4i8 



NATURE 



[February 4, 1909 



The Gordon Wigan income for 1908 at the disposal of 

 tlie special board for biology and geology has been applied 

 as follows :— (a) 50L to Mr. D. Sharp, the curator in 

 zoology ; (fc) 50/. to Mr. A. G. Tansley, to enable the 

 botanic garden syndicate to continue to offer special facili- 

 ties for plant-breeding experiments ; and (c) 50/. to Prof. 

 Hughes, being 30/. for the purchase of a projection lantern 

 for the geological department, and 20/. for the expenses 

 of research on Pleistocene deposits in the neighbourhood. 

 The prize of 50/. from the Gordon Wigan fund for an 

 investigation in chemistry was awarded in the year 1908 

 to Mr. L. A. Levy, of Clare College, for his essay entitled 

 " Investigations on the Fluorescence of Platinocyanides. " 



At the last meeting of the committee of Bristol 

 University, the treasurer, Mr. George A. Wills, mentioned 

 that he had received from Lord Winterstoke a letter in- 

 timating that he was prepared to give an additional 

 15,000/. towards the University. This, with the 20,oooi. 

 he had already given, makes Lord Winterstoke':; contribu- 

 tion to the fund 35,000!. 



A VERY interesting article on foreign associates of 

 national societies, by Prof. E. C. Pickering, of Harvard 

 College Observatory, which was published in the Popular 

 Science Monthly in October last, has been received in 

 excerpt form. Prof. Pickering points out that mere 

 membership of scientific societies is, in general, a poor 

 test of the qualifications of a man of science ; but the case 

 is very different if only foreign associates of the principal 

 national societies or academies of the world are considered. 

 Dealing with the physical and natural sciences alone, and 

 assuming that foreign associates are elected wholly for 

 eminence In a particular science. Prof. Pickering arrives 

 at some Important conclusions so far as the United States 

 are concerned. .Speaking of .American representation 

 among foreign members of the seven great scientific socie- 

 ties of the world, he says that In the United States the 

 representation per million inhabitants is less than a fifth 

 that of the principal countries of Europe. There is no 

 .'Vmerican representative in mathematics or medicine, while 

 in astronomy there are three out of ten members. Prof. 

 Pickering explains this result by saying that while immense 

 sums are spent on higher education in the United States, 

 the endowment for advanced research is comparatively 

 small. He states that astronomy Is almost the only science 

 having institutions In America devoted to research, and In 

 which a great deal of the time and energy of men of 

 science is not expended In teaching. Of the six .American 

 foreign associates referred to, five have occupied positions 

 in which no teaching was required, but their entire time 

 was supposed to be devoted to original investigation. 



It has often been pointed out that the courses of instruc- 

 tion in schools In India have been hitherto far too literary 

 In character, and that the whole training has not been 

 sufficiently scientific and practical. Education in India 

 has, in fact, suffered, as education in England suffered 

 for a generation, because of the inability of the responsible 

 authorities to understand that book-learning Is not the 

 knowledge that makes for progress. The supreme test of 

 educational success Is not the power to reproduce the 

 words or works of others, but the ability to undertalce an 

 independent inquiry and to arrive at sound conclusions. 

 The science teaching which is truly scientific makes the 

 printed or spoken word subsidiary to the workshop or 

 laboratory exercises, and uses adaptability rather than 

 phonographic capacity as a measure of mental growth. 

 .As the only sound basis of scientific instruction is 

 individual experience and activity, the extent of ground 

 which can be studied by practical methods In a .school 

 course Is necessarily limited. In our schools this is being 

 recognised, and good science syllabuses only include subjects 

 with which pupils may reasonably be expected to become 

 acquainted by experiment. In several provinces of India 

 such a desirable state of responsible opinion does not seem 

 yet to have been reached. For Instance, the United 

 Provinces Government Gazette, published at -Allahabad at 

 the end of last year, contains a science syllabus for the 

 award of high-school scholarships, and we have no hesita- 

 tion in saying that It would be better not to teach science 

 at all than to attempt to cover the pxtenslve course pre- 



NO. 2049, VOL. 79] 



