January 14, 19 15] 



NATURE 



553 



I £ £ 



1870-71 12,370 ... 1885-86 21,400 ... 1900-01 50,724 



1871-72 12,450 ... 1886-87 24,400 ... 1901-02 53,154 



1*72-73 12,450 ... 1887-88 23,1,00 .„ 1902-03 68,396 



1873-74 12,450 ... 1888-89 21,900 ... 1903-04 90,780 



1874-75 i3i30o •■■ 1889-90 27,603 ... 1904-05 46,407 



1875-76 12,550 ... 1890-9X 25,253 ... 1905-06 53,900 



1876-77 12,550 ... 1891-92 25,790 ... 1906-07 57,650 



1877-78 15,550 ... 1892-93 25,896 ... 1907-08 54,479 



1878-79 17,050 ... 1893-94 26,163 ••• 1908-09 56,295 



1879-80 17,050 ... 1894-95 26,247 ... 1909-10 57,964 



1880-81 17,050 ... 1895-96 26,827 ••• 1910-11 74,228 



1881-82 21,600 ... 1896-97 28,154 ... 1911-12 61,603 



1S82-S3 20,900 ... 1897-98 27,984 ... 1912-13 125,523 



1883-84 23,650 .. 1898-99 28,452 ... 1913-14 99,708 



1884-85 23,400 ... 1899-00 36,724 



On the whole, this may be looked upon as evidence 

 ,that there is a recognised body of feeling in favour 

 of annual subsidies of this character. The large 

 fluctuations in the amounts are due to the initiation 

 or the completion of the principal expenditure on 

 various new branches of work, e.g. the National 

 Librarj' of Wales, the Antarctic Expedition, the Sub- 

 Wealden Exploration, the North Wales University 

 College, and so on. The vote is in fact the collection 

 of miscellaneous items of expenditure, all of which 

 may be said to be in some degree scientific in char- 

 acter, and which are, therefore, appropriately grouped 

 under Class IV., Education, Science, and Art. 



It has not been found possible to trace the grants 

 specially allotted to Scotland and Ireland with any 

 approach to accuracy. In the earlier years they were 

 included in those for England and Wales. First one 

 and then another item was removed and committed 

 to the control of a department of the nation concerned. 

 In this way the vote for Scottish Education appeared 

 separately for the first time in 1875-6, and that for 

 the Irish Department of Agriculture and Technical 

 Instruction in 1899. 



For the current financial year 19 14-15, the votes for 

 Scientific Investigation, etc. — the Societies being 

 presumably the etc. — is apportioned as follows : — 



£ 



1. Royal Society Scientific Investigations... 4,000 

 Royal Society Scientific Publication ... 1,000 

 Royal Society Magnetic Observatory, 



Eskdalemuir ... ... ... ... 1,000 



Royal Society National Physical Labora- 

 tory 7,000 



Royal Society National Physical 



Laboratory, Aeronautical Section ... 12,550 



2. Royal Society, Edinburgh ... ... 600 



3. Meteorological Office ... ... ... 20,000 



4. Scottish Meteorological Society ... ... 100 



5. Royal Geographical Society ... ... 1,250 



6. Royal Geographical Society of Scotland 200 



7. Marine Biological Association* ... ... 1,000 



8. Royal Zoological Society, Ireland ... 500 



9. International Geodetic Association ... 300 



10. Solar Physics Observatory ... ... 3,000 



11. North Sea Fisheries Investigation ... 1,250 



12. British Antarctic Expedition ... ... 5,000 



13. Edinburgh Observatory ... ... ... 1,637 



14. International Seismic Association ... 210 



Either "the Scientific Investigation or the etc. also 

 covers grants to the Royal Academy of Music, the 

 Royal College of Music, Royal Irish Academy of 

 Music, the Royal Irish Academy, the Royal Hibernian 

 Academy, the British School at Athens and at Rome, 

 the British Academy, and the National Library and 

 National Museum of Wales. Among them they take 

 4o,iooZ. of the total. 



The conclusions to be drawn from these facts are 

 simple and evident. The aid given by the State 

 towards the advancement of science has increased in 

 NO. 2359, VOL. 94] 



amount and variety so far as applied science ]s con- 

 cerned. Questions dealing with matters of immediate 

 : utility connected with physics, biology, pathology, or 

 agricultural practice have secured the attention of the 

 State with a fair measure of success. But the support 

 and encouragement formerly given to pure science 

 have dwindled down till they are now almost lost 

 '' among the grants given for the study of Shakespeare 

 and tailors' cutting, the practice of cooking and 

 i Morris dancing, or the cultivation of languages from 

 I ancient Greek to modern Esperanto. All excellent 

 I objects, and all deserving of the nation's support, but 

 I in their rapid growth they bid fair to choke the tender 

 ; plant of pure science, to the prior existence of which 

 : they owe their own flourishing condition, and the 

 i earlv struggles of which ensured their own success. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



London. — A course of six lectures on the inter- 

 national crisis in its ethical and psychological aspects 

 will be given at Bedford College, Regent's Park, on 

 Fridays, at 5.15, beginning on February 5. The lec- 

 tures have been arranged by the council of Bedford 

 College in co-operation with the Committee of Impe- 

 rial Studies of the University of London, and are 

 open to the public without charge. Viscount Haldane, 

 visitor of the college, will be in the chair at the first 

 lecture, when Mrs. Henry Sidgwick will speak on 

 the moralit}- of strife in its relation to the war. The 

 other lecturers will be Prof. Gilbert Murray, Dr. A. C. 

 Bradley, Dr. L. P. Jacks, Prof. Stout, and Dr. 

 Bernard Bosanquet. 



Several bequests for higher education are chronicled 

 in the issue of Science for December 25 last. Mr. 

 J. Arthur Beebe has bequeathed 30,000/. to the build- 

 ing club of the Harvard Club of Boston; 2000/. to the 

 fund of the Harvard class of 1869, of which class he 

 was a member, and loooZ. to Dr. F. C. Shattuck for 

 investigations of tropical diseases. The residue of 

 the estate, after some personal bequests have been 

 paid, is bequeathed to Harvard University, the income 

 to be used for the general purposes of the University. 

 The University of Pennsylvania will be the ultimate 

 beneficiary of the 40,000/. estate of the late Mr. 

 William B. Irvine, ex-city treasurer, who died Decem- 

 ber 6. The money will provide either a building for 

 a school of mining engineering or an auditorium. 



During the second week of the year no fewer than 

 twenty educational associations held meetings in Lon- 

 don. The quality of the papers read was in many 

 cases very high, and the attendances were such as 

 fully to justify the organisers in their refusal to listen 

 to those who suggested postponement on account of 

 the war. The sense of national crisis deepened and 

 strengthened the tone of the addresses whenever the 

 subject under discussion was felt to concern national 

 progress. It was the rule that the debates dealt with 

 wide issues, and the fact that a drop in qualitj- and 

 interest affected the exceptional instances when 

 minutiae of the class-room or e.\amination-hall fell to 

 be discussed is perhaps scarcely a matter for regret. 

 The problems of suitable science work to be under- 

 taken in schools, including the aim of such work and 

 its national influence, obviously rank among the 

 matters which need statesmanlike handling in the near 

 future. In her address to the Science Teachers' Asso- 

 ciation, Mrs. Bidder discussed the scientific training 

 most suitable for girls, and urged that the work 

 should be manual and scientific, so that girls could 

 handle things and obtain a scientific attitude of mind. 

 Elementary physical and chemical work should lead 



