298 LIFE AND EXPERIENCES CHAP. 



eight members, each of these members being well con- 

 versant with some particular branch of the Collection and 

 this committee to be charged with responsible duties. For 

 the filling up of the post vacant by the resignation of 

 Colonel Stuart Wortley we proposed that a first-rate ex- 

 pert should have control of the machinery and inventions. 

 This officer would only have to attend once a week, 

 which would considerably reduce the cost of his 

 services, but a second official would have to be 

 constantly in attendance. With regard to the Science 

 Collection in the Western Gallery we propose to leave 

 them under the control of the committee composed of 

 the Professors of the Royal College of Science. All 

 these different persons would report from time to time 

 to the responsible committee and thus the Collections 

 would be placed under an efficient system. 



I now pass on to another important innovation, 

 which has greatly influenced the higher scientific 

 education throughout the country. In the same year 

 the Chancellor of the Exchequer reported to the House 

 of Commons that the Government were prepared to 

 include in their estimates a grant of ,15,000 per 

 annum for the purpose of assisting the provincial 

 University Colleges, especially in their scientific 

 departments, and a committee was appointed con- 

 sisting of Sir John Lubbock, Mr. Mowbray, M.P., Dr. 

 Percival (the Headmaster of Rugby and now Bishop 

 of Hereford), the Rev. G. F. Browne, of St. Catherine's 

 College, Cambridge (now Bishop of Bristol), and 

 myself, to consider how this sum should be apportioned. 

 The committee were guided by various considerations 

 in recommending the allotment 01 the grants. They 

 bore in mind the necessity of giving proportionately 

 larger aid to the younger and poorer institutions, but 

 they were not blind to the justice of determining the 



