5o8 



NATURE 



[Oct. 2 2, 1874 



We may now return to consider the effect of the exa- 

 minations of the University of London upon the teaching 

 of Physics. These examinations, as we have seen, exist 

 for the express purpose of encouraging the pursuit of " a 

 regular and hberal course of education," or, as it may be 

 otherwise expressed, in order to encourage good teaching 

 and to discourage bad ; and in the foregoing remarks I 

 have tried to show as definitely as I can what meaning is 

 to be attached to the words " good " and " bad" in rela- 

 tion to the teaching of Physics. The obvious conclusion, 

 applicable to the particular point to which I now wish to 

 ask your attention, is that examinations are to be regarded 

 as good if they induce candidates to think about the 

 mutual relations of individual facts and their connection 

 with general principles ; while examinations are bad in 

 proportion as they lead to the loading of the memory 

 with unconnected scraps of knowledge. 



There are two ways in which the examinations of the 

 University of London tend to affect the quality of teach- 

 ing for good or for evil : first, by the general Regulations 

 drawn up by the Senate in reference to the various exami- 

 nations, including the list of subjects to be taken up and 

 the specifications of the requirements in each subject ; 

 and secondly, the questions set by the Examiners, which 

 form as it were a detailed commentary, authorised by the 

 Senate, on the meaning of their own Regulations. For 

 various reasons, the lowest examinations, or those which 

 come earliest in the University scheme, produce the 

 greatest effect on methods of teaching and learning ; for 

 one thing, they affect the greatest number of candidates, 

 and they come at a part of the candidates' career when 

 they are most dependent on external authority or advice 

 as to the course of their studies. 



THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SCIENCE 



THERE can be no surer indication of the universal 

 spread of science during the last few years than the 

 large and annually increasing number of works relating to 

 its various branches that are advertised for publication 

 during each successive season. The considerable ele- 

 ment which science now forms in education, in the arts 

 and manufactures, in commerce and agriculture, and in 

 the social economy of life, renders the knowledge of at 

 least its rudiments absolutely necessary in almost every 

 sphere of existence. The particulars given below will 

 show that publishers are fully alive to the importance and 

 value of good works in this department of literature. 



Although even now we have a large quantity of educa- 

 tional books of varying degrees of mediocrity and excel- 

 lence in almost all the commoner branches of science, 

 and the number of works is ever increasing, yet the 

 advance made by science makes it imperative that fresh 

 manuals and class-books and new editions should be con- 

 tinually pubhshcd, in order that students and workers 

 should be enabled to keep pace with its rapid strides. 

 The works we notice beneath range from the smallest 

 general primer to the most elaborated and matured works 

 in particular and specific branches of science ; and 

 among them will be found books by men of the highest 

 reputation in their special provinces. We have endea- 

 voured to notice every work of importance which is to 

 be published during the next few months ; but our list 

 is necessarily incomplete ; we shall, however, in future 

 numbers note any deficiencies, omissions, or fresh an- 

 nouncements. 



In Astronomy we observe the following books : — 

 T/ic Moon, and the Condition and Configuration of its 

 Surface, by Edmund Neison, Fellow of the Royal Astro- 

 nomical Society, &c., illustrated by maps and plates. 

 (Longmans.) — A Primer of Astronomy, by J. Norman 

 Lockyer, F.R.S., with illustrations. (MacmiUan.) — A 

 new edition of Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, in 



theory and practice, by Prof. J. R. Young. (Lockwood.) 

 — The Transits of Venus, a Popular Account of Past 

 and Coming Transits, from the first observed by Horrocks, 

 A.D. 1639, to the Transit of A.D. 21 12, by Richard Anthony 

 Proctor, B.A. Cantab., Hon. Fell. King's Coll. Lond., with 

 twenty plates and numerous woodcut illustrations. (Long- 

 mans.) 



In Chemistry we are promised a new edition of Dr. 

