May 9, 19 1&] 



NATURE 



%' 



\llied nations, especially the United States of 

 America. The chief proposal consists in the in- 

 stitution of a new doctorate to be attainable by 

 students who have taken a lower degree in some 

 overseas university. The Senate at its meeting- on 

 January 23 considered the question of provision 

 for the needs of graduate students from afar, and 

 resolved that the report of the Academic Council 

 be approved and adopted. The first item in the 

 report declares that "it is undesirable to institute 

 a doctoral degree of a lower standard than the 

 existing doctoral degrees." 



It may assist those who are not familiar with 

 •existing regulations to form an opinion on this 

 subject if they are reminded that the M.A. and 

 M.Sc. already exist intermediate between the first 

 degree of Bachelor and the final degrees of D.Litt. 

 and D.Sc., and that the degree of Master is 

 awarded on the results of research undertaken by 

 the candidate. 



It would be impossible in the space here avail- 

 able to set forth all the arguments which might 

 be used for and against the proposed new doc- 

 torate. No doubt many of the existing Doctors of 

 the University of London would be opposed to any 

 change of the kind indicated, which would appear 

 to offer easier terms to other students than were 

 imposed on themselves. But those who are inti- 

 mate with the working of the regulations for the 

 ■doctorates of the University of London know that 

 these degrees have been awarded in the past on 

 candidates of very unequal merit. In fact, there 

 can be no doubt that there is as much difference 

 among them as would be at all likely to exist 

 between the old and the suggested new doctorates. 

 The D.Sc. 's, for example, include the survivors 

 of the old regime when a stiff examination was 

 the only test, but the list includes some famous 

 names. Since the alteration of the regulations, 

 so as practically to do away with examination and 

 require only the production of a thesis, the quality 

 of the graduates has not appreciably improved, to 

 judge by their average achievements. The reason 

 for this is not far to seek. If in every case the 

 ideas embodied and illustrated in the work set 

 forth in the thesis were those of the candidate 

 himself, the case would perhaps be otherwise. 

 But this is rarely, if ever, true, for the practice 

 has been for the candidate to go to his professor 

 for a subject and to work it out under his super- 

 vision. This is the plan long adopted in the 

 German universities with respect to the Ph.D. 

 degree, and the only difference which has grown 

 lip since the institution of the degree in London 

 is the extension of the time which is required to 

 elapse between the stage of Bachelor and that of 

 Doctor. The fact is, the attempt to maintain the 

 very high standard originally aimed at has been 

 distinctly a failure. No one can now say exactly 

 what the D.Sc.(Lond,) implies. At Oxford and 

 Cambridge the Doctorates in Science are given 

 under quite different conditions, after the lapse 

 of a much longer interval of time, and on the 

 evidence of published work implying mature 

 study and research and an established reputation. 

 NO. 2532, VOL. lOl] 



These degrees, therefore, are not comparable with 

 those of London. 



The report of the Academic Council referred 

 to. above sets forth a summary of reasons for and 

 against the institution of a new doctoral degree. 

 Under the former head it mentions (i) that it 

 would be the means of strengthening the unity of 

 the Empire by increasing the number of students 

 from the universities of the British Empire who 

 pursue their graduate studies in Great Britain, 

 (2) that it would meet a demand preferred by the 

 Canadian and French universities, (3) that it would 

 increase the number of graduate students from 

 Allied countries, and (4) that it would promote 

 research in this country. On the other 

 hand, it Is stated (i) that the establishment of 

 such a degree is not in the Interests of real 

 university education, (2) that the abler students 

 come to London on account of the facilities 

 for study and not primarily to get an English 

 degree, (3) that the establishment of the doctorate 

 might cause the masterships to disappear alto- 

 gether, and (4) that the establishment of the 

 degree would affect prejudicially the standard of 

 the existing doctorates and so Injure the 

 University. 



Of all these considerations it appears to the 

 writer that the first is, at the present time and 

 probably for generations to come, of greatly pre- 

 ponderant importance. And in declining the pro- 

 posals which come to it from his Majesty's 

 Dominions beyond the seas the Senate has missed 

 a great opportunity for the development of the 

 LTniversity. 



Students who come to London for the purpose 

 of advanced study and research are attracted 

 doubtless to some extent by the facilities afforded 

 by museums, libraries, and laboratories. But in 

 future, if the lessons of the past have not wholly 

 failed to influence university authorities in this 

 country, university professorships will be filled 

 everywhere by men who have shown by their work 

 and teaching that they are qualified and eager 

 to advance knowledge in their respective subjects, 

 and the abler students will go to the abler teachers. 

 Schools of thought can be created only in this 

 way, and In this way chiefly will research be pro- 

 moted. Degrees have very little to do with the 

 matter, and the sooner the student desirous of 

 doing research is out of tutelage the better. The 

 old doctorates at Oxford and Cambridge are in 

 the nature of honorary degrees, and It will be 

 better to keep them so. 



Meantime, Oxford has already instituted a new 

 degree — namely, Ph.D. — which is to be given to 

 students who have carried out a special course of 

 study or research extending over a period of two 

 to three years at least under the direction of one 

 of the Boards of Faculties, and have satisfied the 

 examiners that their work constitutes an original 

 contribution to knowledge and is of a sufficient 

 standard of merit. 



It is within the experience of every man more 

 than forty vears of age that the quality of his 

 doctorate. If he is a Doctor in Science or Letters, 



