33° 



NA TURE 



[September 2, 1922 



Those who desire to see biology take its proper 

 place in general education, as also others more 

 directly interested in the teaching of botany in 

 schools, owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Lilian J. 

 Clarke of the James Allen's Girls' School, Dulwich, 

 for a practical demonstration of how much can be 

 done within the rather narrow limitations of a school 

 curriculum to make botany a " live " subject, and 

 also for the creation of a school botany garden in 

 many respects unique both in design "and in the 

 manner in which it is utilised in the teaching work. 



In a pamphlet before us. the publication of which 

 has been greatly delayed by post-war conditions, 

 Dr. Clarke gives a stimulating account of the history 

 and organisation of the school botany gardens and 

 the teaching work associated with them. We have 

 no doubt that this report of an interesting experiment 

 in science teaching will serve the purpose intended 

 by the Board and be helpful to other schools which 

 give special attention to the teaching of botany. 

 To quote Dr. Clarke : " Our main object in de- 

 veloping the gardens has been to make the teaching 

 of botany thoroughly practical by closely associating 

 indoor with outdoor work. . . . The gardens have 

 been of great assistance in carrying out the method 

 of studying botany by direct observation and ex- 

 periment : they are, in fact, outdoor laboratories." 



Attention may be directed to two features of 

 special interest in these botany gardens. One is 

 the provision of vegetable plots in sole charge of 

 the pupils themselves. Certain obvious difficulties 

 must be overcome in order to make possible the 

 inclusion of garden work as part of an ordinary 

 school routine, and it is proof of able administration 

 on the part of the science staff, and willing work 

 and co-operation on the part of the girls themselves, 

 that these plots showed a working profit during the 

 period 1 912-15. Used in this way, garden work 

 stimulates interest in plant life and affords a reason- 

 able basis for lessons in photosynthesis and the 

 essential features of plant physiology. 



A more unusual feature in the gardens, and one 

 of great educational value, has been the construction 

 of a number of special areas, each designed to provide 

 the conditions requisite for a characteristic type of 

 vegetation. Among these are fresh-water and salt- 

 water marshes, a pond 34 ft. by 23 ft., a pebble 

 beach, a peat bog, and soil conditions favourable for 

 the growth of chalk-loving and heath plants, as well 

 as the successful reproduction of natural vegetation 

 units such as an oak wood. No better introduction 

 to the study of plant ecology can be imagined than 

 these attempts to reproduce'the essential conditions 

 of special habitats with the subsequent collection, 

 naming, planting, and care of the appropriate plant 

 species. 



The value of science teaching in schools would be 

 greatly enhanced were more attention given to linking 

 up different groups of scientific facts and to bringing 

 them into touch with other subjects in the school 

 curriculum and with the facts of ordinary life. Botany 

 teaching as described in this report appears to offer 

 an opportunity of doing this. For example, it is not 

 difficult to link up the recognition of vegetation units 

 such as those referred to above with the teaching of 

 geography and history. 



No mention is made in the report of the utilisation 

 1 if the botany gardens for the observation of animal 

 life, although it is clear that development is possible 

 along these lines also. The phenomena of metamor- 

 phosis in frogs and butterflies, and the inter-relations 

 of plant and animal life as shown by the association 

 of certain caterpillars with specific "food plants may 

 be cited as examples, as well as the opportunity 

 afforded for observations on the ecology of animals." 



NO. 2757, VOL. I 10] 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Dr. Kenneth Fisher, senior science master at 

 Eton College, and formerly assistant master at 

 Clifton College, has been appointed headmaster of 

 Oundle School, in succession to the late Mr. F. W. 

 Sanderson. 



The Council of the City and Guilds of London 

 Institute in their report for 1921 reviews the history 

 of this body's work from its inception in 1876. The 

 report shows that the aggregate amount of the con- 

 tributions by the City companies to the Institute's 

 funds exceeds one million pounds. Of the several 

 undertakings maintained wholly or in part by the 

 Institute, the most important is' the City and Guilds 

 (Engineering) College, now constituting the engineer- 

 ing section of the Imperial College of Science and 

 Technology. Of the degrees in engineering conferred 

 by the University of London in the past twenty 

 years, nearly half, of honours degrees more than half, 

 were won "by students of this college. The total 

 number of students in 1920-21 was 609, of whom 

 nearly half were taking electrical engineering. The 

 Finsbury Technical College, which it was proposed 

 to close last year owing to financial difficulties, 

 has now been placed under a delegacy as a grant- 

 aided institution subject to the regulations of the 

 London County Council. Technological examina- 

 tions conducted by the Institute were in 192 1 held 

 in 67 subjects in 316 centres, including many in India 

 and other parts of the Empire overseas. Trie number 

 of entries was nearly eight thousand. 



A project for an international congress of all 

 universities, both state and independent, of all 

 countries, is to be elaborated by a sub-commission 

 of the commission on intellectual co-operation set up 

 by the League of Nations, consisting of Profs. Gilbert 

 Murray and de Reynolds (Berne) ; A. de Castro, 

 director of the faculty of medicine in the University 

 of Rio de Janeiro ; M. J. Destree, ex-minister of 

 sciences and arts of Belgium ; and Dr. R. A. Millikan, 

 director of the Norman Bridge laboratory of phvsics 

 at the technological institute of California. This 

 sub-commission will begin by examining, with due 

 regard to the sovereign right of nations to legislate 

 in matters of education and to university autonomy, 

 the questions of exchange of professors and of 

 students, equivalence of university studies and 

 diplomas, the institution of international bursaries 

 and vacation courses, and a central bureau of univer- 

 sity information. In making these proposals the 

 council of the League appears to have overlooked 

 those two very efficient existing organs, the Univer- 

 sities Bureau of the British Empire and the American 

 Institute of International Education, which were 

 established by the universities themselves and are 

 actively engaged in furthering these very objects. 

 Another sub-committee, consisting of Madame Curie 

 and M. Destree and a certain number of specialists 

 to be co-opted by them, is to study the organisation 

 of international bibliography and the question of 

 establishing international libraries on the basis of a 

 convention entitling them to receive copies of all 

 published works. 



At the fifth annual meeting of the American Council 

 on Education reports were presented showing that 

 under the able direction of Dr. S. P. Capen this body 

 has accomplished much useful work and has in hand 

 enterprises of far-reaching importance in connexion 

 with questions of educational policy. It has played 

 a leading part in the recent development of Franco- 



