48 



SCIENCU. 



[Vol. IX., No. 207 



Payne need not be personally denounced for hold- 

 ing an opinion at variance with that of some other 

 educators. 



Messrs. Gurney and Myers have replied, in 

 the January issue of the Journal of the Society 

 for psychical research, to the criticisms made 

 upon the literary committee, of which they are 

 the executive officers, by certain members of the 

 society. These criticisms were based upon the 

 fact that the literary committee had not officially 

 examined certain evidence for the so-called ' phys- 

 ical phenomena' of spiritualism. In reply, the 

 secretaries state that they had to begin some- 

 where, and that two good reasons existed for 

 selecting, as the first subject for consideration, the 

 phenomena known as cases of ' spontaneous telep- 

 athy,' the discussion of which is so large a part 

 of their lately published book, ' Phantasms of the 

 living.' The first reason was that these phenomena 

 seemed to connect themselves in a natural way 

 with the results of experimental thought-trans- 

 ferrence, the investigation of which had been 

 undertaken even before the formation of the so- 

 ciety. The second reason was that a very large 

 proportion of the answers received by the com- 

 mittee in response to their public appeal for evi- 

 dence of psychical phenomena dealt with cases of 

 spontaneous telepathy. So, that this subject 

 should come first in the work of the committee 

 was perfectly natural. 



The secretaries further urge that it is not to be 

 forgotten that the evidence in the cases of ' physi- 

 cal phenomena' of spiritualism is distinguished 

 from the evidence in the case of spontaneous 

 telepathy, automatic writing, mesmerism, and so 

 forth, by some radical differences. In the first 

 place, the alleged phenomena have been, for the 

 most part, observed in the presence of professional 

 mediums, persons having a pecuniary interest in 

 their production. The evidence has no longer to 

 do with the validity of perceptions, but with the 

 validity of inferences, with the correctness of the 

 interpretation of subjective impressions. Fur- 

 thermore, this evidence differs in form from that 

 in the other topics dealt with by the committee. 

 It does not consist of records sent in manuscript 

 to the committee, and previously known but to a 

 few persons ; but most of it has already been 

 published in periodicals and in books. Much of 

 the evidence, too, is offered by persons of no 

 training in the kind of observation required, and 



of no special aptitude in the arrangement of tests. 

 On all of these grounds the literary committee 

 feels that the sifting and criticism of this evi- 

 dence is a task beyond their normal functions, 

 and state that a special committee is forming to 

 which all such evidence is to be referred for in- 

 vestigation and report. 



We are thoroughly pleased to learn, that, 

 at the recent meeting of the Massachusetts state 

 teachers' association, the peddling of text-books 

 and school- journals was prohibited. The am- 

 bitious agents of school publishers and jom-nalists 

 have infested state and county association meet- 

 ings so often in the past, that they thought them- 

 selves perfectly secure in the enjoyment of their 

 privileges. But some firm hand has put a stop to 

 the practice in Massachusetts, and we trust the 

 example will be generally followed. Legitimate 

 advertising is commendable, and an agent is to be 

 praised rather than blamed for his assiduity. But 

 the publishers of text-books and school- journals 

 have carried the thing so far that they interfere 

 largely with the regular work of a teachers' asso- 

 ciation meeting. It is not the use of the privilege, 

 but its abuse, that we decry ; and we want to see 

 plenty of imitators of the independent stand 

 taken in Massachusetts. 



THE AIMS OF GEOGRAPHICAL ED XJ CATION. 



Mention all the names of places in the world derived 

 from Julius Caesar or Augustus Caesar. 



Where are the following rivers : Pisuerga, Sakaria, 

 Guadalete, Jalon, Mulde t 



All you know of the following : Machacha, Pilmo, 

 Schetoulos, Crivoscia, Basecs, Mancikert, Taxhen, Citeaux, 

 Meloria, Zutphen. 



The highest peaks of the Karakorum range. 



The number of universities in Prussia. 



Why are the tops of mountains continually covered with 

 snow {sic) t 



Name the length and hreadth of the streams of lava 

 which issued from the Skaptar Jokul in the eruption of 

 1783. 



The above table, taken from Professor Raven- 

 stein's lecture before the Royal geographical 

 society,^ is very probably a combination of the 

 more atrocious questions on several examination- 

 papers. It none the less will serve as a text for 

 our paper ; and this because it fairly represents 

 the ideas of certain so-called ' teachers of geog- 

 raphy ' as to the limits of the science they were 

 attempting to teach. To them geography simply 

 meant the cramming into a child's mind so many 

 isolated facts, so many heights of mountains, so 

 many lengths of rivers, so many names of places, 



1 Royal geographical society, report of the proceedings of 

 the society in reference to the improvement of geographical 

 education. London, Murray, 18g6. 



