268 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



would not do the work demanded, other 

 universities had to be established more 

 in harmony with the state of knowl- 

 edge. Various institutions were organ- 

 ized, notably the University of London, 

 which accepted more modern standards 

 of scholarship, and gradually recognized 

 the claims of science as a means of ed- 

 ucation and a basis of university hon- 

 ors. The conflict between ancient and 

 modern studies has continued and is 

 still rife, but there is no dcubt as to how 

 the battle is going. We gave an ac- 

 count not long ago of the newly-organ- 

 ized Mason College, in which the com- 

 prehensive educational scheme is based 

 upon science, and the old learning 

 is passed by. We observe that an- 

 other important step is taken in the 

 same direction by the reorganization of 

 Owens College, which is now known 

 as Victoria University. The students 

 of this college have hitherto mostly 

 taken their degrees at the London Uni- 

 versity. But the right to confer de- 

 grees is now granted to the new uni- 

 versity, and in drawing up their plans 

 of study the governing body have been 

 guided by the most liberal and enlight- 

 ened views of education. They have 

 openly repudiated the old superstition 

 that all minds are alike and ought to 

 pursue the same studies, and they pro- 

 ceed, in the language of the Vice-Chan- 

 cellor, Dr. Greenwood, "upon the fun- 

 damental notion that a man of capacity 

 ought to be encouraged to devote him- 

 self with a certain amount of concen- 

 tration to some particular or definite 

 branch of arts or science study." Of 

 course, students can come to Victoria 

 University and take its best degrees 

 without knowing Latin and Greek. 

 There are various courses, and the 

 standard of attainment is to be high 

 and thorough, but Latin and Greek are 

 no longer indispensable to the acqui- 

 sition of university honors. We have 

 been a long time arriving at the very 

 common-sense view expressed by Mr. 

 Jacob Bright in a discussion on the pol- 



icy of the university in respect to clas- 

 sics, that " it seemed to him extraordi- 

 nary if the whole field of science and 

 learning of various kinds apart from 

 Latin and Greek were not enough to 

 form the basis of a sound education." 



UELMHOLTZ'S FARADAY LECTURE. 



On Tuesday evening, April 5th, Pro- 

 fessor Helmholtz, of the Universitv of 

 Berlin, gave the Faraday Lecture before 

 the Chemical Society at the Royal Insti- 

 tution. As might have been expected, 

 he was greeted by a distinguished au- 

 dience. Professor Roscoe presided, and, 

 before introducing the eminent Ger- 

 man physicist, presented him with the 

 Faraday Medal. The address, notes of 

 which were furnished by Professor 

 Helmholtz to the London press, is re- 

 produced in our pages, and will be care- 

 fully read by all interested in chemi- 

 cal physics. It is, perhaps, the most 

 weighty and significant tribute to the 

 genius of Faraday that has yet been 

 made ; and at the same time it is itself 

 no slight contribution to physico-chem- 

 ical theory. It was stated that Faraday, 

 although not a mathematician, had an- 

 ticipated with great sagacity the results 

 of electro-chemical research bv the 

 trained mathematicians of the present 

 generation. Professor Helmholtz's orig- 

 inal speculations were thus referred to 

 by Dr. Roscoe : " Upon Faraday's well- 

 known law of electrolysis he has founded 

 a new electro-chemical theory which re- 

 veals to us chemists conclusions of the 

 utmost importance. He tells us, as the 

 result of the application of the modern 

 theory of electricity to Faraday's great 

 experimental law,^ that the atom of 

 every chemical element is always imited 

 with a definite, unvarying quantity of 

 electricity. Moreover and this is most 

 important that tliis definite amount of 

 electricity attached to each atom stands 

 in close connection with the combining 

 power of the atom which modern chem- 

 istry terms quantivalence. For, if the 



