March 9, 191 1] 



NATURE 



47 



At the head of all these educational institutions 

 stand the Universities of Tokyo and Kyoto, the 

 calendar of the former of which has just come to hand, 

 and a perusal of it will be useiui to all who are 

 interested in education in tnis country, as in some 

 respects it shows a width of view and a completeness 

 of arrangement which are not always observable in 

 universities in this country. The Lniversity of Tokyo 

 began in a very small way, and its development is 

 sketched in the interesting historical summary which 

 serves as an introduction to the calendar. At a com- 

 paratively early stage it had four departments of 

 study, namely, those of law, science, literature, and 

 medicine, and in 1886 the Kobu-Daigakko or Imperial 

 CoUeg-e of Engineering, became a college in the 

 university. Readers of Nature of between thirty and 

 forty years ago will remember this as the college 

 associated with the names of Dr. Henry Dyer and 

 Dr. Edward Divers, its first and second principals, 

 and of Profs. Ayrton, Perry, Milne, and other gradu- 

 ates of British universities. 



The university now consists of six colleges and one 

 university hall. The colleges are those of law, medi- 

 cine, engineering, literature, science, and agriculture. 

 Th° College of Law includes the two courses of law 

 and politics, with thirty-four professorial chairs. The 

 College of Medicine includes the two courses of 

 medicine and pharmacy, with thirty-one professorial 

 cliairs. In connection with this college there is a 

 course of State medicine. The College of Engineer- 

 ing includes the nine courses of civil engineering, 

 mechanical engineering, naval architecture, tech- 

 nologv of arms, electrical engineering, architecture, 

 applied chemistry, technology of explosives; and min- 

 ing and metallurgy, with thirty-two professorial chairs. 

 The College of Literature includes the three courses 

 of philosophy, history, and literature, with twenty- 

 four professorial chairs. The College of Science in- 

 cludes the nine courses of mathematics, astronomy, 

 theoretical physics, practical physics, chemistry, 

 7oologv, botany, geology, and mineralogy, with 

 twenty-five professorial chairs. The College of Agri- 

 culture includes the four courses of agriculture, agri- 

 cultural, chemistry, forestry, and veterinary medicine, 

 with thirty professorial chairs. For the training of 

 practical farmers, subsidiary courses of agriculture, 

 forestry, and veterinary medicine are provided in con- 

 nection with the College of .Agriculture. 



The university is well equipped with all the appli- 

 ances required for the practical teaching of the various 

 subjects. It has a very good library, containing a 

 large number of all the more modern books required 

 in university study. Hospitals are connected with the 

 College of Medicine. An Institute of Historical Com- 

 pilation is a part of the College of Literature con- 

 nected with the College of Science are the Tokvo 

 Astronomical Observatory, the Botanical Garden, the 

 Seismological Observatory, and the Marine Labora- 

 tory. Forests, experimental farms, veterinary hos- 

 pitals, and the Institute for fhe Training of Agricul- 

 tural School Teachers are connected with the College 

 of Agriculture. There are many laboratories and 

 museums in connection with the Colleges of Medicine, 

 Engineering, Science, and Agriculture. 



The total number of students is between five and 

 six thousand, and of graduates in one vear nearly 

 Tiine hundred. The record of the occupations of the 

 graduates after they have left the university shows 

 tliat they have taken up practical work connected 

 with the special department which they had selected 

 as students. A large proportion become Government 

 officials, lawyers, engineers, medical practitioners, and 

 teachers. There are two private institutions in 

 Tokyo of university rank, the Keio Gijiku and the 

 Waseda Universities, each of which has a large 

 NO. 2158, VOL. 86] 



number of Scudents, the majority of whom enter pri- 

 vate services, as distinguished from the students of 

 the Imperial University, a large proportion of whom 

 become Government officials. 



That the students of the university do not simply 

 absorb Western learning and apply it to practical pur- 

 poses is shown by the long list of papers which is 

 printed at the end of the calendar, giving the contents 

 of the Journals of the Medical, Engineering, Science, 

 and Agricultural Colleges, and the bulletins of the 

 Engineering and Agricultural Colleges. Those who 

 have had the opportunity of perusing these publica- 

 tions will admit that they will bear very favourable 

 comparison with those of similar publications in any 

 other country, and those who have the pleasure of 

 knowing the professors personally will admit that 

 they are men of ability, learning, and character, of 

 whom any learned institution in the world would 

 have no reason to be ashamed. 



A survey of the results of education on the afTairs of 

 the nation shows convincingly and conclusively the 

 intimate relation that exists between the provision 

 made by a nation for the higher education of its 

 people and the position taken by that nation in the 

 ceaseless competition between the great countries of 

 the world. After a searching comparison between the 

 facilities for university education in this country, on 

 one hand, and in the United States and Germany 

 on the other, Sir Norman Lockyer was justified in 

 saying in his presidential address at the British Asso- 

 ciation meeting. at Southport :^ — 



" But even more wonderful than these examples is the 

 ' intellectual effort ' made by Japan, not after a war, but 

 to prepare for one. The question is. Shall we wait for 

 a disaster and then imitate Prussia and France, or shall 

 we follow Japan and thoroughly prepare by ' intellectual 

 effort ' for the industrial struggle which lies before us? " 



H. D. 



FIFTH MIGRATION REPORT OF THE 

 BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS CLUB.' 



WE have before us the fifth annual report of the 

 migration committee of the British Ornitho- 

 logists Club, containing the data with regard to the 

 arrival and dispersal within England and Wales of 

 our common migratory birds during the autumn of 

 iqo8 and the spring and early summer of 1909, 

 scheduled and tabulated as in former years. The 

 report, which is longer than any of its predecessors, 

 summarises a vast number of observations sent in by 

 numerous voluntary observers, and by the keepers of 

 the coastwise lighthouses and lightships. These 

 data, compiled with an infinitude of labour and care, 

 will always retain their value as a contribution to 

 our knowledge of the movements of the species dealt 

 with within the narrow limits of the area of refer- 

 ence. Even such apparently dry details — composed 

 solelv of names and figures — present (among those, 

 for instance, sent in from the lonely sea-girt stations 

 dotting our shores from The Hanois to St. Abbs 

 Head) an interesting and fascinating picture of that 

 wild, inexplicable rush of our feathered friends in a 

 commingled horde fleeing as from judgment to come, 

 which every autumn blindly compels to the southward, 

 but to what latitudes we know not yet for certain. 



The dates of the movements of the scheduled birds 

 tabulated on the maps afford us again the satisfac- 

 tion of following the sure and happy return of our 



1 Bullstin of the British Ornithologists Club. Edited by W, R. Ogilvie- 

 Grant. Vol. xxvi.. Report on the ImmiKrations of Summer Residents inthe 

 Spring of 1909 ; also Notes on the Migratory Movements .and Records 

 received from Lighthouses and Light-vessels during the Autumn of 1908. 

 By the Committee appointed by the British Ornithologists Club. (Lofidon : 

 Witherby and Co., 1910.) 



