October 14, 1920] 



NATURE 



229 



without extraneous aid, receive only the smallest 

 pittance from it. He hoped the grant would be on 

 that basis for a term of years. What the University 

 of Birmingham would get out of this depended on 

 Sir William .M'Cormick's Committee, which would 

 advise the Government. He attached great import- 

 ance to the advice of that Committee on the adminis- 

 tration of the grant. "The less Government inter- 

 ference the better. Whatever you do, don't sacrifice 

 your independence; don't come to that condition, 

 one of those which brought Germany to her ruin." 

 Professors of universities must be independent men, 

 free to express their individual thoughts, subject to 

 such control as the Chancellor or the authorities of 

 the University might think right to impose on them. 

 He did not want direct Government control or inter- 

 ference; he did not want party "pull"; he did not 

 want anything to govern the grant except the relative 

 merits of the recipients. Therefore he attached great 

 importance to the independent Committee of Sir 

 William M'Cormick, which had secured the con- 

 fidence of every University which it was called upon 

 to examine, and had been a real friend and of real 

 assistance to those universities. 



The Government had laid down general lines for 

 the guidance of that Committee. In the first place, 

 it could not encouraRe any university to undertake 

 new developments before it had made' adequate pro- 

 vision for that which already existed. If any grants 

 are expected in respect of new developments,' it must 

 approve these new developments as being suitable to 

 the general scope of the university in which thev are 

 proposed. Moreover, the work done must be of uni- 

 versity standard. Finally, the grant would depend on 

 the amount of local support given bv the city and 

 the Midlands. " If the citizens of Birmingham, if the 

 towns and counties round, do not care enough for 

 their University, and all that it means to them, to 

 Cive it adequate local support, then whatever the 

 Wember for West Birmingham might be allowed to 

 say. the Chancellor of the Exchequer will tell vou 

 flatly that if you do not value your Midland I'niversity 

 you cannot -expect the taxpayer at large to pav for 

 conveniences for you to which vou vourselves wiil not 

 contribute." He most earnestly hoped that the citizens 

 of Birmingham, and the counties and boroughs which 

 surroun<led them, would co-operate to make the Uni- 

 versity a common source of learning and of wealth 

 for them all. 



The Principal (Mr. C. Grant Robertson) read a 

 letter from the President of the Board of Education, 

 who wish«I success to the appeal, and remarked that 

 "all over the country we are faced with the paradox 

 that \vhile the nation has never derived more benefit 

 from its universities, these institutions have never 

 found it more diflficult to carry on their existence." 



Mr. Grant Robertson pointed out that 42 per cent, 

 of the students of the Universitv came from Birming- 

 ham itself, 42 per cent, from the region round about, 

 and the remainder from distant parts, and he hopetl 

 that_ the surrounding districts would contribute ac- 

 cordingly; at present their contribution was not one- 

 tenth of that piven by the City of Birmingham. He 

 emphasised the underpayment of the staff; he bt-lieved 

 that there was not one of them who could not double 

 his income by leaving the I'niversity at that moment. 

 Bv what moral right did we expect gifted men to 

 give services at a wai<e whi( h in industrv would be 

 regarded as contemptible? Professors could no more 

 be improvised than admirals or generals. Facilities 

 for research were indispensable ; a universitv in which 

 research did not flourish was a crippled institution. 

 Then; was. too, a growing and insistent demand for 

 I xtra-mural work that ordinar>- men and women 



NO. 2659, VOL. I06l 



might benefit. This demand must be met, but it 

 could not be met without money. It was a most 

 promising sign that the people were turning to the 

 university to learn the duties and solve the problems 

 of citizenship. They were asking for instruction in 

 subjects which went to the root of civic life — history, 

 political theory, economics, and civics — and by giving 

 this instruction the universities would be doing much 

 to make democracy safe for the world. 



The problems of the present and near future were 

 commonly called economic ; they were really spiritual 

 and moral, and they could not be solved by merely 

 material remedies. We were victors in the war, and 

 our universities might be made potent instruments in 

 the spiritual, moral, and intellectual reconstruction of 

 societv. This might be an inauspicious time for an 

 appeal, but the University was faced with a crisis ; it 

 must either act or succumb. 



In the evening the Lord Mayor (.Mderman William 

 Cadburv) presided over a meeting in the Town Hall. 

 Lord Robert Cecil made an eloquent appeal, showing 

 the discreditable state of this country in the matter 

 of university education as comp.-ired with the United 

 States, with Germany, and, most of all, with Scotland. 

 It was a curious fact that in England people seemed 

 to think that anyone could use his mind without 

 special training. This was a grave fallacy, and a 

 university was essential to provide the necessary 

 mental training which was so vital to us as a nation. 

 With the increasing responsibility which was being 

 thrust upon the people (in foreign politics, for 

 example), it was of the utmo.st importance that the 

 working classes should have full opportunities of 

 receiving education, and especially university educa- 

 tion. 



.Mr Neville Chamberlain, M.P., appealed especially 

 to the manufacturers, banks, insurance companies, 

 and others dependent on industry for their money. He 

 contrasted the business methods of forty years ago 

 with those of the present, showing that to-day — when 

 even directors are supposed to know something of the 

 business they direct — a constant supply of highly 

 trained voung men such as the University of Birming- 

 ham can provide is an essential factor in the success 

 of our national commerce. If it paid men to invest 

 large sums of money in securing the raw materials of 

 their business, it must pay them even more to invest 

 a modest sum in mainfainintj the efficiency of an 

 institution which turns out brains — quite as important 

 as raw materials in the success of a business. 



.\ resolution— " That this meeting, recognising the 

 importance of the University of Birmingham in the 

 commercial, intellectual, and social life of the Mid- 

 lands, and convinced of its need for greatly enlarged 

 funds, cordiallv supports the appeal now to be 

 i.ssued". — was carried unanimously. 



.At the close of the meeting the'Pro-Vice-Chancellor 

 (.•Mderman Clavton) announced that a sum of 2oo,(xicI. 

 had been conditionally promised. 



Aeronautics at the Science Museum, 

 South Kensington. 



THE collection of aeronautics in the .Science Museum 

 has been recently rearranged, and now occupies 

 one of the galleries of the new Science Museum Build- 

 ings in Exhibition Road, South Kensington. Many 

 important additions have bi-cn made to it, so that 

 visitors can study the development of aeronautics 

 from early times in the many objects of great his- 

 torical interest, while the progress made in aviation 

 during the last six years is repri>s«>ntcd by numerous 

 exhibits which have been recently acquired. 



