2 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



action of outsiders — outsiders in the sense that they play no 

 part in the work of the University — although, as a matter of 

 fact, on the last occasion when the abolition of compulsory 

 Greek was considered at Oxford, the proposition was defeated 

 by the Ansonites in Congregation. Lord Curzon appears to 

 have breached the wall at Oxford and the force of example, if 

 not the stings of conscience or the fear that Oxford may steal 

 a march upon her, is leading Cambridge also to organise an 

 attack on the accumulated prejudice of ages. But, unless 

 supports are brought up from all sides, it will be difficult for 

 the party of reform at either University to effect the necessary 

 changes. 



The scare caused by the discovery that Germany is building 

 " Dreadnoughts " faster than we are is proof that we are in some 

 slight measure alive to the danger of attack upon our Naval 

 power but, at the same time, it is proof also that our outlook 

 is essentially a narrow one, as the alarmists are alarmed only 

 at the growth of German naval and military power. We fail 

 to understand or even to consider why it is that Germany has 

 progressed in so wonderful a way and is become so dangerous 

 a competitor : we do not see that she owes her present proud 

 position and power primarily to the fact that her Universities 

 are going concerns, whilst ours are not — institutions of higher 

 learning, in touch with the people and mindful of the wants of 

 the people, not wedded to the past and unable if not unwilling 

 to consider the real requirements of the present in any proper 

 manner. No one can assert that Oxford and Cambridge have 

 not done much of late years to give increased facilities to 

 learners — but the spirit of management is not altered ; it remains 

 academic and monastic as of yore and they are still little more 

 than " superior boarding-schools." 



Lord Milner in his speech at Nottingham in April last hit 

 the nail on the head in saying that — " the potential strength of 

 the Empire is immense but so also are its unreadiness and lack 

 of organisation." This is true generally ; not only of military 

 and naval affairs. Huxley spoke to the same effect in 1886 

 when, in an impassioned letter to The Times, he called attention 

 to the serious struggle for existence to which we were com- 

 mitted, ending with the statement "Many circumstances tend 

 to justify the hope that we may hold our own if we are careful 

 to organise victory." We are no better organisers, no more 



