128 



NATURE 



\yune%, 1876 



of wkich he is occupied. He is entirely free from the 

 influence of the Jesuit's examination system ; that has 

 been long since abolished (where it existed) in German 

 Universities. He is never concerned for one moment 

 with the thought as to what place his hearers may take in 

 an examination — such examination as thei'e is being 

 entirely in his own hands — and having very little import- 

 ance attached to it. Moreover, he cannot (at any rate in 

 the early part of his career) make anything considerable 

 by the fees of his hearers, and has to look for his promo- 

 tion and increase of income solely to success in the occu- 

 pation "li'Jtich his chair assigns to him, namely, original 

 research. 



The preparation of students for an examination by the 

 results of which they are to gain or fail to gain valuable 

 money-rewards, is a business by itself; and the man 

 appointed to carry oil this business, especially when his 

 own income and his promotion depend upon his success 

 in placing his pupils well in the examination, cannot pay 

 much attention to other things. He is in a totally dif- 

 ferent position from that of the German professor. He 

 is in the position which Mr. Sorby deprecates, viz., that 

 of having an anxious commercial pursuit. But, worse 

 still, as Mr. Pattison and Mr. Nettleship point out in 

 their essays, he deals with knowledge and the results of 

 study in such a way (viz., for examination purposes) that 

 he necessarily is liable to become less fitted than any 

 other man of business to pursue knowledge for its own 

 sake. He and his pupils take up a radically false position 

 with relation to knowledge. 



The essays of Mr. Pattison and Mr. Cotton are particu- 

 larly interesting as showing how the present enormous 

 revenues of the Colleges and Universities of Oxford and 

 Cambridge came to be employed, as they are for the most 

 part, in the cheapening of cramming (as Mr. Sayce docs 

 not hesitate to call it) and the reward of success in being 

 crammed, or in the subvention of resident college-lec- 

 turers and tutors on the one hand, and non-resident 

 competition prize-men on the other. Originally this was 

 not the case ; Fellowships were even founded for the express 

 purpose of relieving their holders from the distraction of 

 teaching, in order that they might devote themselves to 

 study. It was unfortunately at a time when the Church 

 was entering upon a new phase of its history, no longer 

 to be the great representative of learning and science, 

 but something very different, that Leicester and Laud 

 handed over the University to the Colleges and the Col- 

 leges to the Church. The Fellowships became so much 

 capital, by means of which, in virtue of their monopoly 

 of education, the Colleges were able to convert them- 

 selves into what they have with general approval, but to 

 the detriment of science and letters, become — proprietary 

 schools ^ for the " finishing " of young gentlemen. Under 

 the present system the resident Fellow doubles his income 

 through the division cf the monopolised fees, whilst 

 the young gentleman's parents pay half* what they would 

 have to pay elsewhere for the same amount of constant 

 supervision, cramming, and " direction." 



Whatever portion of the collegiate revenues is retained 



I See Prof. Max Miiller in the Academy, May 11. 

 The Oxford undergraduat* pays on an average 20/. a year for being 

 prepared for examination. A well-known "grinder" for the Indian Civil 

 Service examinations charges, I believe, 100/. a year for similar prepara- 

 tion. 



by the new University Commissioners for the College 

 tutors, or as the Oxford Hebdomadal Council has ex- 

 pressed it, for " education " (as that word is understood 

 at the English Universities) is clearly enough lost to 

 research. This proposition is perhaps the main result of 

 the arguments adduced in the essays of the rector of 

 Lincoln, Dr. Applcton, Mr. Sayce, and Mr. Nettleship. 



4. All this being admitted, namely, that it is a matter 

 of urgent importance to provide an extensive series of 

 fairly-remunerated posts to be held by persons constantly 

 engaged in research, unencumbered even by the plausible 

 condition of preparing young men for examination, the 

 practical questions come — which with Englishmen arc 

 generally the first questions — namely. Whence is the 

 money to be obtained for this purpose, and how are you 

 to ensure that true "research-men" will get the posts 

 supposing that they are once created ? 



These are two distinct questions. As to the first the 

 answer is simple. It is only through the direct inter- 

 vention of the Government that the thing can be done. 

 Government may assign for this purpose a large part 

 of the revenues of Oxford and Cambridge, of City Com- 

 panies, or of the Irish Church ; or the sum required may 

 be met annually by the taxes. The " Essays " have 

 chiefly in view, no doubt, the appropriation of a part of 

 the revenues of Oxford and Cambridge to this purpose. 

 At the same time we must remember that even were some 

 200,000/. a-year detached from those institutions and 

 deliberately and simply assigned to .the promotion of 

 research under State control, yet even then only a portion 

 of the national requirements would be met. A larger sum 

 than this is needed to carry out even a moderate scheme. 

 When, however, it is proposed to leave the 200,000/. a 

 year under the control of its present administrators with 

 general directions to them to employ it in the encourage- 

 ment of research, we must contend that there is very 

 strong reason, indeed, for an additional altogether inde- 

 pendent and strictly national endowment of research — 

 such as has been hinted at by Lord Derby — and such as 

 is carried out by continental Governments. 



The second question as to the means to be adopted in 

 order to avoid jobbery and sinecurism in connection with 

 the proposed series of posts, is not discussed in any way 

 in the volume under review. It is, however, one of the 

 most serious questions, and we shall therefore venture 

 very briefly to furnish , an answer which is, as far as we 

 can sec, completely satisfactory. In a question like this, 

 of serious practical importance, the most conclusive 

 answer is to be found in an existing solution of similar 

 difficulties in a very closely similar case. 



This we possess in the great German University sys- 

 tem. Whatever objections Englishmen may have to 

 German Universities as teaching bodies, the fact remains 

 that as an arrangement for the endowment of research on 

 a triily national scale they are the most unqualified 

 success. Research is endowed by this system and is 

 abundantly carried on, and this without (to the writer's 

 knowledge) a suggestion or imputation of jobbery or sine- 

 curism in connection with it. 



The elements of this success in the German system are 

 the following : — i. The appointments are held by twenty- 

 one groups of men engaged in research. 2. By custom and 

 the conditions of society (legislative prohibition would 



