Jan. 23. The opening of the Sanitary. Scientific and Indigenous Drugs Exhibition in Calcutta by His Excellency Lord Ronaldshay.

Jan. 24. It is announced that the strike situa

tion in Bombay has much improved. The Supreme Inter-allied War Council meets to-day.

Jan. 25. The public sitting of the Peace Conference begins to-day. Terms of draft resolutions of the League of Nations are also issued. President Wilson's Address to Peace Conference. Jan. 26. Babu Surendranath Bannerjee unveils the portrait of Dadabhai Naoroji in Bombay. Jan. 27. It is finally announced that the Bombay Labour strikes have ended. Jan. 28. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya delivered a public lecture in Bombay on "The work before us."

Literary

A Visit to John Morley Mr. James Milne has been to see Lord Morley (John Morley), and tells us about it in a very interesting number of his Book Monthly.

"We shall get no more books from, our most illustrious man of English letters, our greatest book-man,'" says Mr. Milne. "Not a word," says Lord Morley, not a word; I have finished.' "His unwritten books are recited to him, that 'Chatham,' that Cavour,' perhaps others of an empty, bewitching shelf. He only shakes his head, a little sadly, because with a die cast. "Quite recently somebody wrote from as far away as Kansas to the effect, Your chapter soand so in "Rousseau "'-was it the "Rousseau "? "made life a different thing for me-thank you!' Possibly that might encourage even an author who has put off his armour to sit down and cut slices out of his books for a volume of 'Selections.'

เ

"Saving that, and may be a word on the time of day, such as no eminent man can be sure of refusing, we had better assume that Lord Morley's 'So to my home in the falling daylight' is his word of literary farewell.

"Who has not read that lovely passage in the 'Recollections;' who, though it is only a year old in print, has not put it in the archives of affection as one of the noblest passages in English literature? It is the deliverance of a pilgrim, rich in mind and heart, a pilgrim who has set his feet in precipitious places, and has stoutly come through them. It is the farewell of a pilgrim scholar who has had entrance to the 'ancient courts of the men of old,' to the council chambers of modern statesmen, and in both spheres has left a name that will live in honour.

"As commoner or peer he has hitched his wagon to a star, and by that comradeship be abides in the Indian summer of his life-a spirit

whose lamp ge does not dim, only refines. His speech, measured in note and word, is a melodious token of this, and who would not be a listener? There is the stateliness of the sonnet in his talk, as, again, that is present in his writings.

"He may write little more and speak only in whispers, for he has earned rest, but the charm of his personality and the radiance of his pen are ours to have and to hold. Merely to be in his presence for an hour is to come away saying of him, as he says of Edmund Burke, that he had 'the sacred gift of inspiring men to use a grave diligence in caring for high things and in making their lives at once rich and austere.' Mysticism in Modern Art

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Under the above title, Mr. W. P. Price-Heywood has contributed a very instructive article to the current number of The Theosophist, in which he discusses mysticism as one of the subtlest and most unique forces behind Art. The task of the mystic, he points out, is to pierce through outer appearances to the very soul of things, while that of the artist is to bring back and reproduce on canvas, with messy oil paints, some glimpses of the spiritual vision and do so with such skill and feeling that the ordinary picture-goer will understand his meaning. The essential difference is shown between the great masters of the East and the West.

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The East is idealistic and mystical, the West realistic and practical. The Westerner demands that the paintings he sees shall be as true to life" as possible; to him every picture must tell a story. The Western painter, over-engrossed in his technique, is apt to forget that the aim of art is not slavishly to duplicate the actual (photography does that quite well enough), but to giye a hint and promise of that ideal life of which the actual is but a shadow. The great masters of the East, on the other hand, never forgot the value of suggestion. How shall the soul of the artist communicate his ideas, his emotions, his aspirations, to the mind and the soul of the onlooker?that is the problem they had ever before them. At the same time they knew that the understanding of art had to be based on mutual concession. The Eastern approaches a great work of art with a reverence which in the west is seldom paid. Our habit of lounging and yawning through art galleries would be sacrilege to him. 'Approach a great painting," said an Eastern Master, as thou would'st approach a great prince.

