May 1 8, 191 1] 



NATURE 



401 



■■ within the limits of the alloys studied, ihe constitution of 

 the ternary alloys very closely resembles that of the binary 

 alloys of aluminium and copper ; manganese influences the 

 properties of the alloys in a manner somewhat similar to 

 that of aluminium, but at a different rate." 



At the aluminium end the results have been less favour- 

 able. The most promising alloy appears to be one with 

 3 per cent, of copper and i per cent, of manganese, which 

 in the form of a chill casting gave a tensile strength of 

 12 tons per square inch and an elongation of 13-5 per cent, 

 on 2 inches. In the form of rolled bars, however, the 

 authors say, " there does not appear to be any advantage in 

 using the ternary alloys as compared with the alloys of 

 aluminium with copper alone." 



The remaining papers are as follows : — 



(4) " Report on the Progress of the National Experimental 

 lank," by Dr. R. T. Glazebrook. 



(5) " On the use of Mutual Inductometers," by A. 

 Campbell. 



(6) " Comparative Life Tests on Glow Lamps," by C. C. 

 Paterson and E. H. Rayner. 



(7) " On a Method of Counting the Rulings of a Diffrac- 

 ion Grating," by G. W. Kaye. 



(8) " The Expansion and Thermal Hysteresis of Fused 

 Silica," by G. W. Kaye. 



In view of the extensive application of fused silica or 

 quartz glass to physical and chemical operations, the last- 

 named paper is of considerable interest. A curve is given 

 from which the mean coeflRcient of expansion over any 

 desired range between —190° C. and iioo° C. may be 

 derived. From this curve it appears that two change-points 

 exist, one at —80° C, the other at about 1000° C. As 

 regards linear hysteresis, the author concludes, " Silica over 

 a range of 0° C. to 400^^ C. has nothing to fear in com- 

 parison with either Invar or Jena thermometry glasses. . . . 

 There is practically nothing to choose between the different 

 kinds of fused silica." A silica standard metre is being 

 completed at the laboratory. 



H. C. H. C. 



SPECIALISATION IN UNIVERSITY 

 EDUCATION. 

 "T^HE March issue of The Johns Hopkins University 

 ■*■ Circular contains an account of the celebrations in 

 connection with the Commemoration Day of the University 

 held on February 22. Dr. James Bryce, the British 

 .Ambassador to the United States, was the principal 

 speaker, and in his address discussed the tendency to over- 

 specialisation in university education. Mr. R. BreJit 

 Keyser, the president of the Board of Trustees, read a 

 statement of the plans for the development of the new 

 site for the University. Nine years ago, he said, at the 

 time of the raising of the Million Dollar Endowment Fund 

 of 1902, the University received also the gift of the Home- 

 wood property. This property, under the deed of gift, 

 is to become the permanent home of the University when, 

 in the judgment of the Board of Trustees, the interest 

 and welfare of the University permit. A plan for 

 development has been provided which will admit of growth 

 and alteration to suit the changing needs of future years. 

 To-day we have been given, he continued, means to 

 accept the offer of 50,000/. from the General Education 

 I^ard, and the total amount pledged, part of it already 

 paid in, amounts to nearly 240,000/. With great wisdom, 

 the General Education Board, the aim of which is to help 

 I he cause of education of the whole country, has provided 

 that at least 100,000/. of this amount shall be retained as 

 a permanent endowment, the income only to be used, so 

 that the institution might not be crippled in its real work 

 by the expenditures incident to large building operations, 

 and by the greatly increased expense which will come 

 from living in such an enlarged environment. 



Mr. B. H. Griswold, jun., chairman of the committee 

 on the endowment and extension fund of 1910. said 1500 

 gifts, ranging from one dollar to 20,000/., totalling nearly 

 240.000/., and substantially every doll.ir of it from Mary- 

 land, with the exception of the gift of the General Educa- 

 tion Ik)ard and contributions of non-resident alumni, had 

 I'een secured. .Apart from the original gift of the founder 

 Hid apart from all legacies, the citizens of Maryland and 

 he .'ilumni of the University, before the last appeal was 



NO. 2168, VOL. 861 



made and answered, had bestowed, by direct gift, upon 

 the University since its foundation more than 600,000/. 

