February 21, 1901] 



NA TURB 



401 



Extracts of the reports of these examiners are read by 

 the president on the prize day. 



What we have stated above quite supports Lord 

 Kelvin's expression of disappointment at the reply vouch- 

 safed to the deputation. 



It appears also, from Lord George Hamilton's reply, 

 that he does not consider the men of science employed at 

 Coopers Hill to be servants of the Crown, and that conse- 

 quently a different measure is to be meted out to them than 

 that proper to the unscientific clerks m a department of 

 the India Office. He is reported to have said that the age 

 limit of the professors at the College is sixty ; surely, 

 ■under the Superannuation Act of 1859, it is sixty-five, 

 and the professor may continue in office until seventy if 

 the president certifies that the work is being efficiently 

 performed. 



Under the same Act, if it were desired to reorganise. the 

 College, there was a regulated way open which, beyond 

 all question, would be the one employed in any reorgani- 

 sation of the India Office itself; and surely under these 

 circumstances it was the duty of the representatives of 

 science to ask for simple justice. Chap. VII. of the 

 Superannuation Act runs as follows : — 



'■It shall be lawful for the Commissioners of the Treastlry 

 to grant to any person retiring or removed from the public 

 service in consequence of the abolition of his office, or 

 for the purpose of facilitating improvements in the or- 

 ganisation of the department to which he belongs, by 

 which greater efficiency and economy can be effected, 

 such special ' annual allowance by way of compen- 

 sation as on a full consideration of the circumstances 

 of the case may seem to the said Commissioners 

 to be a reasonable and just compensation for the 

 loss of office ; and if the compensation shall exceed 

 the amount to which such person would have been en- 

 titled under the scale of superannuation provided by this 

 Act if ten years were added to the number of years which 

 he may have actually served^ such allowance shall be 

 granted by special minute, stating the special grounds for 

 granting such allowance, which minute shall be laid be- 

 fore Parliament, and no such allowance shall exceed 

 two-thirds of the salary and emoluments of the office.' 



Another point that the noble lord appears to have 

 omitted to answer is Prof Johnstone-Stoney's contention 

 that the dismissals were not even in accordance with the 

 terms of appointment. 



If the above assertions are true, and we have every 

 reason to believe that they are, is it surprising that the 

 dismissed members of the staff should ask for further 

 nquiry.' And it is only natural that others, as repre- 

 sented by the signatories of the memorial presented on 

 Tuesday week, should wish to support their application. 

 It would appear that the inquiry is even more urgently 

 needed since we have heard Lord George Hamilton's 

 reply. 



But the condition of the staff at Coopers Hill is only 

 a small part of a large question, and the memorialists are 

 quite justified in saying that "such dismissals are likely 

 to affect adversely the cause of scientific teaching in the 

 United Kingdom." An action of this kind by a Govern- 

 ment department will not tend to raise the dignity of 

 scientific teaching in the eyes of the general public, and 

 unless England is to fall far behind other countries it is 

 essential that due regard be paid to those fundamental 

 subjects of science on which the welfare of the whole 

 community depends. 



All interested in English education, and we may add 

 that their number now includes the more intelligent of 

 our manufacturers, know full well that the rapid strides 

 now being made by American and German engineers are 

 due to a gradual perfecting of the welding of science to 

 practice. In America, a four years' course, including 

 both the science and art of engineering, is the rule in the 

 engineering colleges. The engineering department of the 



NO. 1634. VOL. 63] 



University of Birmingham starts with a four years' course 

 in which those subjects which have been summarily and, 

 as we hold, unwisely, ejected from the Coopers Hill 

 curriculum will hold a large place. 



Lord George Hamilton now knows what the repre- 

 sentatives of English science think of the proposals for 

 which he is responsible. The opinion of the professional 

 electrical engineers of this country will be gathered from 

 the following comments upon the case, which appeared in 

 last week's Electrician : — " The crucial question, therefore, 

 is whether the proposed changes will enable the College to 

 turn out better engineers. What, then, are these changes ? 

 They involve the abolition of the chairs of physics, che- 

 mistry,hydraulic engineering and mechanism, the assistant 

 professorship of engineering, the lectureship in accounts, 

 the demonstratorships in the mechanical laboratory and 

 in physics, and the instructorship in electrical engineer- 

 ing. The selection is amazing ! What sort of engineer- 

 ing college training can it be that can dispense with a 

 teacher for any one of these subjects ? And, considering 

 that the supply of telegraph engineers has been one of 

 the chief features of the College, how are we to regard 

 patiently the abolition of the professorship of physics and 

 the instructotrship in electrical engineering? This is 

 economy false to the core — so palpably absurd, indeed, 

 that we doubt if economy is the real reason for these 

 startling changes. Lord George Hamilton stated that 

 in the revised curriculum 'electricity would be thoroughly 

 taught,' as Sir William Preece had advised them that 

 ' a demonstrator was capable of giving all the necessary 

 instruction.' We entirely dissent from this view ; with 

 the rapid increase in the engineering applications of 

 electricity, not less hut fir more instruction in electrical 

 and allied subjects becomes increasingly necessary in any 

 engineering college." 



Of one thing we may rest assured. When the Indian 

 engineers only know chemistry " to the extent required 

 to enable the engineer to interpret results given by pro- 

 fessional chemists," as quoted from the official documents 

 by Lord Kelvin ; and physics and electrical science as 

 imparted by Sir William Preece's " demonstrator" ; the 

 reputation of a noble service, which has during the last 

 quarter of a century achieved such admirable results, will 

 soon be a thing of the past. 



NOTES. 



We have received the following circular relative to the dis- 

 missals at Coopers Hill College. " In consequence of the 

 unsatisfactory nature of Lord George Hamilton's reply to the 

 deputation which waited upon him on Tuesday, February 12, 

 to present the memorial relating to the dismissals at Coopers 

 Hill, it has become necessary to take action in Parliament. It 

 would be of great service if the signatories to the memorial 

 would draw the attention of their local Member of Parliament to 

 the action of the Secretary of State for India, and ask him to 

 interest himself in the matter when it comes before the House. 

 A copy of the memorial will be forwarded to any signatory on 

 application to The Secretary, The Museums, Cambridge." 



An abstract of an interim report on yellow fever, by Dr. 

 Durham and the late Dr. Myers, has been received by the Liver- 

 pool School of Tropical Medicine. The abstract mentions that 

 a small bacillus has been found in the internal organs of those 

 dead of yellow fever. From the fact that this bacillus has been 

 found constantly and in apparently "pure cultures," it is con- 

 cluded that there is good reason to suppose it to be the cause of 

 the disease, but at the same lime the need of more experimental 

 work to establish the claim is recognised. Careful search was 

 made for parasites of the nature of protozoa, but the observers 

 conclude that yellow fever is not caused by that class of parasite. 



