12 president's address. 



Mr. Barff (Z.C., p. 94), "that the expansion of the University 

 began. The announcement in that year [1880] of the great 

 Challis bequest, to accrue at a future time, stirred the University 

 to fresh life, and an extended scheme of teaching, involving the 

 establishment of chairs or lectureships in Natural History, 

 Modern Languages, Engineering, and the opening of a Medical 

 School, was adopted by the Senate, and approved by the Govern- 

 ment of the day [in 1881]. . . . The Arts Curriculum was 

 made much wider in its range . . . while a separate Faculty 

 of Science was established, with a curriculum of pure Science, 

 leading to the Degree of Bachelor of Science, and with a sub- 

 department of Engineering" [in 1882]. 



Sir William Maclea}^, as a Member of the Senate, took the 

 keenest interest in the developments outlined above, and especiall}' 

 in all that related to the Faculty of Science. But he was quite 

 as much interested in them as a private individual devoted to 

 science, and the moving spirit of a Scientific Societ}'' which existed 

 solely for the cultivation and study of the Science of Natural 

 History in all its branches. In the former capacity, he had 

 already made some progress in arranging a comprehensive scheme 

 for tlie present or future utilisation of the greater portion of his 

 private fortune, for the advancement of science; though still 

 leaving himself scope for new developments. 



As one direct result of University expansion, opportunities for 

 scientific study and facilities for scientific training had now 

 become available in wholly new directions, or to an extent pre- 

 viously unknown in New South Wales. On the other hand, the 

 extent to w^hich science students might be disposed to respond to 

 these opportunities, under existing conditions, was theoretically 

 subject to some hampering limitations. The tantalising dilemma 

 in which a scientific aspirant may find himself is lucidly indicated 

 in one of Huxley's Addresses."^ If Science is to take its proper 

 place in a University, it must be accorded due " recognition as a 

 Facult}^ or branch of study demanding recognition and special 



* "Universities: Actual and Ideal." ' Science and Culture,' pp. 47 and 55. 



