NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21293, 21 September 1932, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

SENSE OF VOCATION Professor H. A. S. Wortley, Professor of Education and Head of the Teachers' Training Department at University College, Nottingham, raised the question of mental alertness on the part of teacheis at a recent conference in London. "In my experience, '* he staged, " I have seen men and women of 50 who arc lacking in mental alertness, probably because they have no sense of vocation, and I have also seen men and women of 65 as mentally alert as at any other time in their lives. This is because they have a real sense of vocation." Professor Wortley, referring to criticism levelled at the school methods of to-day, stated that it had been said that they did not teach the three " R's " as soundly as did the schools of 20 or 30 years ago. " There is a great danger of generalisation in one s criticism of education*," he added. "As far as I know there has been no largo seal* investigation which confirms the reports of our critics." SPLITTING THE ATOM A Cambridge scientist has succeeded, with the aid of the newly-discovered ultrarapid particle known as the neutron, in converting six atoms of oxygen into six atoms of carbon, giving a total yield of .000,000,000.000,000,000.000,000,7 of an ounce of (presumably) synthetic coke. Presumably, because the only visible record of the transformation is a series of six photographic plates (out of 1490 pairs of photographs taken) showing each of the stricken atoms recoiling in pieces, one piece being the now atom of carbon and the other an atom of the rare gas helium. The present results, which are published in Nature, were obtained by Mr. N. Feather, of Trinity College, Cambridge, in the Cavendish Laboratory. Neutrons travel at a speed of 10,000 miles a second and arc the fastest projectiles known. This is believed to be the first occasion when the oxygen atom has been artificially fplit. Other atoms which have been split include those of nitrogen, beryllium, fluorine (the poison gas), and lithium, a rare metal. The experiments show that the neutron particles may possess an even greater, energy than had been originally supposed. This discovery will, it is expected, still further increase their usefulness to scientists for exploring the inner core of thp atom. ancient life Addressing the International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences which was held in London, Professor Brogger said that references in the press to " persons who knew all about the scandals of the Stone Age" struck him as significant both of the popular surprise and of the popular confidence that a science dealing with ancient stone implements, broken potsherds, primitive means of agriculture, and ruined houses and fortresses, could turn a lively face toward our own age. The prehistoric sciences to-day occupied a wide field in the interests of modern society, because they had ceased to be the curious hobbies of small collectors and isolated scientists. The ancient history of mankind had become a living factor in modern life, and those who cultivated this field felt a high social responsibility. The faces of the youngest generation present, charming girls and good-looking young men, represented the great and purpose* ful future of prehistoric science. That cheap butt of popular humour, the antiquary of the past, was now a myth. The modern antiquary had risen above his technique, making use of the car and the aeroplane as ablv as he excavated a Neolithic site or an Anglo-Saxon burial. They were all working on the reconstruction of ancient life, not as a memory of dust and death, but in the consciousness that they were creating a real foundation for their own life. This feeling involved a great programme and a sense of high duty. THE PRICE OF NOISE There could be no more pungent attack on noise than is delivered at the tail end of Dr. Beatty's lucid summary of the evolution of hearing in man and animals," says the Morning Post in its review of "Hearing in Man and Animals." "We should never have abandoned the flapped ears of our fellow-mammals, but having lost them are subjected in city life to all manner of evils which have only beeti seriously studied within the last few years. A typist working in a really noisy room expends 70 per cent more enorgy on her work; the speed of doing complicated arithmetic fan bo increased by 30 per cent by greater stillness; and intimations of 'Sorry you've been troubled' can be reduced by 42 per cent by less hectic conditions in a telephone exchange. In fact, we live more rapidly and grow old more quickly than a perfect bureaucracy would permit. All this for normal individuals. The plight of the neurotic is many times worse, and unless something practical can be done Dr. Beutty foresees 'the coming of a world of cities in which mental hospitals are well filled, in which one can neither concentrate nor relax, in which brain work of a high standard is discouraged; in fact, a world adapted for the slow and, stupid.' And Dr. Beatty, it should be said, is the Admiralty's senior scientific officer in the Department of Scientific Research and Experiment."