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Educational

Poetry-Teaching in Schools

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In the January number of Indian Education, Mr. V. H. Mehta writes a very thoughtful and informing article on the right and intelligent methods of teaching poetry in Indian Schools. While admitting that English is a language foreign to teachers, he laments the general apathy of teachers who either have no true ear for good poetry or have become time" honoured victims to pedagogic theory of teaching -parsing, analysing and paraphrasing for the purpose of examination. Those who have got true educational interests at heart must try to remove the defects they invariably find in such methods of teaching. Mr. V. H. Mehta puts in a very strong plea for the better teaching of poetry in schools and finally for the strengthening and enriching of the child's imagination which plays so important a part in the battle of life. To stimulate imagination is to set free in the child the perennial springs of poetic beauty. The first point the writer emphasises on the true teaching of poetry is about the proper appeal that should be made to the imagination and to the emotions of the child. The next point is that "the ideas reed to be understood and so understood that the pupil is able to visualise it. To help such an understanding the teacher should first fix the attention of the learners upon the idea not upon mere words. Then follows a practical advice as to how poetry should be taught by teachers, and the writer strongly deprecates the ideas of memorising and such other tame methods that stunt the imagination, He, in fine, speaks of the value of poetry in the following pretty words:

One of the values of poetry is that it furnishes the reader with a choice vocabulary and a delicacy of expression which unconciously become a part of the language of the reader. If we examine the language of good writers, what do we find? How much of the masters enters into their vocabulary? In our own

12. In the choice of holiday books act on the principle that one of the main uses of leisure is to feed the imagination.

13. The principal experts in the art of taking holidays are painters, naturalists, travellers, and historians; the worst person to consult is a golfer. 14. On occasions a very good holiday can be taken at home-if you change the hour of breakfast.

Wide vivacious, desultory reading of all kinds of books, continued Mr. Fisher, was the finest way of quickening the imagination. Quantity was almost as valuable as quality.

Legal

Legal Education in England The Incorporated Law Society in England is pressing for the creation of a Minister of Justice whose duty it will be, amongst other things, to reform the procedure of the Law Courts with a view to make it more popular, take to the reconstruction of the administrative work connected with Law Courts, as also the reconstitution of the legal profession by means of a more efficient system of legal education and training and to remove the present distinctions existing between the different classes of the legal profession. Opinion rgarding the creation of a Ministry of Justice may differ but there seems to be little difference of opinion as to the need for a more thorough and rational system of legal education than at present prevails in England. Mr. Arthur Sharpe, Vice-President and Chairman of the Examination Committee of the Law Society, who is in favour of the establishment of a Ministry of Justice, says that a law student's education should be both scientific and technical in order to entitle him to practise. He says: "Once admitted as a student of the law; the question of legal education

proper becomes all-important. And here I may

observe that it must open the division of the subject which, to adopt the terminology of other subjects, I may call preliminary or scientific and applied or technical. It is open to discussion whether these two branches should be studied simultaneously or in sequence, but for my part I have no doubt that the preliminary law should precede and be studied apart from the technical, which is best acquired in practice. It should certainly be the duty of the new Ministry of Justice to see that they are both properly taught and studied and that a fair knowledge of both has been acquired before a student undertakes to practise on his own account."-Calcutta Weekly Notes.

Inquiry into German Culpability Since its appointment two months ago, the British Committee of Enquiry, of which Sir John MacDonnell is Chairman, into the breaches of the laws of war has done a great deal of work through sub-committees appointed to deal with these breaches under various heads. Thus, the sub-committee on Law has already submitted an interim report on the jurisdiction of the tribunal to be established and kindred matters. It bas also submitted a special report conveying the unanimous conclusion that it is desirable to take proceedings against the ex- Kaiser. Mr. Justice Petersen, the well-known criminal barrister and Mr. C. F. Gill have also been consulted.

The work of a second committee has been very heavy as it has had to deal with the ill-treatment of prisoners, their employment behind the enemy firing-line, the employment of illegal methods of warfare, the abuse of the Red Cross flag, the bombardment of hospitals and the execution of Edith Cavell and Captain Fryatt. A hundred thousand cases of ill-treatment of prisoners have already been investigated, but at least 150,000 more remain.

