270 



NATURE 



[July 23, 1896 



In your issue of July 9 there is an article on " The Position of 

 Science at Oxford," and though I am not very well acquainted 

 with that position, and am entirely in sympathy with the 

 writer in his endeavour to get that University to encourage the 

 science student more than it does, yet there are some remarks 

 in the article to which I must take exception. 



The statement that men of a year's standing at Cambridge, 

 who come up with a moderate acquaintance of science, have an 

 opportunity of bringing themselves up to scholarship standard at 

 the end of their first year, sounds rather as if this was of import- 

 ance in attracting the science student to Cambridge. But is this 

 opportunity really of importance? Do many men in reality get 

 scholarships in science at the end of their first year ? Is not the 

 scholarship money rather used in increasing the value of the 

 scholarships already gained, than in forming new ones ? Are not 

 those who go up with " a fair general education and only a 

 moderate acquaintance with science," more often advised by 

 their college tutor to go in for the general examination than to 

 specialise in science at once ? 



But after making the above statement, unsupported by 

 statistics, the writer goes on to make an onslaught on science 

 teaching at our public schools as the cause of the inferiority of 

 the science student at Oxford. 



Taken as a whole, he saj's the science teaching at our public 

 schools is bad. The arguments he brings forward to support 

 this statement are that, firstly, the inducements offered to learn- 

 ing science are very few ; secondly, it is openly discouraged ; 

 and thirdly, boys neglect those studies which may safely be 

 neglected. He seems to try, moreover, to prove the absence of 

 good science teaching by the fact that the average boy comes up 

 to the university destitute of scientific ideas. Let us take these 

 points separately. The teaching is bad because the inducements 

 to learning science are nil. This will be news to many who 

 spend their lives in teaching science. What are the inducements 

 to learn anything? At an early age two, at least, of the induce- 

 ments to learn arc interest and fear. Now the interest taken by 

 the average boy in learning about the things around him — the 

 earth, the air, plant or animal life — is undeniable, and it is far 

 easier to get him interested in events which occur in the natural 

 world than in G.C.M. or Mensa. While if fear is to be called 

 on as an inducement, it is as easy to cane him for not doing his 

 science work as it is to cane him for neglecting his classics. But 

 later in life a boy begins to think of his future ; and if he chooses 

 a career in which a knowledge of science will help him, it will 

 be just as great an inducement to work hard at science as it 

 would be to work hard at classics if he had chosen a career in 

 which classical learning was of importance. Still later he may 

 learn to look at learning for its own sake, and he will feel that 

 if he has a bent towards science, he will be able to educate him- 

 self by working hard at science, just as if he had a bent towards 

 any other study he would be induced to work hard at that 

 particular study. So that the statement that the inducements 

 offered to the study of science are very few, is a somewhat 

 extraordinary one to make. 



Secondly, the statement that learning science is openly dis- 

 couraged is, happily, becoming a false one. There are few of 

 our public schools now that are not doing a great deal of science 

 teaching ; and though it is to be hoped that science teaching will 

 spread still more, yet one must gladly acknowledge the enormous 

 advance of science teaching during tlie past decade, and must 

 feel that the open discouragement of science is now no longer 

 in existence. 



But what shall be said of the argument that the product of 

 public school science teaching is a failure because boys neglect 

 those studies which may safely be neglected ? This is a direct 

 attack on the science teachers at all our public schools as being 

 inefficient teachers, and is an argument for calling on all head- 

 masters to dismiss their present stafTof science teachers. Before 

 accepting this conclusion it would be of interest to know who 

 your correspondent is, that one might know what sort of 

 authority he speaks with, and what knowledge he has of the 

 science teaching at the public schools. Moreover these schools, 

 with their absence of inducements to learning science, and their 

 absence of efficient teachers in that subject, send science scholars 

 in large numbers to Cambridge. 



