New-York tribune., 1910-06-12
gbe Netut2lotk gribmorH
SUNDAY, JUNE i, 1910.

sb; with Tourqenieff One contributor to the
subject is Mr.. Francis Gribble, who mas Deeh
searching it out in the fairly exhaustive study
Oh the Russian writer's life recently maze ny
NJ Haumont, and reports on his inquest Ill
.erbe FortnightIy." Mr.. Gribble as we have
not infrequentIy had occasion to note, mas Il
fair for the sentimental episode in literary
biooranhv and he duly exposes the fact that
Tourqpnief had his adventures Of the hearL
If is pleasant to observe, however, that Wltn
oIl his instinct of the literary detective, ana all
his industry he has not been able to deiracC
ynry much from the dignity OF the ahecIlon
which united the novelist and the singer 1t
is not" he says, "eYen known for certain
much of the correspondence having been sup
pressed-whether he was ever, IN the 1ulI sense
Of the word her lover" This is too bad-for
MI Grbble. Perhaps, though there are Il leW
other persons, keenly interested in Iourgeheh
and Nine Viarlot-Garcia, who will remain
content TO think of them as two loyal friends,
Gelirhting in art and the things OF the
mind who enjoyed together q little lifetime Oh
tbe most sympathetic understanding and did
not ston to think that their real business was
TO provide material for the scandalmonger.
Mr.. Fl. G. Wells's latest novel, ''The New
MachiaveIli" is running Serially through Ihe
Forum" 1t opens auspiciOusly, the suppos1h-
tious narrator putting himself before us as Il
statesman sent into exile by some transaction
in which love for a woman would appear TO
have exered Il heavy influence. The first few
pages in which Il parallel is drawn between
this outcast and the famous italian, are charm
lug In those that follow, traYerSing the mar
rator's boyhood, it is made plain that Mr..
Wells is once more to pay his compliments 10
the educational, economic, and other social
developments in modern England. These have
OINS Will
may Judge from the frequency with when
they crop out in his writings and from his
general tone in the discussion of them. Here
is a fragment from recent article of his:
The other day 1 discovered my little boy
doing q subtraction sum, and found he was
doing it in a slower, cumsier, less businessllke
way than the one was taught In an old-laSh-
ioned commercial academy" thirty-odd years
ago. The educational expert" 1 discover
has been at work substituting bad method
for a good one in our schools because it is
easier Of exposition. The educational expert,
in the lack of a lively public intelligence de-
velops all the vices OF the secOnd-rate energetic,
and he is I am only too disposed to believe,
making a terrible mess of great deal of our
science teaching and of the teaching of mathe-
maticS and English.
Another English writer complains of the
present inSistence on accuracy of detail in
lovs' books, and adds that fancy and imagi-
ration are already at a discount and our young
Gradgrinds want strict facts" These be grev-
Gus tidings and we suppose that both the writ
ors we have quoted know what they are talk
ing about. Still, it is not improbable that
another and more cheerful story might be told
Of English education at the present time. Ger
tainly, we are not by any means prepared to
swallow whole the observations of Mr.. Wells.
The General Assembly of the international
Association of Academies, which organized
III 1901 has just held a meeting in Rome and
satisfactOry progress reported in its va
riouS projects These include the preparation
of an edition of the Mahabharata, of ency
cloppdia of the literature of Islam, of a Corpus
of Greek literature, a Corpus MedicOrum An
ntz and of those of Euler Committees also
reported progress in the general investigation
Of the anatomy Of the brain and in the COLA
ton and revision of the nomenclature of OBJ
jects on the moons surfaCe-wOrk undertaken
some time ago at the beheSt of the association.
A project for tabuating measures of lines in
the spectrum approved, and international
action in regard to the diseases of cultivated
plants was proposed The association has no
funds for its work, having been constituted
on lines independent of finance and as q purely
moral force supporting international undertake
iEgS by its approval 1t is now said that eX-
pcrience suggests that funds-Which private
tenefactOrs are disposed to offer-and a CEN