248 NATURAL SCIENCE. April, 



are totally unconnected with each other ; only by private courtesy or 

 as members of the general public can those working at one institution 

 gain access to another. 



From the point of view of a student the case is still harder. He 

 must throw in his lot with one definite institution, and though his 

 education is at least as expensive, his opportunities, considered all 

 round, compare most unfavourably with the opportunities in the great 

 provincial towns, and at the Universities of Scotland and Ireland. In 

 the case of medical students the disadvantages of present arrange- 

 ments are peculiarly great. The foremost men in different branches 

 of the profession are scattered among the hospitals, and a student 

 at one must be content with mediocre lectures on many of his 

 subjects, although a few streets off the foremost authorities in 

 Europe may be discoursing on them. Moreover, two students at 

 different institutions pursue nearly the same course, and at the end 

 of their career receive the one, an University degree, the other, a 

 mere qualification. 



Report of the Gresham University Commissioners. 



We hope that the report of this second Commission will prove 

 a great step towards the removal of some of these anomalies. We 

 do not propose to discuss it in a controversial spirit, but to note its 

 main provisions. 



The Commissioners recommend first that there should be one 

 University in London ; that its teaching functions should be con- 

 fined to the metropolis, but that it should continue to be an examin- 

 ing body for students presenting themselves from all parts of the 

 British Empire. To prevent a repetition of the old delays, it is 

 recommended that the necessary modifications of the existing Univer- 

 sity should be made by legislation, and not by charter, as that would 

 entail the action of the present University itself. 



In the matter of examinations for degrees, the Commissioners 

 propose that the certificates of institutions other than the University 

 shall be accepted in lieu of the first examination for degrees, but that 

 the final examinations for degrees shall be the same for internal and 

 external candidates. This they propose, having in mind the neces- 

 sity of the same standard for the same degree ; but as in the recon- 

 stituted University the teachers will be a very large body with very 

 great powers, they believe that the present unsatisfactory system, 

 by which teaching is wholly subservient to examinations, will be 

 remedied. 



The University is to include six faculties — arts, science, medi- 

 cine, law, theology, and music. The faculty of science is to include 

 pure science and applied science under different boards of study. 

 The latter is to include engineering, architecture, agriculture, and 

 other subjects of technology. 