 The exact amount contributed to date to the 1910 Endow- 

 ment and Extension Fund is 238,635/. Of this sum, 

 50,000/. was given by the General Education Board, 

 48,000/. by the trustees of the University, 60,000/. was 

 subscribed by the alumni, and the balance of more than 

 80,000/. was given by those to whom we have given the 

 simple but honourable degree of " Friends of the Uni- 

 versity." A few special gifts may be mentioned: there is 

 one of 4000/. to the department of romance languages, one 

 of 2000/. for the Edmund Law Rogers fellowship, and 

 2000/. for the Hutzler library. 



Mr. Bryce 's address applies equally to British as to 

 American universities, and it is here reprinted in an 

 abridged form. 



A remarkable feature of the thirty-five years over which 

 we look back is the wonderful development of the various 

 departments of human knowledge, and especially those 

 which are concerned with the sciences of nature, into 

 special branches, each of which has been tending to be- 

 come more distinct from the others. So far from finding 

 ourselves approaching the end of human knowledge, we 

 find that the more we know the more remains beyond to 

 be known, and that the realm of the unknown seems to 

 be always increasing with even-' addition to our know- 

 ledge. It is as though the path which we are following 

 were always diverging into a number of different paths 

 which tend to separate from one another, and lead 

 us into untrodden solitudes to which we see no end. 

 Within the recollection of most of us, new branches of 

 science have made good their place, and have become 

 recognised as separate fields of inquiry, and along with 

 this it has befallen that the great majority of scientific 

 inquirers now, so ^soon as their general scientific educa- 

 tion has been completed, begin to devote themselves to 

 one particular branch of investigation and throw their 

 whole energy into pushing it forward. A man is now not 

 a " natural philosopher " in the old sense of the term, 

 but belongs to some one of the specific branches into 

 which natural philosophy has become divided. The same 

 thing has happened in those practical arts which depend 

 upon the application of science. They, too, have multi- 

 plied by division, and thus new practical professions have 

 grown up, which were scarcely thought of forty years ago. 



The same thing has of necessity happened in university 

 education. We have now in all organised universities pro- 

 fessors of a large number of distinct branches of know- 

 ledge, which were formerly lumped together as being one 

 branch under one professor. 



So also among the students the tendency is for those 

 who have advanced some way to begin to devote them- 

 selves to one particular line of study and investigation. 

 Both the teacher and the student are naturally fascinated 

 by the prospect of discovery. The professor likes best to 

 lecture upon the subject in which he is pushing forward 

 his own investigations, and the student is able to find in 

 them the most attractive field of experimental research. 



This sort of specialisation has become inevitable, but 

 there is a consequence attached to it which has seemed 

 almost equally inevitable, namely, that part of the time 

 which was previously given to general study, to a know- 

 ledge both of natural science in general and of other sub- 

 jects, has now had to be devoted to this special study. 

 The field of nature is unlimited. Human curiosity is un- 

 limited. But human life and the capacity for using our 

 time and our powers in the acquisition of knowledge 

 remain within very narrow lx)unds. 



.Accordingly, the problem which to-day confronts us in 

 all universities is how to find time both for these specialised 

 studies, which have become so much more absorbing, and 

 also for a survey and comprehension of the general field of 

 human knowledge which is necessary in order to make 

 the univer'itty graduate a truly educated and cultivated" 

 man. capable of seeing the relations of his own particular 

 studv to others and of appreciating the various methods 

 by which discovery is prosecuted. This problem of 

 reconciling special with general study, although most 

 urgent in the sciences of nature, shows itself in what may 

 be cal!''d the human subjects also. 



Hnw vr. thp difTiculty T am referring to ariM's chif'fly 



