December 9. i^97j 



NA TURE 



141 



The London Technical Education Board will proceed in July 

 next to award three junior scholarships in practical gardening, 

 which will be tenable at the new School of Practical Gardening 

 which has recently been opened at the gardens of the Royal 

 Botanic Society in Regent's Park. Thjs school has been 

 established with the view of providing a complete course of 

 instruction for lads who desire to become gardeners. The 

 scheme of work, which has been drawn up by the Royal Botanic 

 Society, combines thorough practical instruction in all the 

 operations of gardening with theoretical instruction in botany 

 and the nature of soils and manures. The course is arranged so 

 as to extend over three years. 



The list of entrance scholarships and exhibitions awarded at 

 Pembroke, Gonville and Caius, King's, Jesus, Christ's, and 

 Emmanuel Colleges, Cambridge, affords an indication of the 

 comparative encouragement given to classics and science at the 

 University. It appears from the list that the scholarships for 

 classics have the value of 1360/. Mathematics comes second 

 with scholarships amounting to the value of 640/., and the 

 natural sciences take the last place with scholarships having a 

 total value of 390/. Considering that the Science Tripos is the 

 largest, or nearly the largest, this seems a discouraging division 

 of the scholarship fund. It is only fair to add that at Trinity 

 and St. John's Colleges the authorities are far more liberal to 

 science, the value of scholarships awarded for natural sciences 

 at the former College being 330/. , and at the latter, 205/. 



The Times of Monday contains a detailed report of a con- 

 ference held on Saturday last at the rooms of the Society of 

 Arts, Adelphi, to consider the expediency of further development 

 in the constitution of the Royal Holloway College in the light 

 of the founder's expressed desire that powers should ultimately 

 be sought enabling the college to confer degrees on its students. 

 Mr. Bryce, M. P., one of the governors of the college, presided, 

 and there was a large and influential gathering of educationists. 

 Papers were read by Mr. R. D. Roberts in favour of an ap- 

 plication from Holloway College for a separate charier to enable 

 it to confer degrees upon its students ; by Mr. Strachan Davidson, 

 of Balliol College, Oxford, in support of the establishment of a 

 women's university, of which Holloway College should form a 

 part ; and by Mrs. Bryant in advocacy of the proposal that 

 Holloway College should become an integral member of the 

 new teaching University of London. A number of letters from 

 prominent educationists were read, expressing their views on the 

 subject. A discussion followed, in which Mrs. Henry Fawcett, 

 Miss Emily Davies, Mrs. Sidgwick, of Newnham, Miss M. 

 Gurney, Sir Joshua Fitch, Mr. H. Sidgwick, and others took 

 part. There was a practical consensus of opinion against the 

 proposal that Holloway College should give degrees ; a great 

 majority of the speakers were opposed to the creation of a 

 separate University for women, and many of them were in favour 

 of connection with the new London University. 



The new Academic Hall of Edinburgh University, opened on 

 Saturday last, is another testimony to the close and friendly con- 

 nection which has always existed between the University and 

 the city. In 1888, Mr. William M'Ewan, M.P. for the Central 

 Division of Edinburgh, offered a sum of 40,000/. with which to 

 build the Academic llall, which had formed a part of tiie 

 original plans of the new University buildings, which had 

 already cost 250,000/. to complete. This offer Mr. M'Ewan after- 

 wards, on its being made clear that the amount was inadequate 

 if the hall was to be proportionate to the buildings already 

 erected, agreed to increase to 62,000/., which was the original 

 estimate of the cost of the hall. As the scheme grew under the 

 hands of the architect, artificers, decorators, and organ builders, 

 the liberality of Mr. M'Ewan kept pace, and the hall, as it now 

 stands completed, has cost him 115,000/. The gift is a noble 

 one, and it provides a noble example of the interest which the 

 citizens of Edinburgh take in the welfare of the University. In 

 accepting the deed of conveyance, on behalf of the University, 

 Mr. Balfour said : "I confess that I have seen with feelings of 

 regret, sometimes almost amounting to .shame, the extreme diffi- 

 culty which there has been not merely in connection with Edin- 

 burgh, but in connection with other great seats of learning, to 

 obtain from the liberality of a not illiberal public sufficient means 

 to make our great British Universities all that British Universities 

 should be. I fear that in this respect we can but ill stand 

 comparison with our cousins of the United States. There, if my 

 information is not incorrect, they have never failed to find men 

 with the means and with the will to keep the institutions of 



NO. 1467, VOL. 57] 



