210 



SCIENCE. 



[N. 3. Vol. VIII. No. 190. 



scope built on this plan now in use in 

 this laboratoiy. Its ' Echelon ' consists of 

 twenty plates each 18 n.im. thick. Each 

 plate projects 1 mm. bej'ond the next suc- 

 ceeding plate. It has a resolving power of 

 about 300,000. A larger Echelon with 

 thicker plates is being built here now which 

 will have a still larger resolving power. 



• It is hard to say when the practical limit 

 of resolving power by this instrument will 

 be reached. But it is quite certain that 

 500,000 is soon to be attained. When we 

 consider that the best gratings have a re- 

 solving power of only 100,000 we see how 

 great an advance has already been made. 

 Zeeman discovered that in the magnetic 

 field the spectral lines wei"e separated into 

 three components, but with the Echelon 

 spectroscope now in use here it is pos- 

 sible to see the doubling and tripling of 

 these components which was discovered by 

 Professor Michelson* by means of visibility 

 curves. 



The disadvantage of the instrument is 

 that it will not give a continuous spectrum, 

 but its advantages in cheapness and enor- 

 mous dispersion for small portions of the 

 spectrum make it an invaluable addition to 

 the means at hand for analyzing vibrations 

 of light. 



C. EiBORG Mann. 

 Eyeeson" Laboeatoey, 

 University of Chicago. 



TSE RELATION OF SCIENCE EDUCATION IN 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS TO THAT 



IN THE COLLEGE AND THE 



UNIVERSITY.t 



In discussing the nature and the scope of 



the science work in the secondary schools 



one principle, I think, is recognized by all 



as being fundamental, and this is that the 



training of specialists is not the function 



* Philosophical Magazine, April, 1898. 



t Address of the Presideut of the Natural Science 

 Department of the National Educational Association, 

 July, 1898. 



of the high school. Neither is it a part 

 of the college in any but a limited sense, 

 while, on the other hand, it most emphati- 

 cally does come within the sphere of the 

 universitj'. 



In laying down this principle, I am well 

 aware that by far the greater number of 

 high school pupils never intend to continue 

 their education in any other institution of 

 learning, and that their future advance 

 must be made without the aid of profes- 

 sional teachers. To my mind, this makes 

 no difference. There are certain broad 

 foundations which, if the course is to be 

 of lasting benefit, must be laid alike for all. 



The development of the pupil's reasoning 

 power and his faculties of observation are 

 the important objects to be attained, and 

 not to fill his mind with masses of facts and 

 figures, which are as surely forgotten as 

 they are learned. Such accumulations are 

 defended only on the ground that they are 

 of so-called ' practical benefit; ' in i-eality, 

 they constitute the most unpractical portion 

 of any school course. Such things belong 

 to the training of specialists, and conse- 

 quently to the university, and even though 

 the specialist can obtain a great number of 

 necessary data from books and tables, after 

 he has completed his studies he never can 

 acquire the necessary fundamental training 

 in the use of reason and logic, if he has 

 neglected these essentials in the begin- 

 ning. That which I have said applies to 

 all branches of study — to the languages, to 

 history or to mathematics as well as to the 

 natural sciences; for all of them the same 

 broad pedagogical principles are necessary. 



I have used the term ' specialist ' in its 

 broadest sense in referring to high school 

 students. It is in my opinion as grave a 

 mistake to develop the pupil's training 

 mainly along the scientific line as it is to 

 confine him to humanistic studies alone. 

 It is just as essential that the student in 

 biology, physics or chemistry should be 



