[57] 



will be Doctor perplexorum alike to profes- 

 sor, don, and undergraduate. 



I wish time had permitted me to sketch 

 even briefly the story of the evolution of sci- 

 ence in this old seat of learning. A fortunate 

 opportunity enables you to see two phases 

 in its evolution. Through the kind permis- 

 sion of several of the colleges, particularly 

 Christ Church, Merton, St. John's, and 

 Oriel, and with the cooperation of the 

 Curators of the Bodleian and Dr. Cowley, 

 Mr. R. T. Gunther, of Magdalen College, 

 has arranged a loan exhibition of the early 

 scientific instruments and manuscripts. A 

 series of quadrants and astrolabes show 

 how Arabian instruments, themselves re- 

 taining much of the older Greek models, 

 have translated Alexandrian science into 

 the Western world. Some were constructed 

 for the latitude of Oxford, and one was asso- 

 ciated with our astronomer-poet Chaucer. 



For the first time the instruments and 



