July 7, 1887] 



NATURE 



237 



could be commenced, to increase the intensity of the treatment 

 V more speedily increasing the strength of the injections, by 

 ;iore frequent repetitions of them, and by using on certain days 



spinal cords dried during only three, two, and one days. Thus 



in September and October 1886 he adopted the following 



formula : — • 



In very severe and perilous cases this course was repeated 

 even three or four times. It was distinguished as the inethode 

 intensive, and among such severe cases it was followed by a 

 marked diminution of mortality. But when it appeared possible 

 that it might be dangerous, M. Pasteur changed it for that 

 which he now uses, and which may be thus represented : — 



Days of Inoculation. 



Days' drying of the cords 



ISt. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. I 5th. 



6th. 



II, 10 10, 10 9, 9 



7th. 



The material for injection is prepared by crushing portions of 

 the dried spinal cord, and diffusing them in sterilized broth free 

 from all risk of putrefaction, decomposition, or any change due 

 to the presence of other micro-organisms ; and the injection is 

 made with synnges through fine tubular needles into the sub- 

 cutaneous tissue. 



For transmissions of rabies through rabbits, in order to obtain 

 the spinal cords required for its prevention in other animals, 

 injections of virus of highest intensity are made through minute 

 holes in the skull into the space under the dura mater or fibrous 

 covering of the brain. 



The materials for the protective inoculations are prepared in 

 the same manner as those for the preventive, from spinal cords 

 dried from ten days to one day. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGES AND THE STATE. 



C\^ Thursday last, June 30, a deputation consisting of members 

 ^-^ of Parliament and others had an interview with the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was accompanied by Mr. 

 Jackson, M.P., to urge that Government assistance should be 

 extended to local university colleges situated in various parts of 

 the country. Among those present were Sir John Lubbock, 

 M.P., Mr. Mundella, M.P., Mr. J. Chamberlain, M.P., Sir 

 Lyon Playfair, M.P., Mr. Bryce, M.P., Mr. Arnold Morley, 

 M.P., Mr. Jesse Collings, M.P., Mr. R. Chamberlain, M.P., 

 Sir U. Kay-Shuttleworth, M.P., Mr. Theodore Fry, M.P,, Mr. 

 Burt, M.P., Sir Henry Roscoe, M.P., Sir A. K. Rollit, M.P., 

 Prof. Stuart, M.P., Sir Bernhard Samuelson, M.P., Mr. Howard 

 Vincent, M.P., Sir W. H. Houldsworth, M.P., Dr. Percival, 

 and Sir Philip Magnus. 



Sir John Lubbock, as the representative of the University of 

 London, introduced the deputation. Their request was that a 

 Parliamentary grant should be made to English colleges, as was 

 already made to those in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The 

 colleges on behalf of which they appeared were doing excellent 

 work, but were greatly hampered for want of funds. The claims 

 of these colleges were not based alone on their services to learn- 

 ing and study ; they were calculated to contribute largely to 



the material prosperity of the country. We now imported 

 ;,^ 1 50, 000, 000 worth of food annually, and our population in- 

 creased at the rate of about 350,000 a year. How were so many 

 to be fed, and how could a revival and return of trade be pro- 

 moted ? Our rivalry with foreign nations was now not on the 

 battlefield but in the manufactory and the workshop ; and it 

 was none the less severe because it was a competition rather 

 than a contest. The need of the assistance for which they asked 

 was very pressing. Without going into details as to particular 

 colleges, he observed that the more recent institutions were 

 generally spending more than their income, and even the oldest 

 and the richest were sadly crippled for want of funds. It was 

 found practically impossible to increase the subscriptions, and 

 local authorities, as a rule, had no power to supplement their 

 funds. As to raising the fees so as to make the colleges self- 

 supporting, that might be possible but would be very undesir- 

 able. He only wished the fees could be abolished altogether, 

 for those receiving education at the colleges benefited not only 

 themselves but the whole nation. As to the expenditure on 

 education, it was in the opinion of some people very large, but 

 it was small in comparison with other items. Our ignorance 

 cost us very much more than our education. Moreover, the 

 principle for which they contended had been conceded in regard 

 to Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The grants to Irish colleges 

 amounted to ^^25,000, to Scotland £\(},o(x>, and to Wales 

 ;^l2,ooo. The University of Glasgow had a special grant of 

 ;^ 1 50, 000 for building. None of the English colleges had such 

 aid. Their request simply was that in this matter of education 

 England should be treated in the same way as Ireland, Scotland, 

 and Wales. 



Mr. J. Chamberlain said that he attended as the representative 

 of Mason College, Birmingham. Their case was the same in 

 principle as that of all the other colleges. They urged that 

 State-aided education had been accepted in principle in England , 

 and in all other countries, but in England alone we had not 

 followed out the principle to its logical conclusion. We had 

 stopped at the lower grade, and in this respect had made a great 

 mistake. If it was of national importance that every one should 

 have placed within his reach the instruments of education, it was 

 of equal importance that they should be stimulated and encour- 

 aged to make use of these facilities. An attempt had been made 

 in some halting fashion to redress the inequality in which this 

 country was placed. The Charity Commissioners had recently 

 been diverting funds which were, to some extent at all events, 

 intended for the benefit of the poorer classes of the population 

 to the purposes of higher secondary education. That practice 

 was open to very serious objection, because it was robbing Peter 

 to pay Paul ; and also because under that system nothing what- 

 ever was done for the colleges represented by the deputation, 

 which were carrying on and extending the education given in the 

 primary and secondary schools. The enormous development of 

 primary and secondary education had created a demand for 

 higher education. Proof of that was to be found in the fact 

 that, although the institutions now represented were nearly all of 

 them the creation of the present generation, they had had, in 

 spite of deficiency of means, the most remarkable success ; and 

 the daily increasing number of their students showed that they 

 were established to meet a real want. The pressure of com- 

 mercial competition came almost exclusively from those nations 

 in which technical instruction and higher education had been 

 developed and stimulated by the action of the State. The 

 demand now made upon the Government was really a very 

 moderate one, and the sum asked for was never likely to assume 

 any very large amount. He believed the grants for primary 

 education amounted to something between ;^2,ooo,ooo and 

 ^3,000,000 a year, and that the additional grant now asked for 

 would only amount to something like ;^50,ooo. 



Mr. Goschen, — Will the deputation be able to supply me with 

 a scheme for the distribution of the ;^50,ooo or with the 

 principle ? 



Mr. Chamberlain replied that, in his opinion, the grants 

 should be made conditional upon further local aid. In that way 

 the Treasury would be able to distinguish the colleges which 

 were entitled to share in the grant. 



Mr. Goschen, — Conditional upon further local aid ? 



Mr. Chamberlain, — Proportioned, in the first place, to the 

 number of students, and, in the second place, conditional upon 

 the amount of local aid. 



Mr. Mundella, — Not in all cases further local aid. 



Mr. Chamberlain agreed with Mr. Mundella that in some 



