SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 37 



contagious, and moreover is generally of value w^hen caught. The 

 perspective will possibly be faulty, but this will straighten itself out 

 more readily than will the glow of life come to the dry bones of a 

 subject killed by the teaching of one not in sympathy with it. Lack 

 of sympathy, in most subjects, means lack of understanding. On 

 the other hand, Baldwin's comment must not be taken too seriously 

 as removing the necessity for a careful review of the methods and 

 the efficiency of physics teaching. 



The whole discussion — both in the circulars and in the sym- 

 posium — is full of interest and suggestion. The proportion of vague 

 and inapplicable theorizing is remarkably small, leaving one with the 

 vivid impression that the problem is in the hands of men who see 

 clearly and think carefully. It must not be forgotten that the work 

 of the commission bears directly on the school physics of the United 

 States. Their problems are not necessarily our problems. Yet even 

 apart from the general educational interest attaching to the working 

 out of principles, there is much that our teachers can learn from a 

 careful study of the papers issued by the commission. 



In closing it might be well to note one difficulty that is felt here 

 in our Ontario system, and it is rather surprising to find no echo of it 

 in the sehools of the United States. In universities, mathematics and 

 physics are always taken together as cognate subjects, while the non- 

 mathematical sciences of chemistry, biology and botany" form a group 

 by themselves. Thus in our " school specialist " courses the " mathe- 

 matical specialist " takes mathematics and physics, while the " science 

 specialist " has seldom the calculus necessary to follow the prelimi- 

 nary honour work in physics, even if he were required to take it. 

 Further, in those schools where physics is taught by university 

 graduates the " mathematical specialist " usually has his hands full 

 with the algebra, arithmetic and geometry, so the physics falls to the 

 " science specialist " whose knowledge of that subject is generally 

 limited to pass work. It is difficult to see how this situation is to be 

 overcome on account of the fundamental difference in the two 

 groups. Mathematically inclined students of science will naturally 

 follow the mathematics-physics course, and those possessed of the 

 idea that they " cannot do mathematics " will just as naturally enter 

 for specialist qualifications in chemistry, botany and biology. Ex- 

 perience seems to indicate that there are grave objections to putting 

 some of the simpler school mathematics into the hands of an assist- 

 ant, in order to allow the " mathematical specialist " to take charge 

 of the physics class. So relief from the school side of the problem 