Bui the final argument that science teaching at the public 

 schools is bad, is because the average schoolboy comes up to 

 "the University " destitute of scientific ideas. There is no clue 

 to what he means by "the University " ; but, taking Cambridge 



NO. 1395, VOL. 54] 



as an example, a considerable percentage of its undergraduates 

 who go in for an honours degree, take up the Natural Science 

 Tripos, a large number go in for medicine, and others go in for 

 the study of science in order to get an ordinary degree. Most 

 of these have done a considerable amount of science at school, 

 and cannot be said to be destitute of scientific ideas. But many 

 of the others, who go in for classics, mathematics, or other 

 studies, although they may not remember the equation repre- 

 senting the action of sulphuric acid on chalk, yet, if they have 

 been taught elementary science in their youth, may have learnt 

 from it some of the accuracy and method which should 

 characterise their work in any direction ; while the training 

 given to the mind in forcing it to appeal from written words or 

 spoken statements to experimental facts is of immense import- 

 ance, even though the particular facts may themselves be 

 forgotten. 



But the cry that Oxford is not attracting the science student 

 in large numbers, is no doubt true ; and the reason is to be sought 

 inside, not outside, her walls. Cambridge, it is confessed, is 

 not in the like predicament ; and Cambridge has attracted many, 

 who would not otherwise have gone to a university at all, by her 

 medical and engineering schools. 



A vast number of boys who do science at school, go straight 

 to the hospitals or to technical institutions ; and if Oxford is to 

 attract the science student, she must develop that side of her 

 teaching. C. I. Gari^iner. 



Cheltenham College. 



Capture of a Specimen of " Lepidosiren ' in the River 

 Amazons. 



I HAVE just received a letter from Dr. Emil Goeldi, Director 

 of the rising Museum at Para, in which he informs me of the 

 interesting discovery of Lepidosiren at the mouth of the river 

 Amazons (or rather of the river Tocantins). I had better give 

 the part of his letter which refers to this capture. The letter is 

 dated Para, June 9. 



"I have the pleasure of informing you of the discovery of 

 Lepidosiren at the mouth of the river Amazons, viz. on the 

 island Marajo. This afternoon I received, from a friend who 

 has large possessions in the island, a specimen in spirits. The 

 mail leaves in a few hours, so that I can scarcely do more than 

 send you a few lines announcing this fortunate event. 



" Often, since my arrival in Brazil, has my attention been' 

 directed to the search for this Uipnoan, especially by Prof. Karl 

 Vogt and yourself. But it was only after my appointment to- 

 the Para Museum, that I could take up the matter with a 

 reasonable hope of success. I began with distributing thousands 

 of copies of Natterer's figure in reduced size all over Amazonia,, 

 and sending paragraphs to the local newspapers in the interior. 

 No local magistrate, no village schoolmaster escaped a notice. 



" In consequence of this propaganda I received about a year 

 ago a communication from Dr. Vicente Chermont de Miranda, 

 who takes a great interest in all scientific matters ; he informed 

 me that the fish occurs in Marajo, and that he had seen already 

 two specimens. The specimen sent to me now is therefore the- 

 third which has come under his notice. It measures, in the 

 present state of preservation, about 58 cm., and is of a slate- 

 colour. The ovaries are well developed, and show that the 

 specimen was killed close to the spawning-time. No villi on. 

 the hind-limbs ; vent asymmetrical, on the left side ; greatest 

 width of body 7 cm. Well acquainted with Ehlers's and 

 Lankester's papers on Lepidosiren paradoxa and artieiilata, I 

 looked immediately to the structure of the fin-cartilage. Its 

 segmentation can be seen even without removing the skin, as- 

 figured in Lankester's memoir (Fig. 4). Therefore, our 

 Amazons-specimen might be called ailiculata on the same 

 ground as the Paraguay specimens collected by Bohls. But I 

 agree with you and Prof. Lankester that there is one species 

 only of Lepidosiren, viz. L. paradoxa — /,. dissiniilis, gigliona, 

 artiiula/a being synonyms. 



"The exact locality for our specimen is Kazenda ' Dunas,' on. 

 Cape Magoary, Island of Marajo. 



" One word more : Prof. Lankester speaks of five Amazons- 

 specimens in European museums. I believe there are six. 

 Only a few years ago the late Mr. Gustav Toepper obtained a 

 specimen near Itaituba on the Tabajoz River which, as I have 

 been credibly informed, has found its way into the Berlini 

 Museum." Albert Gunther. 