scribed for the candidates. In addition to the rudimentary 

 principles of physics and chemistry — which by themselves 

 are more than sufficient for a school course studied by 

 scientific methods — the syllabus includes subjects from 

 sound, light, heat, electricity and magnetism, and chem- 

 istry of metals and non-metals. The syllabus in elementary 

 science (physics and chemistry) for the matriculation 

 examination of the L'niverslty of Madras Is of similar 

 character — extensive Instead of intensive. To prescribe 

 such syllabuses for Indian students is to put a premium 

 upon learning by reading rather than by doing. It may 

 be urged that practical work is impossible in many Indian 

 schools; but that provides no justification for instituting 

 science courses which require a large equipment of appar- 

 atus when taught properly, instead of courses which c:in 

 be studied experimentally with few special appliances. 

 Directors of public instruction in India who desire to know- 

 how the experimental method of science can be success- 

 fully Introduced into village schools sliould Inquire intO' 

 the work of the Irish Board of National Education, which 

 has excellent schemes of work capable of being carried out 

 without special equipment and at a minimum cost. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Zoological Society, January 12. — Piof. J. Rose Bradford, 

 F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — Observations on the 

 flagellates parasitic In the blood of fresh-water fishes : 

 Prof. E. -A. Minchin. Five species of Trypanosoma and 

 four species (two new) of Trypanoplasma, from fishes of 

 the Norfolk Broads, were described In detail. Particular 

 attention was paid to the minute structure of the parasites, 

 and it was shown that it is possible to give a uniform 

 description for the nuclear apparatus of both Trypanosoma 

 and Trypanoplasma. — Zoological results of the third 

 Tanganyika expedition, 1904-5. Report on the Copepoda : 

 Prof. G. O. Sars. — The gonadial grooves of a medusa, 

 Aiirclia aurita : T. Goodey. The author dealt with In- 

 vestigations which confirmed his earlier suggestion that 

 the gonadial grooves, which lie in the interradial axes 

 between the central gastric cavity and the gastric pouches, 

 have a se-xual function. From sectlonised material, draw- 

 ings had been obtained of spermatozoa and eggs lying 

 within the limits of the gonadial grooves, thus proving that 

 the latter are functional gonoducts. — The tuberculin test 

 In monkeys, with notes on the temperature of mammals : 

 Dr. -A. E. Brown, The paper described the methods and 

 results of experiments which have recently been carried 

 out at the zoological gardens of Philadelphia with the 

 view of suppressing tuberculosis In monkeys. — Balaena 

 glacialis and its capture in recent years In the North 

 .Atlantic by Norwegian whalers : Prof. R. Collett. 



Geological Society, January 13. — Prof. W. J. Sollas, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Labradorlte-noritc with 

 porphyrltic labradorite : Prof. J. H. L. Vogft. This rock 

 occurs off the northern coast of Norway. It contains 

 23 per cent, of iabradorite-phenocrysts, in a crystalline 

 groundmass of a more acid plagioclase, hypersthene, 

 diallage, and titanomagnetlte. Olivine Is conspicuously 

 absent. The plagloclase-phenocrysts are more acid in their 

 outer zones, and the groundmass plagioclase is still more 

 acid. I'rom analyses the relative proportions of the con- 

 stituents are calculated, and the formula of the felspars 

 determined. The order of crystallisation is found to be : — 

 (i) phenocryst plagioclase; (2) plagioclase with magnetite; 

 and (3) plagioclase, magnetite, pyroxenes. The order of 

 crystallisation follows the physlcochemlcal laws applying to 

 the phase liquid-solid. Graphic representations Illustrate 

 the order of crystallisation of a ternary system of plagio- 

 clase, magnetite, and pyroxene. Equilibrium between the 

 solid and the liquid albite-anorthite phase must have been 

 maintained long enough for the phenocrysts to acquire a 

 composition different from the first crystals, but eventually 

 the equilibrium broke down. The temperature-interval of 

 crystallisation Is estimated to have been between about 

 1400° and 1000°. This Investigation suggests that the pro- 

 cesses of crystallisation in a magma may be explained in 

 all details according to physlcochemlcal laws. — The genus 



