256 



'NATURE 



[January io, 1901 



this materially increased in the ascent to the highest 

 point attained. The commissariat, in Dr. Workman's 

 opinion, is a most important factor for success in reaching 

 .great elevations, since he holds dyspepsia and imperfect 

 nutrition i responsible for the distressing symptoms ex- 

 perienced by some of his predecessors. Food should 

 be rather light, but nutritious. He makes some valuable 

 remarks on the best kinds, stating that he thinks alcohol 

 "beneficial if it be taken in very moderate quantities 

 •and at meal times ; vi^arm wraps also are most important. 

 In fact, his. careful discussion of the subject is a valuable 

 supplement to what has been already published,and proves 

 that climbers anxious to reach the highest summits of 

 Asia must possess either the dura messorum ilia or the 

 ,purse which pan bear the very heavy cost of a well- 

 equipped expedition. T. G. Bonney. 



THE ROYAL INDIAN ENGINEERING 

 COLLEGE. 



T^ROM letters which have been published recently in the 

 •^ Times and other journals, we have become aware of the 

 following facts relating to the Royal Indian Engineering College, 

 'Coopers Hill : — 



(i) The Secretary of State for India, acting on certain 

 suggestions, made to him ostensibly by the Board of Visitors 

 of the College, for remodelling the course of instruction on a 

 very extensive scale, decided, some considerable time back, that 

 it was necessary to dismiss half the educational staff of the 

 College for the purpose of " reducing the present excessive cost 

 of the staff and increasing the efficiency of the teaching." 



(2) No hint that this momentous change was coming was con- 

 veyed to any of the seven gentlemen concerned, who received 

 <their first intimation on the 17 th of last month from the Presi- 

 dent of the College, Colonel J. W. Ottley, in a letter of singular 

 abruptness, heartlessness and irony. This letter, addressed to 

 ■each of the seven gentlemen, was as follows : 



"Sir, I have the honour to forward for your information a 

 •copy of a letter, P.W. 2531, dated 14th inst., from which you 

 will see that I am instructed to convey to you the decision of the 

 Secretary of State for India in Council that you will be required 

 to vacate your appointment at this College at the end of the 

 next Easter term. 



" I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant, 



"John W. Ottley, President, R.I.E.C." 



The seven gentlemen to whom this communication was made 

 are Mr. T. A. Hearson, M.Inst.C.E., Professor of Hydraulic 

 Engineering, &c. ; Mr. H. McLeod, F.R.S., Professor of Che- 

 mistry ; Mr. W. N. Stocker. M.A., Professor of Physics ; Mr. 

 A. H. Heath, Assoc. M. Inst. C. E. , Assistant Professor of Engin- 

 eering ; Mr. T. Shields, M.A. , Demonstrator in Physics; Mr. 

 P. Reilly, Demonstrator, Mechanical Laboratory ; Mr. J. C. 

 Hurst, Lecturer in Accounts. 



With reference to the first of these facts we may affirm with 

 confidence that the drastic changes — which involve serious 

 •curtailments of the branches of engineering and chemistry, and, 

 apparently, the total abolition of physics and electrical engineer- 

 ing — are not to be attributed to the Board of Visitors. It is not 

 credible that these gentlemen — very busy men as some of them 

 are — can have devoted so much time and study to the educa- 

 tional course of the College as to justify their taking the 

 •responsibility of advising the Secretary of State for India to 

 effect such e5:tensive changes. We are compelled to adopt the 

 -conclusion that Colonel Ottley (whose name appears for the first 

 ■time in the College Calendar for 1899-1900) himself is the real 

 author. If this is so, we are further compelled to inquire into 

 Colonel Ottley's qualifications as an educationist and a man of 

 science. We are not acquainted with any scientific treatises or 

 papers of his authorship, nor are we aware that he was selected 

 ■as the head of a scientific college because of any experience as a 

 lecturer on scientific subjects. His predecessors at the College 

 -have been, we believe, like himself, officers of Royal Engineers ; 

 •but, apparently, they svere wise enough to keep their theoretical 

 autocracy as presidents within the limits prescribed by common 

 sense. 



