June 20, 1907] 



NA TURE 



17: 



in the middle or from the end. This is no empty 

 boast, for without wishing to depreciate a thinker 

 who is evidently an earnest man, we cannot call his 

 book anything but a collection of aphorisms. 



Some Pages of Lcvantuie History. By the Rev. 

 H. T. F. Duckworth. Pp. iv+149. (London: 

 Alexander Moring, Ltd., n.d.) Price 3^. 6d. net. 

 Prof. Duckworth commend.s his book " to those of 

 his countrymen who have either made, or intend to 

 make, a pilgrimage to the holy places of Christi.m 

 and Classical .\ntiquity," and it should certainly be 

 of service to them. As he was formerly assistant 

 chaplain representing the Eastern Church .Vssocialion 

 in Cvprus, he writes froiii first-hand knowledge in 

 many of his chapters. The te.\t is illustrated with 

 several good plates. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not liold liimself respoiisihle jor opinions 

 expressed by liis correspondents. Neitlier can lie undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers oj, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for tliis or any other part of Nature 

 No notice is taken of anonymous conununicaiions.] 



Root Action and Eacteria. 



Mr. Spencer Pickeuing's lellcr on the effect of soil 

 sterilisation on the growth of apple trees (June b, p. 126) 

 is of interest in connection with experiments which have 

 been made by Dr. Francis \'. Darbishire and myself, and 

 described in a paper read last year before the chemical 

 section of the British Association. We find that most 

 plants grow much 'better in heated than in unheated soils. 



That the productiveness of a .soil can be increased by 

 heating was shown in 1888 by Frank, and has since been 

 confirmed by other investigators besides ourselves. We 

 have not yet been able completely to account for it. There 

 is, beyond question, an increase in the total activity of the 

 soil microorganisms ; this is shown by the increased 

 absorption of oxygen. There is also evidence that some 

 chemical change takes place. .Mustard grown in heated 

 soil takes up a larger amount of nitrogen and of phos- 

 phorus, indicating an increased " availability " of some of 

 the compounds of these two elements. One of our experi- 

 ments gave the following results : — 



Yield of mustard i 



age CO rpositii n of 



Further, it is easy to shew that heating increases the 

 solubility both of the organic and of the inorganic matter 

 in the soil. The actual change that takes place can only 

 be ascertained when something more is known of the 

 proximate constituents of the soil, and especially of the 

 ill-dofined cclloidid bodies collectively known as humus. 



The case is somewhat more coinplicated if the plant 

 depends for part of its food on the activity of organisms 

 which have been killed during the healing process. The 

 increased " availability " of ihe plant food in the .soil may 

 or may not counteract the less of the special organism : 

 leguminous plants, and trees dependent on mycorrhiza, may 

 therefore be expected lo give irregular results. 



A furlh'-r complication may arise if the amount of 

 calcium carbonate in the soil is insufficient. In certain 

 circumstances humus is known to decompose and fern 

 bodies which, in absence of calcium carbonate, are in- 

 jurious to plants. There is no evidence that a similar 

 change docs not take place on heating; on the contrary, 

 one of Schulze's experiments (Landiv. ]'ersiichs. Slal., 

 Ni) 1064 VOL. 76 



igo(), Ixv., 137) seems to show that it does. He found 

 that heated pasture soil deficient in calcium carbonate 

 gave a poorer crop of mustard than did the unheated soil, 

 but on adding calcium carbonate the difference in crop 

 disappeared. So far we have always worked with soils 

 containing 3 per cent, or more of this substance, and 

 no depressing effect has been observed, but it would be 

 interesting to know how much was present in Mr. 

 Pickering's soil. Unless there happened to be sufficient, 

 the retardation in growth which he observed may well be 

 due to some injurious body formed bv heating the soil 

 rather than lo the absence of particular organisms. 



Edward J. Russell. 

 Sou(h-F.a>tern .Agricultural College, Wye. 



Unscientific Adm-nistration. 



May I be allowed lo offer a few words of comment on 

 one point raised by Prof. Ronald Ross in his article appear- 

 ing in this week's Nature? No qne can read his indict- 

 ment of the Indian official attitude towards science without 

 fei.'ling that another voice crying in the wilderness is warn- 

 ing cur administrators and governing classes of the dangers 

 that await an unscientific nation that persists in the error 

 of its ways. In explaining the cau.se of the present stale of 

 affairs. Prof. Ronald Ross says : — " . . . Lastly, it is due to 

 our defective public education." May I ainend the phrase by 

 internolating the words " school and university " between 

 the last two words quoted? For surely it is not the mass 

 of the people who are to blaine, but rather those who are 

 directing the affairs of the country. Our governing classes 

 have up till now been mostly educated at public schools 

 and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. To the 

 latter instil utions I will not refer. The Editor cf Nature, 

 Prof. Turner, and Prof. Perry, not to mention the council 

 of the Royal Society and others, have dope sterling service 

 lo the cause of scientific education in their attempts to 

 stir un public opinion ; but, notwithstanding a special 

 memorial from the Royal Society, neither universitv has 

 as yet, by altering its entrance examination, acknowledged 

 that .science forms an integral part in a liberal education. 



But with regard lo science teaching in public schools, of 

 which I mav claim several years' experience, it is not too 

 much lo say that the outlook is far froin promising. Not- 

 withstanding the fact that governing bodies have voted 

 money, bu'lt laboratories, and insisted on a minimum at 

 Icpst of science leaching, not one single public school, 

 using the term in its usual application, has for its head- 

 master a man srientifically trained. The Naval College 

 at Dartmouth ard one or two grammar schools are the 

 exceptions which prove the rule. 



As a result of this, no science master can ever hope to 

 get a headmastership, and the best men, therefore, do not 

 enter the leaching profession. I should be far froin wish- 

 ing to assert that headmasters are not, as a rule, anxious 

 to'do the best they can for science, ahhough their sympa- 

 thies are with literary subjects, but they cannot do more 

 than allow facil.ties for boys to learn science. The great 

 clog lo progress lies at the door of the assistant masters, 

 who arc as a body decidedly anti-scientific. What science 

 master has not heard the opinion confidently asserted that 

 science is only suited to the minds of a small minority of 

 boys? They cannot and will not admit that it can be 

 made an educational instrument of any moment. Who 

 could not mention cases of clever boys being warned not 

 lo " waste their lime " ever science? Was not Darwin 

 him.self publiclv rebuked for the same offence when a 

 youth at Shrewsbury School? But if chemistry and physics 

 ar,^ useless, biology is positively harmful. I have been 

 loid that biology should never be taught to boys, since it 

 must turn their minds towards questions of sex about 

 which they should be kept in perfect ignorance ! Finally, 

 it is said that the introduction of " modern " subjects 

 such as science has only brought about mental confusion 

 and stagnation, and the sooner we go back to the old 

 exclusively classical curricula the better. 



It is 'not hard lo imagine what will be the attitude of 

 mind towards science if the present generation of officials, 

 against whom Prof. Ronald Ross brings his coinplaints, are 

 ucceeded by those who are now at our public schools and 



