NOVEMBEE 17, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



697 



would take the form of a popular lecture with il- 

 lustrations. Tickets, containing a short syllabus of 

 the series, could be sold at cheap prices, a local 

 organization assuming financial responsibility. 



11. Can you suggest any course of action 

 to follow in order to increase public interest 

 in science in your district by means of 

 popular lectures? 



The chief needs referred to are: (1) a 

 supply of trained popular lecturers; (2) 

 coordination of effort of educational insti- 

 tutions, university extension committees, 

 municipal corporations, trades councils, 

 and similar bodies; (3) adequate adver- 

 tisement and interesting press notices; (4) 

 lectures dealing more especially with sub- 

 jects of present-day interest, or relating to 

 the needs of the district; (5) endowment 

 of popular science lecturers so as to enable 

 lectures to be provided at a moderate cost ; 

 (6) the use of the kinematograph in sci- 

 ence lectures. 



Many correspondents seem to think that 

 popular lectures are necessarily of the in- 

 structive kind and intended to induce 

 people to take up courses of study at edu- 

 cational institutions. They have little faith 

 in such a means of increasing the number 

 of students, and rightly so. The purpose 

 of public lectures may be, however, not so 

 much to create desire to study as to en- 

 lighten the community upon the relation of 

 science to individual and national life. 

 The point of view is thus entirely different 

 from that of the local educational institu- 

 tion or the local scientific society, both of 

 which regard popular lectures as possible 

 means of securing new students or mem- 

 bers. The position is clearly stated by 

 Principal Garnett, School of Technology, 

 Manchester, in the following reply: 



A more general realization by competent lec- 

 turers of the benefits which popular lectures may 

 confer upon the community and a greater readiness 

 on the part of universities and colleges to spend 

 money on the provision and advertisement of such 



lectures. At the present time eminent men of sci- 

 ence are, with few (if any) exceptions, rendering 

 in other ways more valuable national service than 

 they could render by the delivery of popular lec- 

 tures. Moreover, the restricted financial resources 

 of governing bodies are probably more usefully 

 employed in the conduct of research and in pro- 

 viding the education required by men who are to 

 occupy responsible positions in the various indus- 

 tries. The financial difficulty would disappear if 

 an inspiring account of the broad outlines of nat- 

 ural science formed part of the curriculum of 

 every elementary and secondary school. This 

 ' ' science for all " is to be carefully distinguished 

 from the science training given to those who are 

 to pursue further the study of science in some in- 

 stitution of higher education or are to use it in 

 their daily work. 



Mr. R. J. Moss (Royal Dublin Society) 

 says: 



Much more attention must be given to science 

 in school education. It should be made interest- 

 ing and taught as much as possible by demonstra- 

 tion and experiment. In this way the coming gen- 

 eration may be enabled to appreciate science and 

 to take an interest in the progress of knowledge. 

 A great deal of good might be done by the creation 

 of traveling lectureships to be held for a limited 

 time by men who show an aptitude for the work. 



12. What do you consider are the chief 

 elements of success, or reasons for failure, 

 of public lectures upon scientific subjects? 



Among the conditions of success men- 

 tioned in replies to this question are: (1) 

 The reputation and personality of the lec- 

 turer, (2) effective advertisement and 

 newspaper reports, (3) energy and effi- 

 ciency of local secretaries and committees, 

 (4) attractive titles, and choice of topical 

 or popidar subjects, (5) plenty of lantern 

 slides, use of bioscope films, or good experi- 

 mental illustrations. It is obvious that a 

 lecturer should adapt himself to his audi- 

 ence, and should possess expository power, 

 so as to deal with his subject in a clear 

 and interesting manner, without degen- 

 erating into the style of a public enter- 

 tainer. 



Professor Herdman states the chief ele- 



