February 21, 19 18] 



NATURE 



4^7 



have we implanted the id^a of the intrinsic grandeur 

 or the essential ultimate value of their scientific 

 studies? The spectre of specialism has pursued us. 

 " Science " must be chemistry, :j)hysics, geology, botany 

 — anything rather than the study of the dependency ol 

 human welfare upon our capacity to control our en- 

 vironment, and the contemplation x>f the majestk spec- 

 tacle of the order of Nature gradually unfolding itsel-f 

 to man's consciousness and placing in his hand the 

 implements of ever-augmenting power to control his 

 destinies and-attain that ultimate conipreherrsion of the 

 universe which has in all ages constituted the supreme 

 aspiration of man. Had we offered this, had we em- 

 ployed scientific education rather than scientific train- 

 ing as the introductory chapter of the book of scien- 

 tific knowledge, then all the educated civilised inhabi- 

 tants df the world to-d^y would look to science fok- 

 hc^e and inspiration, and we should hear no. more 

 of the conflict between science -and the "humanities," 

 for science would be recognised in its true light, as the 

 -first and greatest of the 'humBnities.*' 



In the universities, even more than in the schools, 

 specialisation has sacrificed education to the exigencies 

 of training. Every opportunity . is offered to 4he 

 -Student of becoming an expert in .the technique and 

 a master of the details df any of the sciences, but on 

 •their relationship to the larger needs and aspirations 

 'df the world our instructors are silent. This silence 

 'arises only too often out of indifference, but where 

 indifference does not prevail then an over-sensitive 

 ■deference to professional etiquette no less effectually 

 imposes silence upon the professional teacher of science. 

 The desire not to trespass upon the technical field of 

 a colleague and the desire to avoid the criticism of 

 colleagues which may be aroused by the appearance 

 of over-generalisation inhibit in almost every instance 

 any deliberate attempt to open up before the student 

 the deeper foundations and wider implications of the 

 scientific discipline of thought. 



As the demands for "vocational training" become 

 more insistent and more complex, this condition be- 

 comes more and more aggravated, so that unle^ 

 measures be deliberately taken to check the prevailrng 

 tendencies we may anticipate, alongside the continual 

 improvement of technical training, the progressive de- 

 terioration of scientific education, with accompanying 

 decay of scientific philosophy and increasing misunder- 

 standing of the purposes and misapplication of the 

 products of scientific investigation. 



Much may be done by the individual teacher; still 

 more might be accomplished by a deliberate campaign 

 of popularisation, by taking the public into our confi- 

 dence regarding our wider aims and the part played 

 by investigation and discovery in the life and destiny 

 (of man. But there is one desirable measure which 

 ^should be taken by the universities as the official 

 •leaders of educational reform, namely, the recognition 

 "O'f the study of the historical development of science in 

 •its rerationsHip to human welfare and the evolution of 

 human institutions, as a legitimate department of the 

 many-sided curriculum which the niodern universities 

 offer to the student-piiblic. It will be admitted,^ I 

 think, that scientific investigation, discovery, and in- 

 vention have played at least as great a part as war, 

 literature, or commerce in the evolution of civilisation, 

 and, that being the case, it is nothing less than 

 astounding that while ample facilities are offered by 

 •our universities to the student of the history of war, 

 ittCTature, or commerce, no facilities and no academic 

 Tecognition whatever are offered to the student of the 

 history of science. 



It is perhaps a debatable question whether this end 

 could best be attained by the foundation of a new 

 department and a separate chair or lectureship in the 

 historv of science, or whether the situation could prefer- 



NO. 2521, VOL. 100] 



ably be met by the co-ordinated effort of existing de- 

 partments. However this may be, one thing is certam, 

 that the present atomistic condition of scientific learn- 

 ing in the minds of our students and the restricted 

 utilitarianism of their outlook will not be corrected by 

 offering them a " course in general science," consisting 

 of a milange of ill-assorted fragments of scientific 

 specialities and necessarily failing to furnish either a 

 -vehicle of training or a vehicle of education ; nor will 

 it be corrected bv offering them courses in another 

 specialised course' in the history of science in which 

 that history is violently detached from the history 

 of the development of man and of the evolution of 

 his institutions, from the study of the part played by 

 knowledge in determining the reaction of the mind ot 

 man to the varying circumstances by which from epoch 

 to epoch he rhas successively found himself environed,; 

 forthe new course must above all. things be one of the 

 '"■humanities." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 - -Manchestkr.^A group of lar^ge- firms engaged in the 

 principal industries >af -the Manchester <iistrict has 

 -offered to the governing body of the School of Tech- 

 nology the sum of 3000^., spread over a petaod of five 

 years, towards the cost -of establishing -a jiew depart- 

 ment of industrial management. The Manchester Edu- 

 cation Committee has recommended that this gift be 

 accepted and expressed its high appreciation of the 

 donors' public spirit. It is proposed that a lecturer 

 •Shdirbe appointed for this period of five years at a 

 salary of 600I., to conduct research in the ^subJect Of 

 industrial management, to organise a new department, 

 to lecture to members of the University and to the 

 .public, and to assist industrial concerns in the, solution 

 .of management , problems. To make doubly sure that 

 the depai'tment shall keep in close touch with practice, 

 a number of managers, directors, scientific experts, and 

 others who have had special experience or are respon- 

 sible for important innovations, will be invited to 

 deliver public lectures, for which they are being offered 

 substantial fees. These lectures should be of assistance 

 not only to future managers, but also to those already 

 in that" position ; they will strengthen the idea _ that 

 management i« a science, and that every nianager is, or 

 should be, something of a scientific researcher. 



Sheffield. — It was something more than a domestic 

 function at which the Marquis of Crewe was installed 

 as Chancellor of the University on Friday, February 15. 

 The ceremony was the first of its kind in Sheffield, 

 as the late Chancellor was born, so to speak, with the 

 Universitv. He was oart of the gift of the Crown, 

 whereas Lord Crewe was elected by the Court in the 

 ■manner prescribed by the charter. The "formal act of 

 installation was conceived as taking' place at a meet- 

 ing of the Court in the presence of the University, 

 and the Senior Pro-Chancellor (Mr. H. K. Stephen- 

 son), who normallv presides over the Court, performed 

 the act of installation. This was a departure from the 

 precedents of Leeds and Manchester, but the Sheffield 

 interpretation of the meaning of the ceremony is prob- 

 ablv based on sounder legal grounds. Once in the 

 chair, the new Chancellor took charge of the proceed- 

 ings with characteristic grace and dignity. Before 

 declaring the Congregation open for the conferment 

 of degrees, he spoke admirably on various burning 

 oroblems, and his pronouncements should do much to 

 increase the intimacy and friendliness of the relations 

 between the civic and industrial life of the city— close 

 as fhev already are. It was something to hear the 

 first chairman" of the Privy Council Committee oh 

 Scientific and Industrial Research say that in his view 



