curve and 

 concentrate them, yet it is possible to deal with both 

 charges, by the method of superposition, as if they each 

 existed separately without the other. In that case, there- 

 fore, however far they reach, such nuclei clearly exert 

 no " action at a distance " in the technical sense. 



Some philosophers have reason to suppose that mind 

 ran act directly on mind without intervening mechanism, 

 and sometimes that has been spoken of as genuine action 

 at a distance; but, in the first place, no proper concep- 

 tion or physical model can be made of such a process, 

 nor is it clear that space and distance have any particular 

 meaning in the region of psychology. The links between 

 mind and mind may be something quite other than 



1 Abstract of discourse delivered at the Royal Institution on February 21, 

 1908, by Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. 



