November i, 191 7] 



NATURE 



169 



Mr. Balfour has said, have "slowly grown up 

 under the moulding influence of circumstances, 

 acting from generation to generation"; and the 

 surest way of disheartening a University, and 

 " chequering " its future history, is to exacerbate 

 the feelings of its graduates by depriving them of 

 a cherished privilege. 



The immediate question is whether some modi- 

 fication of the proposals of the Speaker's Con- 

 ference is practicable which would not break down 

 the compromise accepted by both jx)litical parties. 

 Sir Philip Magnus, Sir William Collins, and Mr. 

 M'Kinnon Wood (all of whom are London 

 graduates). Sir James Yoxall, Mr. Fell, and Mr. 

 George Faber, have put down an amendment to 

 the Bill providing that the University of London 

 shall return one member, and that the other 

 Universities of the prop>osed group shall form a 

 constituency returning three members. If ac- 

 cepted, this arrangement would mean an increase 

 of one in the total number of University repre- 

 sentatives, eleven instead of ten contemplated by 

 the Speaker's Conference. It is expected that the 

 amendment will be moved in the course of a few 

 days. We hope the amendment will be 

 adopted, thus repeating the history of fifty years 

 ago, when a proposal to join London to another 

 University to form a constituency was defeated 

 against the Government, and London obtained the 

 privilege of separate representation which it has 

 since enjoyed. T. Ll. Humberstone. 



THE EDUCATION BILL. 



THE history of the measures for reform and 

 improvement in the means and methods 

 of education introduced into the House of Com- 

 mons since the passing of the Education Act of 

 1902, which did so much for advanced education 

 and to increase the public responsibility for all 

 forms of education, has been one long tale of 

 disaster; and Minister after Minister has suc- 

 cumbed to the opposition his measures have pro- 

 voked. 



It would seem, judging by the announcement 

 made by Mr. Bonar Law in the House of Com- 

 mons on October 19, that the same doleful fate 

 awaits the Bill brought in by Mr. Fisher on 

 August 13 last with such favourable omens. The 

 personality of Mr. Fisher, his known deep interest 

 in the subject, the sound knowledge and experi- 

 ence he has brought to bear upon it, together 

 with the lucid and interesting exposition of the 

 details of his measure, have won for it wide and 

 favourable recognition and a strong body of sup- 

 port, due no doubt to those clauses of the Bill 

 which have for their object the welfare of the 

 child, whether in the condition of infancy or 

 throughout the years of adolescence, so as to 

 secure for the child the fullest opportunity of effec- 

 tive moral, intellectual, and physical training. 



The advent and circumstances of the war have 

 awakened amongst all classes of the people, em- 

 ployers and employed alike, a deeper sense of the 

 value of education and of the responsibility of the 

 NO. 2505, VOL. 100] 



nation for the adequate preparation of the 

 children for the duties that await them. It 

 has at last been brought home to those 

 engaged in industry and commerce that Ger- 

 many's position as a formidable rival is wholly 

 due to the splendid facilities she has provided 

 for the due training of her people, and that suc- 

 cessful competition with her can be assured only 

 by the adoption of a similar policy. Grave ques- 

 tions of reconstruction are under consideration, 

 but they can be assured of their desired effect 

 only in so far as they appeal to an educated 

 people. The increasing industrial applications of 

 scientific discovery demand a higher range of 

 intelligence amongst all classes, and it is no less 

 important for the well-being of the nation that the 

 ampler leisure now urgently sought should be 

 wisely used and enjoyed — a condition possible 

 only where the means and opportunity of an 

 efficient education exist. The ravages of the 

 war, which has taken so huge a toll of educated 

 young life, furnish another admittedly grave 

 reason why we should at once make provision for 

 the adequate education of all our youth. 



Let it be remembered that Mr. Fisher was 

 called from a position of high educational dis- 

 tinction in order that he might bring the ripe 

 fruit of his knowledge and experience to bear 

 upon the problem of ensuring the means of a 

 more efficient education for the people of this 

 country, and that it is little short of a cruel irony 

 to refuse him the necessary time for the full con- 

 sideration of his proposals. It is true that there 

 are grave objections to some of the administra- 

 tive clauses of the Bill, especially those which 

 tend to increase the bureaucratic power of the 

 Board of Education, but they are not of the 

 essence of the measure, and may with advantage 

 be taken out of the Bill. As to the threatened 

 opposition of the textile industry, the only answer 

 there can be is that the interests of the child 

 are paramount. It should be possible to arrange 

 upon an agreed measure, so far as the educational 

 clauses are concerned, and so satisfy the ardent 

 desire of the great majority of the people that 

 such a measure should pass into law. There are 

 strong reasons why further time should not be 

 lost, since before the educational proposals em- 

 bodied in the Bill can have their desired effect 

 there is much to be done in the provision of 

 teachers, equipment, and suitable buildings. 



PROF. EDWARD HULL, F.R.S. 

 pROF. EDWARD HULL, who died in London 

 ^ on October 18, was born at Antrim, where 

 his father was rector, on May 21, 1829, and had 

 thus reached his eighty-ninth year. Like many 

 of those whose work has lain in the open air, 

 he retained considerable vigour, and he revisited 

 at the age of eighty some of the scenes of his 

 early observations. His father proposed for him 

 a career in the Church of Ireland, and his early 

 literary and biblical studies no doubt left an im- 

 pression on his life. Attracted, however, by 