 Normandy's Commercial Handbool; of Chemical Analysis, 

 enlarged and almost re-written by Dr. H. M. Noad, 

 Ph.D., F.R.S. &c., with numerous illustrations. (Lock- 

 wood). — A second edition of Plattiicr's Manual of Quali- 

 tative and Quantitative Analysis icith the Bhnvpipe, 

 from the last German edition, revised and enlarged by 

 Prof. Th. Richter, of the Royal Saxon Mining .Academy, 

 translated by Prof. H. B. Cornwall, Assistant in the 

 Columbia School of Mines, New York ; this work is 

 illustrated with eighty-seven woodcuts and one litho- 

 graphic plate. (Sampson Low.) — Industrial Chemistry, 

 a Manual for Manufacturers and for use in Colleges or 

 Technical Schools, being a translation by Dr. J. D. Barry, 

 of Professors Stohmann and Engler's German edition of 

 Payen's " PrcJcis de Chimie Industrielle ;" edited through- 

 out and supplemented with chapters on the Chemistry of 

 the Metals, by B. H. Paul, Ph.D., with very numerous 

 plates and woodcuts. (Longmans.) — A third enlarged edi- 

 tion of A Systematic Handbook of Wdumetric Analysis, 

 or the Quantitative Estimation of Chemical Substances 

 by Measure, applied to Liquids, Solids, and Gases, with 

 numerous engravings, by Francis Sutton, F.C.S., Nor- 

 wich. (Churchill.) — Ihe Chemical Effects of Light and 

 Photography, in their Application to Art, Science, and 

 Industry, by Dr. Hermann \'ogel. (King and Co.) — A 

 new edition, revised and enlarged, of Practical ^Ietal- 

 lurgy, by John Percy, M.D., F.R.S., Lecturer on Metal- 

 lurgy at the Government School of Mines. Vol. I., 

 Part I. Introduction ; Fuel, wood, peat, coal, charcoal, 

 coke, refractory materials, fire-clays, &c. Vol. I., Part 2. 

 Copper, zinc, brass. (John Murray.) 



In Physics and Mechanics, INIessrs. Longmans will 

 publish the three following books : — The Elements of 

 Physics, by Neil Arnott, M.D., F.R.S., the seventh 

 edition, revised from the author's notes and other sources, 

 and edited by Alexander Bain, LL.D., Professor of Logic 

 in the University of Aberdeen, and by Alfred Swaine 

 Taylor, M.D., F.R.S. , Professor of Medical Jurisprudence, 

 Guy's Hospital. — Introduction to Experimental Physics, 

 Theoretical and Practical, including directions for con- 

 structing physical apparatus and for making experiments, 

 by Adolf F. Weinhold, Professor in the Royal Technical 

 School at Chemnitz, translated and edited (with the 

 author's sanction) by Benjamin Loewy, F.R.A.S, with a 

 preface by G. C. Foster, F.R.S., Professor of Physics 

 in University College, London, with numerous wood 

 engravings. — Lesso/is in Elementary Mechanics, intro- 

 ductory to the Study of Physical Science, by Philip 

 Magnus, B.Sc, B..'\. This book is adapted to the require- 

 ments of the London Matriculation, Preliminary, Scien- 

 tific, First M.B.,and other Examinations. 



Messrs. Charles Griffin will issue A Mechanical Tcxt- 

 Book, a Practical and Simple Introduction to the Study 

 of Mechanics, by William John Macquorn Rankine, 

 C.E., LL.D., F.R.SS., &c., late Regius Professor of Civil 

 Engineering in the University of Glasgow ; and Edward 

 P^isher Bamber, C.E. 



In Biology we have a large number of new books and 

 new editions, of which the following are the most note- 

 worthy : — Tlic History of Creation, by Prof. Ernst 

 Haeckel, the translation revised by E. Ray Lankester, 

 M.A. (King and Co.) — Elements of Human Physio- 

 logy, by Dr. L. Hermann, Professor of Physiology in 

 the University of Zurich, translated and edited front 

 the sixth (yet unpublished) German edition, at the author's 

 request, by Arthur Gamgee, M.D., F.R.S., Brackenbury 



