560 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Nov. 3c, i£ 



say in chemistry, and yet be utterly incapable of extend- 

 ing the boundaries of chemical science, or of effecting any 

 useful application of its truths. He may be, in fact, im- 

 potent alike theoretically and practically. On the other 

 hand, men who have done great things, who have con- 

 ducted important researches, and have become renowned 

 as discoverers, admit frankly that they could not pass an 

 examination in their own memoirs. 



Nor is this surprising. Examinations, however fairly 

 and ably conducted, can test merely a man's power of 

 appropriating and remembering the results of others. 

 They can throw no light on his mental resources, his 

 suggestiveness, his ability to carry on successfully the 

 inductive process. In other words, examinations pick out 

 the brass and reject the gold. For what we want are 

 discoverers and inventors, not mere walking vade- 

 mecums who can talk glibly about some science, but can 

 do nothing in it. Of course, those who might confess 

 " ye know that by this craft we have our wealth " do not 

 see these alarming truths. But there is still a " lower 

 depth."- Misleading as is examinationism, " pure, simple " 

 competitive examination is worse. This system was 

 adopted some time ago as the only key to minor 

 appointments, civil and military, in the service of the 

 State. The motive for the change was not the honest 

 desire to secure the best men for the public service, but 

 a wish to diminish the influence of the upper classes. 

 Whether this wish was justifiable or not is a question 

 which it is not within our scope to discuss. But we may 

 certainly say that this diminution of aristocratic influence 

 is being bought far too dearly. In order to secure very 

 mediocre men we submit an increasing part of our youth 

 to an ordeal from which, whether successful or unsuc- 

 cessful, they emerge with unfeebled vitality. 



So severe are the examinations, so irrelevantly ex- 

 tensive, that to pass almost necessitates the employment 

 of a professional "crammer." This crammer is one 

 who, by careful and constant scrutiny of the examination- 

 papers and of the idiosyncrasies of examiners, can give 

 an approximate forecast of what questions will be put, or 

 at least what phase of any subject will be brought into 

 prominence. 



Thus, one examiner never repeats a question which 

 he has ever put before ; another constantly revolves in a 

 narrow circle of questions, which may consequently be 

 expected to recur periodically. One fixes his attention 

 mainly upon the fundamental theories of a science ; 

 another confines himself to facts, a third to recent dis- 

 coveries, and a fourth to practical applications. One 

 has peculiar catches and traps against which the 

 student can be warned. In short, a clever crammer — 

 and without great cleverness no crammer can survive — • 

 can always tell his pupils what part of any subject they 

 must carefully get up, or what parts they may safely 

 neglect. Hence such pupils have an immense advantage 

 over competitors who have carefully worked up the whole 

 of the subject. 



This at first sight may seem an evil. So, in one sense, 

 it is ; but the sin lies not with the crammer, but with the 

 examiners and with the pedantic legislators who have 

 called them into being. It is an awful fact that of the 

 successful candidates for the India Civil Service a con- 

 siderable proportion are found to be incapacitated by 

 morbus Brightii, a consequence of severe brain-work 

 under the pressure of anxiety. 



We can recommend the pamphlet before us to our 

 readers. It cannot fail to set them thinking 



&fy3tractj6i 

 of ^aper$, Hectare*, etc* 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 

 At the meeting on November 15th a paper on " Comb 

 tion in Dried Oxygen," by Mr. H. Brereton Baker, D 

 wich College, late Scholar of Balliol College, Oxfo 

 was communicated by Professor H. B. Dixon, F.R.S. 



In 1884 some preliminary experiments, published 

 the " Journal of the Chemical Society," convinced me t 

 moisture exerted an important influence on the comb 

 tion of carbon. Since that time experiments have bi 

 made, not only with that element but with several oth« 

 and the same influence seems to be exerted on the cc 

 bustion of some, while no such influence could 

 detected in the case of other elements. It was discove 

 very early in the investigation that hydrogen, both f 

 and combined, aided the union of carbon with dr 

 oxygen, and therefore for the new experiments on t 

 and other elements, special attention was devoted to tl 

 purification from hydrogen. It was found that twc -■ 

 these elements, amorphous phosphorus and boron, h 

 like carbon, a very great power of occluding hydrog 

 To eliminate it, some of the elements were heated ii 

 current of pure chlorine, while others were heatec 

 sealed tubes with the chlorides of the elements, spe< 

 precautions being taken to free the purified elements ft 

 all traces of the agents used in their purification. In 1 

 way the elements — carbon, sulphur, boron, and pr. 

 phorus, the latter in both red and yellow modificati 

 — were found to have their combustion influenced by 

 dryness of the oxygen. Some chemical union t 

 found to take place, the extent of which varied with 

 dryness of the substances. In no case, however, die 

 manifest itself by flame. Ordinary phosphorus 1 

 obtained so pure as not to glow in the oxygen dried 

 phosphorus pentoxide, though the pressure 1 

 increased and diminished in every possible way. 

 water was added, rapid combustion at once set in. 



The elements — selenium, tellurium, arsenic, and a: 

 mony — were purified with as much care as 1 

 expended on the elements mentioned above. Their cc 

 bustion was, however, not found to be affected in ; 

 way by the dryness of the gas. 



In the course of the investigation two facts were 1 

 covered about the combustion : (i.) of amorphous pi s 

 phorus, and (ii.) carbon in oxygen. Amorphous pi 

 phorus is generally regarded as being incapable of t 

 combustion. It is asserted that before amorphous pi 

 phorus can be heated to its kindling point, it chan 

 into ordinary phosphorus, which then burns. This 

 been proved not to be the case. Amorphous phosphc 

 was heated in a current of nitrogen, free from trace 

 oxygen, to 260 , 278 , and 300", in three experime 

 without undergoing any change to the ordinary modif 

 tion. If moist oxygen was substituted for the nitrof 

 combustion took place at 260 . It seems, theref 

 probable that amorphous phosphorus undergoes a 1 

 combustion in oxygen without previous change to 

 ordinary modification. 



With regard to the combustion of carbon, it has alw 

 been a doubtful question which of the two oxides is : 

 formed. Is carbon monoxide the first product, un< 

 going further oxidation to the dioxide, or is carbon dio: 

 the first and only substance formed ? The problem se 



