606 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 746 



should the ends to be attained be purely prac- 

 tical? 



Necessarily also some large educational 

 problems are touched which concern the whole 

 school organization. Mention may be made 

 of the new types of schools and of the subject 

 of coeducation. 



The committee proposes to examine anew 

 and with care what are the branches of this 

 science most able to contribute to general cul- 

 ture. What is the necessary minimum in 

 arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonom- 

 etry, as well as in descriptive and projective 

 geometry, analytic geometry and the calculus ? 

 What new ideas must be introduced and what 

 old ones should be discarded? 



The much-discussed laboratory method of 

 teaching mathematics requires close inspec- 

 tion. Are there not inconveniences and 

 dangers that result? In what measure may 

 the conventional limits which exist between 

 certain subjects of pure mathematics be made 

 to disappear? What have been the results of 

 the attempts to teach algebra and geometry 

 together? geometry and trigonometry? differ- 

 ential and integral calculus? Careful study 

 needs to be made of the points of contact of 

 mathematics with drawing, with the applied 

 sciences, with philosophy, and with the prob- 

 lems of daily life. 



To what extent should paper-folding, ob- 

 servational geometry, logarithms, graphics in 

 algebra and the slide rule be used? Those 

 who desire a close relation between mathe- 

 matics and physics ought to show exactly what 

 geometrical notions have a direct bearing on 

 physics and to cite those problems of elemen- 

 tary physics which require simultaneous linear 

 equations, equations of the second degree in 

 one or more unknowns, irrational quantities 

 and progressions. 



To what degree is it possible to accord a 

 larger place to the historical development of 

 mathematics and to the history of the teach- 

 ing of mathematics ? The extensive literature 

 on mathematical recreations might be made 

 useful. What are the means which will give 

 mathematics a better place in popular instruc- 

 tion and enable the subject to overcome pop- 

 ular prejudices? 



The progress of teaching depends directly 

 on the preparation of the teachers. So the 

 committee believes that it will be useful to take 

 account of the reforms, actual or projected, 

 which have in view the training of teachers 

 conformably to modern conditions. In this 

 connection the sex of the teacher for differ- 

 ent schools, the introduction of the teacher 

 to scientific research, and the amount of char- 

 acter of the pedagogical training are questions 

 of fundamental importance. 



The high plane of this investigation is indi- 

 cated by the scientific standing of the three 

 members of the central committee as well as 

 by the personnel of the American delegation. 

 These men are announced by Professor Klein 

 to be the following: Professor William P. 

 Osgood, Harvard University; Professor David 

 Eugene Smith, Columbia University; Profes- 

 sor J. W. A. Young, Chicago University. 



Preliminary work is to be begun immedi- 

 ately; the commission as a whole to meet dur- 

 ing the Easter recess of 1911 preliminary to 

 making a final report to the International 

 Congress of Mathematicians, which is to meet 

 at Cambridge, England, in 1912. 



Some may regard the work of the commis- 

 sion as initiating a great reform movement. 

 Eeform does not come by commission; rather 

 this development emphasizes the great move- 

 ment towards vital instruction which has been 

 in progress for over a century. The important 

 work of the commission will be to gather to- 

 gether the valuable contributions from all the 

 world and to make them available to all the 

 world. To select the good and discard the 

 worthless is no small task but one well worthy 

 of the best efforts of the leaders in mathe- 

 matical thought. 



L. C. Karpinski 



University of Michigan, 

 Ann Akboe, Mich. 



LIEUTENANT SHAGKLETON'S ANTARCTIC 

 EXPEDITION 



The Wellington, New Zealand, corre- 

 spondent of the London Times, has cabled 

 some details of the scientific results of the 

 Shackleton expedition. 



The frozen glacier-eroded lakes near Cape 



