3 7 6 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



be given to students ; but provided that Governing Bodies 

 recognise, as they ought to recognise, that a reasonable amount 

 of time should be reserved for research, the tasks of teaching 

 and investigating are not antagonistic but supplementary. Given 

 equal powers of exposition, the investigator brings to the lecture- 

 room a freshness and first-hand knowledge which cannot be 

 attained by the mere explanation and criticism of other men's 

 labours. The students are proud of being associated with an 

 institution which has not merely great traditions, or the hopes 

 of a distinguished future, but which exercises a living influence 

 on the solution of the problems which confront us to-day. They 

 themselves feel that their studies are not merely reminiscences 

 of what others have thought and done, but are giving them a 

 glimpse of what they themselves may do. We, in this country, 

 are too apt to forget that the indirect effects of a teacher's 

 intellectual status cannot be measured by the number of lectures 

 he gives or the number of exercises he corrects, and yet may 

 be no small part of his influence and usefulness. If he attains 

 distinction, the institution to which he is attached gains in 

 reputation, the students in intellectual vitality. If it be true 

 that "knowledge is power," the gift of adding to knowledge is 

 yet more powerful, and, for the cultivation of this gift, time and 

 opportunity should be allowed in every College of University 

 rank. 



As against Adam Smith, then, I should contend that "great 

 objects," apart from direct financial gain, do exercise at the 

 present moment a very remarkable influence in University 

 education, and that the direct and indirect effects of this change 

 are almost wholly beneficial. Economic pressure is not the 

 only driving power by which men are urged to great exertion. 



The other point on which I should like to add a few words 

 is the influence of Universities in directing the studies of the 

 students by means of authorised degree courses and curricula. 



Of late the tendency has been to leave as much freedom of 

 choice as possible to the student and his teacher. With this 

 policy I am in hearty sympathy, though I must in all sadness 

 say that it involves an enormous increase in the expense of 

 examinations. But the most interesting side of the question 

 is as to the method of dealing with students of technology. 



It cannot be denied that many of them are chiefly anxious 

 for instruction, and are comparatively indifferent to the finer 



