196 



NA TURE 



[June 29, 1905 



must contribute, and to ensure success men both 

 familiar wltli science and aware of the difficulties with 

 which teachers have to cope must lend their aid. It 

 is for this reason we welcome these lectures by Sir 

 Oliver Lodge, representing as they do the experience 

 gained bv a man of science in many departments of 

 work. 



The lectures range ov.-?r a great variety of topics, 

 and the subjects are presented with but little arrange- 

 ment. But informal and disconnected though they 

 are, the chapters will cause earnest teachers to re- 

 consider their methods, and strenuously to strive after 

 the improvements adumbrated. Sir Oliver Lodge 

 rightly affirms that the two most important questions 

 for educators to-day are, " What subjects should be 

 selected for teaching? " and " How should they be 

 taught? " But these are precisely the problems 

 teachers have had to face since the Renascence, and 

 we seem little nearer solutions than were the 

 educators of three hundred years ago. A complete 

 answer to the questions propounded will remain im- 

 possible until psychology has demonstrated the precise 

 stages in the growth of the immature human 

 intelligence and determined what instruction will assist 

 best each step of such development. For psychology 

 lo accomplish this task many carefully planned 

 experiments, carried out bv practical teachers imbued 

 with the scientific spirit, are necessary, and the results 

 arrived at must be chronicled and subjected to the 

 most searching criticism. 



Mere expressions of opinion will not greatly assist 

 the coming of the new science. What is wanted is 

 investigation. If the man of science will cooperate 

 with the practical schoolmaster, there is no reason 

 why it should not be possible to answer the two vital 

 questions re-stated by Sir Oliver Lodge. But it is 

 imperative that we formulate, after exhaustive dis- 

 cussion, clearly defined problems to be put to the test 

 of experience in schools, and that when we have 

 agreed upon the results we act upon them. It is in 

 this direction that the most fruitful work for educa- 

 tion is to be done. 



It is unnecessary to summarise the contents of the 

 lectures before us. It is sufficient to say they touch 

 upon the whole field of education. Sir Oliver 

 Lodge is always suggestive, and his ohiter dicta may 

 be commended to the attention of men of science and 

 school teachers alike. Of all the subjects calling for 

 scientific study and research, the education of the 

 young is the most important. This deserves pre- 

 eminently to occupy the serious attention of all who 

 desire the well being of the human race. .'\. T. S. 



BRITISH BIRDS. 

 British Bird Life. By W. Percival Westell. Pp. 

 xxxv + 338'. (London: T. Fisher Unvvin, 1905.) 

 Price 5i. 



THE wearisome procession of books on British 

 birds still drags on — a long train of volumes, 

 all of necessity telling the same tale, and for the most 

 part badly. The laboured apologies which most of 



NO t86i, vol. 72] 



these weaklings bring with them show, indeed, that 

 their respective parents realise how slender is the 

 chance of their finding favour even at the hands of a 

 public proverbialhr long-suffering. Yet still they 

 come. 



The present volume endeavours to justify its exist- 

 ence on the plea that " there is need for a work 

 entirely devoted to those species which nest amongst 

 tis year by year . . ."; and yet a number of species 

 are included in this book which, on the author's own 

 admission, do not breed with us year by year. Such 

 are the Canada goose, little owl, golden oriole, 

 hoopoe, and fire-crested wren. To these may be 

 added the white-tailed eagle, spotted crake, roseate 

 tern, and quail! On the other hand, there is reason 

 to believe that the snow-bunting — included in this 

 book — nests annually in Scotland, vet this fact is not 

 even hinted at. 



No more trustworthy are the author's statements 

 as to " where our summer migrants spend the 

 winter." 



While we heartily agree with much that Mr. 

 Westell has to say on the subject of the relentless 

 persecution which of late years has been meted out 

 to the birds of prey, we must protest against the 

 hysterical notions of justice which he expresses in re- 

 gard to a case wherein four men were fined thirtv 

 shillings apiece for taking a nest of young peregrines. 

 " A good dose of the cat," he contends, " or imprison- 

 ment without the option of a fine, would probably 

 have had a better effect than a fine of a few- 

 shillings " ! 



As touching this same species, the author gravely 

 assures us that falconry is " a very costly hobby, even 

 the most ordinary Hawks used for falconry costing 

 as much as looL apiece. They require the most 

 careful attention, and it is difficult to get men 

 qualified to take charge of them under a salary of, 

 say 200I. a year." 



The photograph purporting to be that of a sparrow 

 hawk is really a picture of a kestrel. 



At times Mr. Westell becomes ecstatic, and, blinded 

 by the intensity of his emotions, rushes onwards re- 

 gardless of obstacles — even of the rules of grammar 

 — as witness the peroration w-hich forms the con- 

 cluding paragraph of his book : — 



" For the good most birds do, for their cheery 

 voices and winning ways, their charming forms and 

 delicate colouring, their beautifully woven nests and 

 exquisite eggs, their fairv-like flight, and other 

 interesting characteristics, I appeal to my readers to 

 study them with a bloodless intention, and to 

 endeavour to learn practical lessons from their in- 

 dustry and devotion to their young ; to study them 

 as animate beings, and not as gazed upon as wretched 

 caricatures of bird-life too often found in Museums 

 and collections, and to endeavour to be of some 

 service in specially inculcating and fostering within 

 young and growing children an intelligent love for the 

 bird life of our country " ! ! 



This book is profusely illustrated, partly by photo- 

 graphs, some of which are verv pleasing, and partly 

 by " original " drawings, all of which are bad. 



W. P. P. 