higher education in their country abreast with the ever-growing 

 necessities of such institutions ; and the number of generous 

 benefactors which America has been able to show may well 

 cause some feeling of shame, I think, in us on this side of the 

 Atlantic, speaking the same language, possessing the same cul- 

 ture, aiming at the same objects, but who have not always shown 

 in pursuit of those objects the same uninterested generosity. 

 The relations between Edinburgh and the University, always 

 close, almost always friendly, have not been diminished 

 by changes in the status of the University. In connec- 

 tion with this very hall, or rather with the surroundings 

 and accessories to the hall, the city of Edinburgh has 

 .shown itself possessed of the same generous public spirit, 

 the same desire to do everything in its power to promote the 

 interests of this great seat of learning which it has shown through- 

 out all the centuries since this University was first founded." 

 Mr. M'Ewan's liberality and Mr. Balfour's remarks upon the rela- 

 tions between the city of Edinburgh and the University should 

 furnish food for reflection to the citizens of London. 



The Technical Education Cas^//^ publishes a few particulars 

 with regard to the entries in the various classes at the nine 

 polytechnics which are in receipt of aid from the Technical 

 Education Board of the London County Council. The most 

 significant fact in connection with the polytechnics is that, not- 

 withstanding the opening of four new large polytechnics during 

 the four years that the Board has been at work, no diminution 

 has been caused in the number of students attending the older 

 institutions, but on the contrary, every one of the nine institu- 

 tions shows an increase in the number of class entries for the 

 present session. Thus the remarkable result has been brought 

 about that, although these four new institutions show this 

 session a total of over 8000 class entries, representing a total 

 number of nearly 5000 individual students, yet the enrolment 

 of these new students has "not only not decreased the member- 

 ship of the other older institutions but has actually stimulated 

 their growth. It may be estimated that there are now in attend- 

 ance at the evening classes of the nine polytechnics about 18,000 

 individual students, the great majority of whom are engaged 

 in systematic courses of evening instruction under the direction 

 of the principal of the institution where they are studying. It 

 we take the class entries in detail according to the various 

 branches of study, we find that the classes in tlie building trades 

 show in almost every case an increase in the number of 

 students. In the engineering trades there is likewise a very 

 general increase in the attendance at the classes. The great 

 demand that exists for evening instruction in electrical engineer- 

 ing is shown by the fact that in both the two polytechnics in the 

 south-west district of London, the Battersea Polytechnic and 

 the South-west London Polytechnic at Chelsea, the number of 

 students has increased during the past year with remarkable 

 rapidity. Another satisfactory instance of increase is shown in 

 the classes in typography and letterpress printing. Perhaps the 

 most remarkable fact of all is that the original polytechnic at 

 Regent Street, which draws its students from all parts of the 

 metropolis, and which might therefore have been expected to 

 suffer from the growth of new institutions, continues not only to 

 maintain its numbers but even shows a further increase on last 

 year. Last year the number of individual students attending on 

 November i was 5583 ; this year there were in attendance on 

 November i as many as 5848, representing an increase of about 

 5 per cent. A very rapid development has taken place in the 

 classes at the South-west London Polytechnic. So numerous 

 are the entries this session for both the day and the evening 

 departments, that the resources of the building are taxed to the 

 utmost, and very serious inconvenience is being caused in some 

 of the departments by the want of sufficient accommodation. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, November 18. — "Account of a Comparison 

 of Magnetic Instruments at Kew Observatory." By Dr. C. 

 Chree, F. R.S., Superintendent. 



Last July, M. T. Moureaux, of the Pare Saint-Maur Ob- 

 servatory, near Paris, brought over to England the travelling 

 instruments employed in his magnetic survey of France, and a 

 comparison was made between these and the standard magnetic 

 instruments at Kew Observatory. 



