NATURAL SCIENCE: 



A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress. 



No. 13. Vol. II. MARCH. 1893. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Natural Science at Oxford. 



REMUNERATIVE positions affording facilitiesfor scientific research 

 in Britain are so few, that all who are interested in progress will 

 sympathise with every effort to retain, for purely scientific work, the 

 services of those who have shown an aptitude for original investiga- 

 tion during their University career. There must be Fellowships and 

 Lectureships in the colleges to enable the graduate choosing science 

 as a profession to pursue his work during the interval between the taking 

 of his degree and a possible permanent appointment ; and the more of 

 these endowments there are, the greater is the inducement for young 

 University men to aim at something higher than mere honours in an 

 examination. In the interests of Natural Science, we thus desire to 

 call attention to " An Appeal to the Governing Bodies of the Colleges 

 within the University of Oxford," now being circulated by the Linacre 

 Professor of Comparative Anatomy, Dr. Raj^ Lankester. Though 

 primarily a matter for the University itself, the issues involved have 

 so direct a bearing on the future progress of the biological and geo- 

 logical sciences in this country, that the " Appeal " demands the 

 support of all investigators. The University of Oxford is second to 

 none in the repute of its Professors and Lecturers in Natural Science ; 

 its laboratories, museums, and scientific libraries are among the 

 finest ; but, if the governing bodies of the colleges continue practically 

 to ignore the School of Natural Science, all these provisions and 

 advantages are in vain. According to Professor Lankester's state- 

 ment, the graduates in Science are ignored to an almost incredible 

 degree, and hence the necessity for a vigorous protest. 



It appears that the total number of open Fellowships in the 

 Oxford colleges is at present about 300, and that of these only thirty 



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