From the memorial addressed by the dismissed members of 

 the staff to the Secretary of State we infer that Colonel Ottley 



NO. 1628, VOL. 63] 



interprets his autocracy very literally, and is disposed to take no 

 advice from the educational staff on matters of which they must 

 necessarily know vastly more than he ; and if so, it ought to be 

 abundantly clear to the India Office that Coopers Hill College 

 must be, as an educational institution, a complete failure. 



It will be observed that the subjects which are most affected 

 by the change— chemistry, physics and the mechanical laboratory 

 — are those in which practical work has an important place ; it is 

 well known to those experienced in scientific education that this 

 practical work is of the greatest value in developing in students 

 the scientific spirit which is so essential to success in such a 

 profession as engineering. We believe that the laboratories at 

 Coopers Hill were enlarged some years ago and the staff 

 increased, so that every student should have instruction in the 

 chemical, physical Jand mechanical laboratories, on the recom- 

 mendation of the Board of Visitors ; but at that time one of the 

 members of the Board was Sir William Siemens, who, knowing 

 the result of practical work in the German universities upon 

 industries and professions, considered its further development 

 at Coopers Hill to be of importance. The present action 

 appears to be in direct opposition to the former recommendations 

 of the Board of Visitors. 



Turning our attention next to the second of the above facts, 

 we are compelled to express not only astonishment but indigna- 

 tion that such heartless brutality should have been possible in 

 England. To know that seven gentlemen — two of them members 

 of the Institution of Civil Engineers and another a Fellow of 

 the Royal Society— are to receive a three months' notice of 

 dismissal, timed, as it would seem, by the clock ; to know that 

 it must be of the utmost importance to them to be warned of 

 the impending catastrophe so that they may have opportunities 

 for seeking other work ; and yet to keep their sentence a dead 

 secret until the last available moment, constitutes a condition of 

 mind which, we hope, is very rare among Englishmen. 



The cause of Coopers Hill College is, in this matter, the 

 cause of education at large. All that the dismissed members of 

 the staff have asked from the India Office is that an indepen- 

 dent committee of experts in scientific engineering, education, 

 and college management should be appointed to inquire into the 

 way in which the College is managed. 



But we go beyond this request. We would make an appeal 

 to men of science and of learning to make, either by deputation 

 or by memorial, a representation to the India Office of the 

 widespread feeling of disapproval with which this official action, 

 for which the Secretary of State for India is responsible, is 

 regarded, and of the desirability of ensuring to the educational 

 staff of the College at Coopers Hill such influence in educational 

 matters as is accorded in every College in the Kingdom. 



NOTES. 

 Prof. Strasburger has been elected a corre.<5pondant of the 

 Paris Academy of Sciences, in the section of botany. 



The death is announced of Dr. Potain, professor of medicine 

 in the University of Paris, and member of the section of medicine 

 and surgery of the Paris Academy of Sciences. 



It is announced by Science that Prof. W. W. Campbell has 

 been appointed director of the Lick Observatory, in succession 

 to the late Prof J. E. Keeler. 



At a special meeting of the Metropolitan District Railway 

 Company on Monday, it was resolved that capital should be 

 raised for the purpose of adapting the line to electric traction. 

 This action has been forced upon the company by the diversion 

 of traffic to the Central Electric Railway, and omnibus com- 

 petition. 



We regret to announce the death of Dr. G. Pacher, of Padua 

 University, on December 29, at the age of thirty-three. We 

 owe to him some valuable studies of the records of the Vicentini 

 microseismograph, and also the ap plication of the pantagraph to 

 that instrument. 



The Board of Trade have appointed a committee consisting 

 of Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., chairman. Sir John Wolfe- Barry, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S., and Prof. Ewing, F.R.S., to consider to wh^t 



