October 21, 1920] 



NATURE 



263 



university studies. it is qualified not less by its 

 extent to form a foundation neither flimsy nor narrow 

 for a university superstructure. During the past half- 

 century science has developed not only mtensively, but 

 also so extensively as to cover vast fields of Unow- 

 ledf<e previously undreamt of. The result has been 

 the creation of^ new sciences, differentiated by their 

 own specialised literature, methods, instruments, 

 practitioners, and societies. The step from a faculty 

 of science in a university to a university of science 

 and technology is in line with the steps that have 

 given us to-day separate professors of inorganic 

 chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and 

 metallurgy in place of the one-time professor of 

 chemistry whose ambit included all these subjects. 



The Imperial College was styled " Imperial " with 

 deliberate intention from the first. From its charter 

 it is clear that it is set to jjerform real university 

 work of the highest order in science and technology. 

 There is, moreover, a special need which the Imperial 

 College is peculiarly marked out to fill, but which it 

 cannot do adequately unless it has the status of a 

 university with the power to confer degrees. .\ large 

 and increasing number of students from the overseas 

 Dominions, after completing their courses in the 

 Dominion universities and technical colleges, go to 

 Europe or .America to take up what is essentially 

 post-graduate scientific work, especially in its applica- 

 tion to industry. The courses of the Imperial College 

 completelv satisfy their needs in this direction, better 

 probably than tHose of any university in the United 

 Kingdom, but the college in its present status cannot 

 give to such overseas graduates who go through the 

 full post-gr.'iduate courses anything more than the 

 college diploma. On the other hand, Zurich and 

 some .\merican and German cities have institutes of 

 technology granting degrees. It has already been 

 pointed out that in the industrial and professional 



worlds the university degree is recognised as a hall- 

 mark and has a commercial value. The consequence 

 is that there is a growing tendency among these 

 overseas graduates and scientific students to go to 

 America instead of to England, so that they may 

 have a veritable and recognised technological degree, 

 and not a mere diploma, to show for the work they 

 do; and the Imperial College is thus being starved of 

 a type of student it was deliberately charged at its 

 foundation to receive and train. The loss, and even the 

 danger, to the Empire of such a tendency are obvious. 



Such a university of science and technology would 

 be the keystone of the arch of our technical colleges 

 and polytechnics ; it would influence and enlarge the 

 conceptions of technical and scientific education 

 throughout the country and the Empire ; and it must 

 be of great benefit to the modern industrial research 

 movement by raising the status of technological 

 science, by pouring out a stream of the most highly 

 trained technologists and research workers, and by 

 Ix^ing the natural head and crown of the national 

 recognition, so long and di-sastrously delayed, of the 

 vital importance of scientific research, especially in its 

 application to industry. 



There is nothing intentionally or inherently injurious 

 to the University of London or to any other' university 

 in the proposal to give a university status to the 

 Imperial College. To propound as a sort of unalter- 

 able principle that for Greater London, with a popula- 

 tion as large as that of Canada and twice as large as 

 that of Switzerland, there must be one, and only one, 

 university savours rather of an academic dogma than 

 of a balanced educational perspective. The Imperial 

 College and the University of London should be set 

 free to work out each its own future independently of 

 the other. They have divergent aims and interests, 

 and it would be an injurious mistake to force them 

 into an unworkable mesalliance. 



Agriculture in Egypt and Cyprus. 



A GRICULTL'RAL operations in Egypt are entirely 

 •** dependent upon the Nile, and all extensions in 

 the direction of taking fresh land into cultivation 

 depend upon the way in which more profitable use 

 can be made of the waters of the Nile and of the 

 fertilising mud that it carries with it. The construc- 

 tion of tlje .'\swan reservoir has rendered it possible to 

 retain much of the flood-water, but even now a large 

 amount is wasted that would aid in the expansion of 

 the cultivated area if it could be conserved. Mr. G. C. 

 Dudgeon (Bull. Imp. Inst., vol. xvii., No. 3) sets 

 forth a statistical estimate of the possible and avail- 

 .ible water-supply, together with the theoretical annual 

 consumption of water for the chief crops. It is sug- 

 gested that if certain proposed schemes of reclamation 

 were carried out, the whole water requirements of 

 ICij'pt would be met by less than 60 per cent, of the 

 miMii annual discharge of the Nile. 



Under the auspices of the f-'gyptian Ministry of 

 Agriculture, special attention is b<'ing given to the 

 various problems of crop and animal husbandry with 

 the view of improving the agriculture of the country 

 (Agricultural Jot$rnal of Egypt, vol. ix., lo'g). The 

 war emphasised the local needs, and revealed 

 ■I>-ficiencies in many directions, esp«'cially in labour, 



inimals, and manures. Motor-trnctor ploughing is 

 now advocated, and the .tdontion of machine-threshing 

 would result in b<>tter oualitv grain and flour, as the 

 present native system introd\ices a large percentage 

 of mud into the product which cannot be removed 

 by anv known merhanicnl means, .^s cattle manure 

 is being used more and more an fuel, increased pro- 



NO. 2660, VOL. 106] 



duction is now dependent chiefly upon the use of 

 chemical fertilisers, and there are possibilities that if 

 cheap sulphuric acid could be produced, an appreciable 

 supply of sulphate of ammonia and superphosphate 

 could be turned out. .\ttempts are being made to 

 improve the chief crops, and experiments with 

 various rust-resisting .\ustralian wheats show that 

 some of these offer distinct possibilities for Egyptian 

 agriculture, and are worthy of further trial. 



The most important crop is cotton, so much so that 

 the tendency is to increase the area d(Bvoted to it at 

 the expense of that utilised for food production, and 

 it is now necessary to import a larger proportion of 

 food than in earlier )cars. The area under cotton 

 increa.sed steadily to a maximum in 1914 at a greater 

 rate than tiK" total cultivated area, but for tfie last 

 twenty-three years the average yield per fcddan has 

 steadily decreased. This, curiously enough, is attri- 

 butcd chiefly to the improvement in the water-supply. 

 The increased water-supply has not been accompanied 

 bv sufficiently increased drainage; the soils become 

 saturated and the subsoil. water remains at a high 

 level— a condition of things that is most unsuitable 

 for the satisfactory growth of the cotton plant. 

 Further, the additional supply of water has rendered 

 possible the extension of cotton-growing to new lands 

 which are less fertile than those which have been 

 longer under cultivation, and the lower yields obtained 

 have reduced the general averages. The varieties 

 grown also influence the yield, as many recently 

 introduced ones, possessing other very desirable 

 qualities, give smaller crops than the older kinds. 



