July 23, 1896] 



A' A TURE 



269 



liquid, or concrete form," which inference leads to a 

 <onclusion that seems to contain the gist of the theory 

 advanced, and is expressed as follows. "Therefore it 

 is reasonable to assume that this ether is composed of 

 atoms in their normal and most rarefied state, distinct 

 and varied in species as to their nature and substance, 

 are unchanjjeable and undestructible, involved by forces 

 of attinity from ether to a density (.ivV), and finally into a 

 gaseous, liquid, or concrete form. .And as all matter 

 known to us is capable of being rendered volatile, cither 

 by the action of heat or potent dissolving alkalie-i, they 

 are dissolved again in the course of eternity from concrete 

 to ether.'' The author applies this principle of "Ether 

 thou art, and to ether shalt thou return," very compre- 

 hensively, taking in such diverse subjects as "Nebukc 

 resulting in Solar Formations," "The Phenomena of tlie 

 Magnet and .Aurora Borealis," "The Survival of the 

 Fittest in Protoplasmic Organisms," " Mind of Mankind," 

 and " Rise and Fall of Nations." He also discourses 

 freely upon " free calorics " and " latent calorics," which 

 apparently play an important part in the scheme of 

 involution and devolution set forth. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

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

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.'^ 



The Position of Science at Oxford. 



May I be allowed, as one who has had some experience both 

 vithln the University itself, in more than one capacity, and also 

 in one of our public schools, to oiler a few remarks on this 

 subject ? 



Vour recent article state."; that the failure of the Science 

 School at Oxford is not complete because "it has long been 

 recognised that the attainments of the limited number of scien- 

 tific men which it turns out compare well with those of men who 

 have been educated in other places " ; while in a subsequent 

 passage we read : " The Science School at Cambridge has 

 acquired such a prestige that the best boy.-; go there, and only 

 the second best to O.xford." These two statements are either 

 mutually opposed, or the teaching at Oxford is of so high an 

 order that while there the " second best" are made capable of 

 favourable comparison with those "best boys" educated else- 

 where. "Failure" is hardly an apt description of .such an 

 achievement. In my opinion Oxford gets its full share of 

 "best boys." I can quote insiances of boys of second-rate 

 ability who have gained scholarships at Cambridge, but would 

 have failed to do so at any college at Oxford. The standard 

 required by Oxford is undoubtedly a higher one than that which 

 i^ sufficient at many (not all) Cambridge colleges ; and, as a rule, 

 ilie value of Oxford scholarships is correspondingly greater In 

 my experience the character of the Final Honour Schools of 

 .Science at Oxford is such that a boy of brilliant attainments and 

 originality is more benefited by the course there prescribed, than 

 by the wider but shallower training of I'art I. of the Science 

 Tripos. It is my practice to endeavour to send such boys to 

 Oxiord, and hitherto there has been no cause for repentance. 

 The prestige of the Cambridge Medical School is undoubtedly a 

 great obstacle to the increase in numbers (if indeed this is to be 

 desired) of science students at Oxford. London and Cambridge 

 practitioners far outnumber all otliers, and it is to one of these 

 that the parents of boys who give evidence of scientific tastes, 

 turn for advice regarding their sons. Can it be wondered that 

 the advice given is generally in favour of some school other than 

 at Oxford ? Until the general public realises that, alike in pure 

 science and in medicine and surgery, Oxford can and does hold 

 her own with other places of education, the number of Oxford 

 students will remain .small. 



I believe, however, that many staunch friends of Oxford hold 

 with me, that a small school of high standard is more in 

 accordance with her best interests, than a large one in which 

 applied science stifles the acquirement of knowledge for its 

 own sake. 



