SCIENCE CONGRESS

Evening Star, Issue 15578, 22 August 1914, Page 9

SCIENCE CONGRESS

Preaa Telegraph—Copyright, SYDNEY, August 21. Before the Science Congress to-day Dr Perry delivered an address on the 'Science of Education.' He said the present system of education was soul-destroy-ing and.stupefying. It was exasperating to find the most brilliant and moat expensively educated people quite ignorant of natural science. Unfortunately Oxford hermits, hy a series of accidents, had become rulars of the greatest Empire the world had ever seen. It was obvious, indeed, through many other things than starting the South African War, that they were unfit for the job. A STATE WELCOME. SYDNEY, August 21. The Government entertained the scientists at luncheon. Mr Holman (State Premier), who presided, said it was deplorable that 11 a great war synchronised with the visit, but it was true that the workers in science knew no bounds of nationality. Their aims and purposes transcended national rivalries and conflicts. Professor Bateson, in replying, said that with the awful carnage in Europe he hardly knew how scientific work could continue"; but the feeling of universal love and truth remained, and must be the chief element of regeneration from which these wounds would eventually ba healed. The world must in future look to the cumulative body of scientific and artistic truth and prevent these tragedies. A 25,000 YEAR OLD SKULL. SAVAGES ANjTcrviLISATION. SIR OLIVER LODGE AND LIFE AFTER DEATH. Frets Association—By tWagrspJj—Copyright. SYDNEY, August 22. (Received August 22, at 10.50 a.m.) A sensation was caused at the Science Congress when Professors Wilson and David exhibited an aboriginal's skull that was discovered in the Darling Downs, and is believed to be 25,000 years old. Professor David, describing it, said it belonged to a pleistocene age, and was far older than any other human remains found in Australia. He concluded that if we are asked: Is man a geological antiquity that Australia can reply, yes. Other scientists supported Professor David's deductions, and commented on the importance of the find. Another important announcement was the discovery that the juice of the plant euphorbia p'eplus acted upon a sensitive photographic plate in the dark. Sir Everard Im Thurn and Professor Elliott Smith read interesting papers on the development of a maii The former, after dealing with the Polynesians, concluded that the ultimate cauge of the decrease in native* was when they came in contact with civilised folk. The difference lay in the heredity, mentality, and incapacity of the savage "to take on civilisation quickly enough. Sir Oliver Lodge, in an interview dealing with the relations of the mind and matter, said: " I have reason to say 1 know of the existence of intelligences and of their powers to communicate, which are no longer associated with terrestrial bodies." Sir Oliver added, "this is a very important statement to make from the scientific side. Ho was uow prepared to hold that science had given an affirmative answer to the question whether we survive a bodily death."