September 28, 191 1] 



NATURE 



421 



oi rooms consisting of drawing, dining, 

 bud, and bath rooms, together with a kitchen and 

 scullery, efficiently and beautifully lighted. In the 

 Kitchen demonstrations of electric cooking are being 

 parried out, and are under the direction of a first-class 

 cook. Electric laundry work is also shown. 



A COUNTRY IN THE MAKING.' 

 THE Argentine Republic has recently celebrated the 

 •*• centenary of its existence as an independent 

 State, and, in the national "stocktaking" which in- 

 evitably belongs to such an event, considerable atten- 

 tion has been given to education, as a result of which 

 we have two large volumes of statistical records, and 

 a third volume of monographs, on the various grades 

 ttional work that come under the direction of 

 the State. 



Prior to its escape from Spanish control, such 

 education as there was in the country was under 

 clerical, and, for the most part, Jesuitical direction. 

 In the ancient (Argentine) city of Cordova, the founda- 

 tion of which by Peruvian Spaniards dates back to 

 1573. the Jesuits established a high school (Colegia 

 maxima) in 1610, which Pope and King combined to 

 the dignity of a university very few years 

 later. The university was for two hundred years the 

 sole representative of higher studies. It was secu- 

 larised in 1800, and a sister university was set up at 

 Buenos Aires in 182 1 by the recently organised Govern- 

 ment. 



It is interesting' to note how world-wide was the 

 influence of Napoleonic ideas. There was then no 

 Department of Public Instruction, and the new uni- 

 viTMiv was entrusted with the duty of educational 

 administration in the city and district. After various 

 experiments in constitution-making, however, the in- 

 Huenci of ( he great republic of the north made itself 

 felt, and in the federal form of government which 

 jvas completely adopted in i860, the duty of providing 

 primary schools was put upon the local legislatures, 

 ntral Ministry of Public Instruction was also 

 formed. It was not, however, until Sarmiento's 

 presidency (1868-73) t l" lat; l ' ie country really woke up 

 1 ' its 1 ducational needs. Sarmiento had been an exile 

 for some years, and during that time Chile had sent 

 him to Europe and the United States to study educa- 

 tional systems. He had met Humboldt, Guizot, 

 Dobden, and Horace Mann, and entered upon his 

 presidential period full of great projects for the de- 

 velopment of national education. His influence led 

 in greatly-increased grants from the central exchequer 

 to the provincial governments, and to the establish- 

 jhenl of a great training college for teachers on the 

 model of similar institutions in the United States. 



The degree of progress which has been attained in 

 the provision of primary schools, and the vast diffi- 

 EOlti' - nf the Government, are best illustrated bv the 

 comparative number of children between six and four- 

 teen who could not read or write (illettr^s) in 1805 

 and in iqoo. There were in the former year 57 per 

 cent., and in the latter 32'h per cent. Education is 

 compulsory between six and fourteen ; we may sup- 

 pose thai the children in school do not learn to read 

 within a year, and so reduce the ^2"6 to approximated 

 28 per cent. — not a bad -result if we keep in mind the 

 enormous territorv and the sparseness of the popula- 

 tion, immediately the precincts of the large towns are 

 Uft behind. Uruguay is the only other South Ameri- 

 can State which comes anprnximatelv near to such a 

 result; the number of illiterates rises to 80 per cent. 



' " 'Republique Argentine. Recensement general d'Education ieve" le 2^ 

 mat IOOO." I'..- Alhen P.. M.nrtine/ Tome i, "Population Scolaire." 

 Pp. xIii+448. Tome ii, "Statistique Scolaire." Pp. lxxiii+344. Tome 

 iii, " Mnnographies." Pp. ii+703 (Buenos Aires, tqio.) 



NO. 2187, VOL. 87] 



in Brazil and 90 per cent, in Venezuela. In spite of 

 what has been accomplished in the sphere of primary 

 education, the cost to the State is very small in com- 

 parison with what is paid for the higher schools and 

 universities. 



Most of the secondary schools are under the direct 

 control of the Central Government. They follow a 

 five-year course preparatory to the university. As is 

 the case in Austria, it is worthy of note that psy- 

 chology is a subject of instruction in the last school 

 year. The schools in Buenos Aires are magnificently 

 housed; their equipment is costly, and their staffs are 

 ample. The five schools cost the city more than 

 ioo.oooZ. in 190S. But in the smaller towns things 

 do not go so well. The subjects are appropriated to 

 chairs (catedras), the holders ot which must give at 

 least three hours a week instruction. They are for the 

 most part occupied by local professional men, whose 

 main interests are not, of course, in the school. There 

 are two State high schools for girls, in Buenos Aires 

 and in La Plata, but the majority of girls are edu- 

 cated in conventual institutions. The Jesuitical semi- 

 naries also attract many of the sons of the wealthier 

 classes. 



There are now three universities in the country, a 

 third having been founded by the State of La Plata in 

 1906. This last foundation follows the United States 

 model, with a supervising president who brings unity 

 into the system of government by more or less inde- 

 pendent faculties such as obtains in Cordova and 

 Buenos Aires. All the universities are handsomely 

 provided with funds. In 1908, Cordova received 

 55,000/., Buenos Aires 90,000/., and La Plata S6,oooL 

 from the national exchequer. Nor is capital expense 

 spared. The State has recently voted 1,200,000/. for 

 various university buildings, including a new hospital 

 for the medical school at Buenos Aires, and buildings 

 at Cordova in celebration of the tercentary of its 

 foundation. 1 



Vigorous life and a profound belief in education are 

 obvious everywhere. Technical schools, a new public 

 school on the English pattern, magnificent museums 

 and libraries such as our great provincial cities may 

 long yearn for in vain — all these are pointed to with 

 legitimate pride. Here and there in the record one 

 comes across interesting bits of heterodoxy, which 

 bear witness to a healthv independence of view. 

 "J'estime que l'institution des Kindergarten est une 

 veritable her^sie pedagogique et tin crime de lfese- 

 enfance." This is startling, to say the least. Never- 

 theless, the volumes fill one with admiration for the 

 pride and faith in the future of their country which 

 animates their authors and the administrators whose 

 work they record. J. A. Green. 



DR. F. W. PAW. F.R.S. 



ON September 10 the death occurred of Dr. 

 Frederick William Paw, F.R.S., in his eighty- 

 third year. Dr. Pavy was born in Wiltshire in May, 

 1X20, and was educated at Merchant Taylors' School. 

 He subsequently entered Guy's Hospital, where he 

 had a distinguished career, and in the course of his 

 graduation at the London University took the exhibi- 

 tion and gold medal in materia medica, the gold medal 

 in medicine, and honours in other subjects. He be- 

 came a doctor of medicine in 1853. He studied 

 physiology in the laboratory of Claude Bernard, in 

 Paris, and soon began that prolonged research 

 into the relation of sugar to the animal economy, in 

 reference to the causation and treatment of glycosuria 

 and diabetes, which terminated only with his life. 



I- V. article " Argentine Republic," Macraillan's I Educa- 



