THE PETERITE Vol. 1,1
MAY, 1959
No. 351
EDITORIAL Sandwiched as it is between two major events in the world of science, it is scarcely surprising that this issue of "The Peterite" could justly be accused of having a scientific bias. This may, of course, merely reflect the trend of modern education, for, in spite of the grim warnings about excessive and premature specialisation, the lure of guided missile, space ship and ERNIE is with us from the cradle to the grave. Some small attempt has been made to redress the balance by publishing, in addition to the official report, a brief impression of the School Science Exhibition through the eyes of a humanist. As far as the future scientific event is concerned—the Annual Meeting of the British Association—this has certainly cast long shadows before it, and non-scientists have been seen surreptitiously re-learning Boyle's Law, in the hope that they might comprehend one or two of the simpler lectures. However, a glance at the Preliminary Programme is slightly reassuring, for, tucked away among such frightening and sinister subjects as Antiferromagnetism, Cretaceous Stratigraphy and Palaeontology, Quantum States in Solids and Problems of the Moon, can be found such ordinary, homely, familiar titles as Human Hair and Blushing, "What are our schools for?" and The Cost of National Superannuation. It is even more refreshing to discover that, among the excursions planned for the mandarins of science, are trips to the Brontë country, Fountains and Selby Abbeys, and, for the thirsty chemists and economists, John Smith's Brewery, this latter expedition being, no doubt, an attempt to prove (with apologies to A. E. Housman) that "Malt does more than Science can To justify God's ways to Man." 1
