76 



NA TURE 



[February 14, i 901 



the first college of the University; in 1884 University 

 College, Liverpool, founded in 188 r, and in 1887 the 

 Yorkshire College, Leeds, founded 1874, were associated 

 with it as constituent colleges of the University. By 

 ils charter women are admitted to all the degrees of 

 "the Victoria University. They were first admitted to 

 'lectures of the Owens College in 1883, and of the 1002 

 ■registered students in 1899— all of whom, however, are not 

 students of the University— 126 were women. 



Such is, in brief, the history of the first of the Univer- 

 sity Colleges of the country. Space forbids any attempt 

 at a description of all the present buildings, or of the 

 interior organisation of the college and its relation to 

 the University ; much information on these points may be 

 obtained from the book, and the plan and illustrations, 

 which have been prepared with great care and skill, give 

 an admirable idea of the buildings. Among these the 

 most recent are the Christie Library and the physical 

 laboratory, opened by Lord Rayleigh in June last. The 

 Manchester Museum, 

 Tiowever, must have a 

 special mention. The 

 nucleus of the collection 

 consists of the specimens 

 belonging to the Man- 

 chester Natural History 

 Society and the Man- 

 chester Geological So- 

 ciety, transferred to the 

 college with some endow- 

 ments in 1872. The col- 

 lege is bound to maintain 

 the collections and give 

 the public access to them, 

 free of charge, on certain 

 days. The public lectures, 

 which have become well 

 recognised institutions, 

 are also delivered by the 

 staff and others. 



The collections are now- 

 housed in splendid build- 

 ings and m.aintained at <i 

 total cost of 2700/. per 

 annum, of which some 

 •900/. is provided by endow- 

 ment while 400/. is a grant 

 from the City Council. 



Enough, perhaps, has 

 been said to indicate the 

 magnitude and import- 

 ance of the work per- 

 formed for the country by 

 the Owens College ; if more proof is needed it can easily 

 be supplied from the volume under review. The ninety 

 pages covered by the record of original publications 

 contain the names of many who have made their mark in 

 literature and science, together with the titles of numerous 

 papers universally recognised as of the highest merit. The 

 authorities of the college did good service to the cause of 

 university education in the country when they prepared a 

 ■volume such as this for exhibition at Paris. R. T. G. 



LORD LILFORD'S LIFE} 



'IP HE scientific aspect of the late Lord Lilford's career 

 -*■ is, we are informed in the preface to the present 

 volume, to be written by another hand. The task of his 

 sister has been, in the main, to set before the world the 

 character and every-day life of her brother. And a noble 

 theme, admirably carried out, the author has had before 



_ 1 " Lord Lilford, Thomas Littleton, Fourth Baron." A Memoir by his 

 ■sister, with an Introduction by the Bishop of London. Pp. xxiii -f- 290. 

 •(London: Smith, Elder and Co., » r> • 



NO. 1633. VOL. 



her. To a man fond of field sports and an enthusiastic 

 observer of nature, scarcely any more terrible affliction, 

 save loss of sight, can be conceived than to be stricken 

 down in the prime of life by a malady which rendered 

 him for the rest of his days a helpless cripple dependent 

 for every want upon the attention of others. And yet 

 how nobly and how patiently was this affliction borne by 

 the subject of this pathetic memoir I Of course, every 

 alleviation that money could purchase or affection suggest 

 was at his command, but even so the trial of existence 

 under such distressing circumstances must have been a 

 heavy burden. How much was done by the late peer 

 to advance the science he loved so well, and to amelio- 

 rate the lot of his fellow sufferers in humbler walks of 

 life, those who knew him intimately can alone tell. The 

 story of such a life is a lesson and a bright example to us 

 all, and it should thus attract many readers besides per- 

 sonal friends and those interested in ornithology. 



But ill a journal like Nature, attention must be 



Fig. I. — A bittern in the crouching attitude (fiom "Lord Lilford's Life"). 



900.) Price los. td. 

 63] 



directed to scientific rather than to moral attributes, even 

 in a memoir which purports to treat chiefly of the latter. 

 From his earliest days Lord Lilford appears to have 

 displayed a remarkable fondness for animals, and through- 

 out his life the observation of their habits seems to have 

 afforded him the most intense delight. To those who 

 are not endued with this love of living creatures it is 

 difficult to realise how strong is its development in others. 

 Although in earlier days a keen sportsman. Lord Lilford 

 states he experienced more delight in watching the 

 movements of' wild birds than in shooting them ; and in 

 the collection at Lilford it was his aim that the feathered 

 captives should enjoy as much liberty and space as was 

 compatible with deprivation of complete freedom. The 

 sight of a captive eagle moping in a cramped cage, with 

 draggled feathers and unclean surroundings, was abso- 

 lutely hateful to his sensitive nature ; and the collection 

 of eagles and other birds of prey at Lilford afforded an 

 exatnple, as regards mode of treatment, to the menageries 

 of the world. But cranes were the birds which formed 

 the great speciality of the Lilford collection, and only a 