NO. 1395, VOL. 54 I 



^'ou pronounce, on the whole, against Greek as a compulsory 

 subject. Does any scientific man who has learnt, be it never 

 so little, Greek, regret the time spent upon it? In teaching 

 elementary science, especially biology, it is brought home to the 

 teacher that technical terms form a serious stumbling-block to 

 many boys ; but if the classical derivation of these words is men- 

 tioned, they at once cease to be difficulties, and become readily 

 familiar. The Greek language is called into service in so many 

 of these modern terms, that ignorance of Greek cannot fail to 

 materially increase the obstacles that beset the path of the be- 

 ginner. This is perhaps a low ground on which to argue in 

 favour of Greek, but it is one that is too frequently entirely 

 overlooked by its opponents. 



" On the whole, the teaching in public schools is bad." One 

 of the accused can hardly reply impartially to such a charge, 

 but I fully agree with the half-acquittal implied in the subse- 

 quent query: " .\re the public schools altogether to blame ? " 

 Science labours \mder heavy disadvantages at most public schools. 

 The j^cnius of the schools is classical. The value attached to 

 science is so small, that even a promising boy cannot make up by 

 his science for deficiency in classics or mathematics, and thus is 

 condemned to pass his days in the lower part of the school; 

 whereas the acute classic, however obtuse in science, is in no 

 way hindered on his path to the sixth form. Promotion is on 

 the aggregate of marks, and the proportion allotted to science 

 is insignificant. Classes are arranged by aggregate merit, and a 

 graduated series of science classes grouped according to scientific 

 ability is almost unknown. A scientific subject added to re- 

 sponsions would probably improve matters ; but it must be 

 remembered that some minds are so constituted (I speak from 

 experience and mature conviction), that scientific subjects are to 

 them of no educational value whatever, and a compulsory 

 examination in science would prove an impediment to many a 

 brilliant classic whose progress we should do ill to bar. If, 

 however, such an examination were to act in a downward 

 direction, and cause public schools to include science in their 

 entrance and scholarship examinations, it would indeed .serve a 

 good purpose. Few preparatory schools include science in 

 their curriculum ; their whole energy is devoted to those sub- 

 jects which will bring a substantial return of advertising value 

 in the form of a scholarship. Experience has shown me in an 

 unmistakable way that boys who have gone through the entrance 

 scholarship mill have, in most cases, had all aptitude for science 

 crushed out of them, and that they require a course of mentally- 

 invalid treatment before any of them recover a healthy tone and 

 attitude of mind towards a subject of which they have been 

 hitherto kept in ignorance These boys are presumably the 

 pick of their contemporaries in general ability, and at present 

 these keener intellects are debarred from exercise in scientific 

 .subjects, for which assuredly some few would exhibit a pre- 

 ference. 



In a guarded expression you give your vote to the study of 

 physics and chemistry in schools. This view is one very 

 generally held ; but I believe it to be wrong, and an inversion 

 of the natural order. Our object, I take it, is to draw out 

 and develop in our pupils those talents that they severally 

 p<jssess. Boys are outdoor beings, and they should be so ; nearly 

 every boy at some period of his life collects insects, bird's eggs, 

 or flowers. It is this collecting instinct which ought to be con- 

 verted by education into the observing habit, and so made a 

 natural foundation on which to erect a truly scientific super- 

 structure of acquired knowledge. More boys are interested and 

 intellectually stimulated by subjects touching on natural history 

 than by physics and chemistry-. These last not infrequently 

 repel at first, whereas the others can to a certain extent be 

 pursued on the play-fields and in the surrounding country. The 

 pupil soon finds that he must acquire some knowledge of physics 

 and chemistry ; and the want being felt, the task is more willingly 

 undertaken. In this connection I must state my belief that the 

 present style of examination for science scholarships at both 

 Universities does not give sufticient opportunity to the " boy 

 naturalist," and indeed the majority of boys who become 

 scholars are not " naturalists " in any sense Many colleges have 

 in this respect materially improved their examinations recently, 

 and the change is beginning to bear fruit ; but until it is more 

 widely recognised that the boy naturalist is the parent of the man 

 scientific, so long will many minds, by nature best suited to 

 extend our knowledge, be diverted into unnatural and less fertile 

 channels. Oswald H. Latter. 



Charterhouse, Godalming, July 13. 