A third sub-committee has had to deal with offences at sea and in the air, including the destruction of merchantmen, the firing on ships' crews after the destruction of their vessels and the sinking of hospital-ships.

A fourth sub-committee examined the indiscriminate bombardment of towns and wilful and reckless destruction of hospitals.

All the committees have still a large mass of evidence to examine before issuing final reports dealing with the charges to be preferred and the degree of responsibility attaching prima facie to individuals. Although the final conclusions may not therefore be reached for some months, the present interim report says it must not be assumed that practical steps have not been taken to secure the arrest of the offenders,

Medical

All-India Ayurvedic Conference

The All-India Ayurvedic Conference under the presidentship of Pandit Umacharan Kaviratna of Benares held its sitting at Delhi on the last week of January. Nearly 200 Vaidyas from all parts of India attended. Hazi-ul-Mulk Hakim Ajmal Khan, Chairman of the Reception Committee, welcomed the delegates in a speech in Urdu and dwelt upon the superiority of Ayurveda and Tabbi. Pandit Gopiraman of Delhi proposed and Vaidyaratna Pandit Jogendranath Sen and Vidyaratna Pandit Gopalacharlu of Madras seconded and supported the election of the President who began his address in Sanskrit, but being asked by the delegates, continued in Hindi. The President expressed condolence at the untimely death of Prince John and expressed joy at the Allied victory. He discoursed on the superiority of Ayurveda and urged the audience for preparing educated Vaidyas. The Hon'ble Pandit Malaviya delivered a speech on the necessity of establishing Ayurvedic colleges all over India saying that Ayurveda is scientific and the best suited to the people of India. He announced that he contemplated to utilize the one lakh of rupees he received from a Marwari friend-in Calcutta for the establishment of an Ayurvedic college and an Ayurvedic botanical garden under the auspices of the Hindu University. Resolutions were passed condoling the death of Prince John, Maharajas Rewa, Dongarpur, Khairagarh etc., praying for separate representation of Ayurveda in Councils and equal treatment with allopathy, thanking the Excise Commissioner, Bengal, for exempting Ayurvedic Asavas and Aviashtas and asking for complete exemption of all bona fide Ayurvedic preparations from the operations of the Excise Acts all over India.

Sub-Asst. Surgeons' Conference

The Annual Conference of Sub-Assistant Surgeons met at Calcutta on 23rd Dec. H. E. Lord Ronaldshay opened the Sanitary, Scientific and Indigenous Exhibition which formed part of the Sub-Assistant Surgeons' Association held at the Campbell Medical School. Dr. J. N. Maitra, Secretary of the Sanitary and Scientific Branch of the Association, read an address, in the course of which he pointed out the need for such Exhibitions. H. E. Lord Ronaldshay said in reply:

I too am glad that you have been given the chance of playing a useful part amid the stern and terrible realities of the past few years; and I congratulate you upon the manner in which you have risen to the occasion. I can speak for Bengal only; and so far as Bengal is concerned, out of a total cadre of 302 SubAssistant Surgeons, 83 have volunteered for military service, 51 for service in India and 32 for service overseas. It is, perhaps, unnecessary for me to remind you that your opportunities of rendering valuable service overseas have not come to an end with the cessation of hostilities.

He then spoke of the gigantic task of reconstruction and the wide field for medical and sanitary work. Knowledge and wealth are needed to solve the problems of medical relief. The third weapon with which to combat the forces of disease is an army of trained men. Steps have been taken to create an adequate supply of Sub-Assistant Surgeons, while a substantial increase of pay has been sanctioned them.

There are other respects in which I personally should like to see alterations made in the conditions of your service. For example, I shall like to see a course of post-graduate teaching take the place of the periodic grade examinations which you have to submit to under your present conditions of service. A small and very tentative beginning has been made in the right direction by the institution of a small class of post-graduate teaching in this school. I hope that this may prove to be the beginning of greater things

The proceedings of the Conference were not open to the press. The Hon. Major-General W. H. B. Robinson, Surgeon General with the Government of Bengal and the patron of the Calcutta Branch Association, presided and there was a large attendance of members.