June io, 1920] 



NATURE 



47 



l.ftn hindered by the constant stru^j^Ies to find out 

 what we had and what we wantt^d, and it w-as only 

 when they obtained the services of trustworthy statis- 

 icians that the Department got into clear order. In 

 iie field of public health trustworthy statistics were 

 if equal importance, iind he therefore recommended 

 M the public the appeal which had been made for 

 t'lditional funds, and promised to do all he could to 

 ii'lp on the work ot the laboratories. D. H. 



The Imperial College. 



Claim to I.mveksity Status. 



A -MEETING in support of the claim of the Im- 

 '^~*- jx-rial Colles^e ot Science and Technology for 

 jjower to confer degrees an<l for university status was 

 field at the C«-ntral Hall, Westminster," on Friday, 

 June 4. Lord Morris, who presided, stated that the 

 meeting was not called in hostility to any universitv 

 or Government Department, or in disparagement of 

 the atiiiosphere created by the universities. The 

 governing body, the professorial staff, and the 

 -tudents, now nymbering 1300, were unanimous in 

 -upport of the claim of tlie Imperial College for power 

 10 confer degrees in its own subjects or faculties. 



I'lie students were seriously handicapped by having to 

 ao to an external body for a degree, because of the 

 I urrent preference in the industrial and professional 

 worlds for a degree to a diploma. Lord Morris 

 moved a resolution urging the Prime Minister, the 

 Lord President of the Council, and the President of 

 the Hoard of Education to take the matter into serious 

 consideration. The resolution also declared that anv 

 further delay would cause a growing sense of in- 

 justice. 



Prof. \V. W. Watts, who seconded the motion, 

 pointed out that the report of the Departmental Com- 

 mittee, the recommendations of which in iqo6 led 

 directly to the establishment of the Imperial College, 

 was! based on a vision of a vast technological ancl 

 Imperial institution, not confined to mere technical 

 •nstruction, but devotetl to the highest education and 

 •raininjf in research in both pure science and techno- 

 logy. The Departmental Committee had stated clearlv 

 ttie reasons against incorporating the' Imperial Col- 

 lege in the L'niversitv of London, pointiiig out that 

 if the college was to be able to adapt itself to the ever- 

 changing conditions of industry it must be free from 

 the academic trammels of an education regulated, and 

 rightly regulated, by other aims. 



Mr. H. G. Wells, speaking in support of the motion, 

 warned the meeting that in aporoachinj? the Lord 

 President of the Council and the President of the 

 Board of Education the dele^rates would have to com- 

 bat the suspicion that their oroposal involved a system 

 of education and training likely to turn out men and 

 women of narrow culture, mere technical experts 

 without broad views. The curse of education in 

 London had been the grandiose ideas of peoole who 

 could not distint^uish between the Universities of 

 Oxford and Cambridr*e and the university conditions 

 of I>ondon. It was almost imoossible to conceive the 

 widely seoarated college units in London co-operating 

 -uccessfully to form a single efficient universitv. 



Sir Ernest Rutherford, soeakincf as a representative 

 on the governing bodv of the Imperial College of the 

 Dominion of New Zealand, said it was not generally 

 recognised how much energv is spent in developing 

 the pure science side of the Tmnerial College. Tt was 

 onlv right and proper that the students, and par- 

 ticularly the oversea students, should have a degrree 

 where degree-work had been done, and the degree 

 -'lould be conferred bv the teachers, and not bv anv 

 NO. 2641. VOL. T05] 



outside body. Surely we might broaden our ideas of 

 university education in general. We had never before 

 had an institution teaching technology on such a vast 

 scale and to such a high standard as the Imp<'rial 

 College does. There was no precedent for the col- 

 lege, and therefore there could be no precedent against 

 its claim to confer its own degrees. Subsequent 

 speakers included Mr. J. A. Spender, Sir Richard 

 Redmavne, and the Rector of the Imperial College, 

 Sir Alfred Keogh. The resolution, modified slightlv 

 in accordance with suggestions made by Mr. H. G. 

 Wells and others, was carried with one dissentient. 



The Smoke Nuisance. 



'I" HE Manchester City Council is one of the few 

 •*• local authorities which have gone out of their 

 way not only to put the smoke clauses of the old 

 Public Health Act into force, but also to investigate 

 the cost to the community of the smoke nuisance. 

 With true wisdom it has realised that the aesthetic 

 sense of the average man is controlled by his pocket, 

 and that the direct road to reform is to make him 

 understand how much he might save bv a clean 

 atmosphere. 



We have received from the Air Pollution Advisory 

 Board of the Manchester City Council a pamphlet 

 entitled "The Black Smoke Tax," and although it 

 deals mainly w-ith an elaborate investigation into the 

 relative cost in fuel, soap, and starch in an industrial 

 and a residential centre, there is an introduction which 

 reviews in brief but e.xpressive language other causes 

 of loss and damage which follow in the train of black 

 smoke. The Board says: — "The damage is both 

 aesthetic and economic. The look of things suffers. 

 The value of things suffers. Everybody suffers and, 

 since everybody suffers, it- is a long time before any- 

 body protests. If the damage were done suddeni\- 

 there would be a general outcry, but it is done gradu- 

 ally. Thousands of Manchester people live their lives 

 from start to finish in the midst of black smoke and 

 have come to regard it as a normal condition of life. 

 It is only in modern times that we have realised that 

 the nuisance is preventable and that public economy, 

 public health, and happiness alike call for its preven- 

 tion." 



The investigation has been conducted on the lines 

 adopted in Pittsburgh, U.S.A., which showed an 

 annual loss amounting to 4Z. a head of the popu- 

 lation. A large number of different classes of houses 

 in Manchester (industrial) and Harrogate (residential) 

 were personally visited and the weekly w-ashing bill 

 as nearly as possible ascertained. The net result was 

 an additional expenditure in Manchester of more than 

 242,000/. annually on this item alone. The committee 

 einployed on this investigation concludes its report as 

 follows: "As a result of years of patient investiga- 

 tion, coupled with strict rejection of all doubtful 

 evidence, they can state emphatically that it would 

 well repay .Manchester to expend a large amount of 

 thought and monev on any measures that would help 

 to reduce its enormous vearlv smoke tax of at least 

 three-quarters of a million pounds per annum." 



The MinistrA- of Health has now taken the matter 

 in hand and appointed a Smoke .Abatement Com- 

 mittee to consider wavs and means of abolishing 

 smoke. The report of this committee will no doubt 

 contain recommendations which will give local authori- 

 ties greater facilities and stron(?er inducements 'for 

 dealing with this pest of industrial towns. Coal 

 smoke is opposed to everv principle of economy, 

 health, comfort, and cleanliness. It is a national 

 scourge which has been too long tolerat'^d. 



J. B. C. 



