256 



NATURE 



[November 6, 1919 



the only universities in 1869. To these must be 

 added Owens College, still in the house in 

 Quay Street "to which a chemical laboratory and 

 a large lecture-room had been added." In science 

 Cambridge led the van with, possibly, University 

 College, London, as her nearest rival. It is 

 unsafe to adopt an order of merit. Much depends 

 upon the point of view. Edinburgh, for example, 

 in the biological aspect, might lay claim to prece- 

 dence. We may take Cambridge and University 

 College as examples of the provision made for 

 science, then and now, seeing that space will not 

 allow of a fuller treatment of the subject. 



Science attained to the status of a department 

 of knowledge when the Natural Sciences Tripos 

 was established. The first examination was held 

 in 1851. Yet for many years the various branches 

 of natural science were regarded as possible sub- 

 stitutes for the humanities in the education of a 

 gentleman, rather than as vehicles of a grim and 

 strenuous discipline for the work of life. Science 

 was Wheweli's forte, omniscience his foible. 

 The Tripos was reminiscent of his influence. All 

 branches of science ranked alike. A candidate's 

 place depended upon his" aggregate of marks. To 

 secure a first class he must show that his know- 

 ledge, like that of the stupendous Master of 

 Trinity, ranged from zoology to mineralogy. 



The institution of the Tripos was a powerful 

 stimulus to scientific study. New buildings were 

 erected in 1864 and 1865, yet the contrast between 

 the accommodation and equipment of the various 

 departments, in 1869 and to-day, is so marked 

 as to be amusing. Salvin's building was a 

 palace as compared with the hovel in the south- 

 east corner of the old Botanic Garden, erected in 

 1786 by Mr. Bradwell, bricklayer, and Mr. Kaye, 

 carpenter, both of Cambridge, in which, until 

 1864, all departments, with the exception of geo- 

 logy, had been lodged ; a building which for several 

 years after that date was shared by the professor 

 of chemistry and the professor of anatomy (in- 

 cludirtg comparative anatomy and comparative 

 physiology). The lecture-room on the upper floor 

 of this building was well lighted, but the metal- 

 lurgical laboratory on the ground floor, and the 

 cabinet in which, if possible, a body was dis- 

 sected every year, were dark and inconvenient in 

 such degree as seemed appropriate to the evil- 

 smelling and repulsive rites to which they were 

 devoted. 



Salvin's building, which was enlarged later by 

 the addition of an upper story, provided accom- 

 modation for mineralogy, botany, zoology, and 

 natural philosophy. For long the block was 

 known as the "New Museums," since the greater 

 part of its space was given up to the housing of 

 the herbarium and the collections of minerals and 

 of zoological specimens. Museums, be it noted, 

 were considered, in those days, as of far more 

 importance than laboratories for the teaching of 

 science. The geological collection was stored — 

 it would be misleading to write " exhibited ". — in 

 Cockerell's building, now given up to the 

 university library. 



NO. 2610, VOL. 104] 



To-day the whole of the old Botanic Garden, 

 with much surrounding property from which 

 houses have been cleared, together with about 

 six acres on the opposite side of Downing Street, 

 is covered with noble buildings. Fortunately, they 

 are not too noble. For the most part, they look 

 as if they were intended for the purposes for 

 which they are used. Cambridge is happier than 

 some modern universities in this respect. The 

 dignity of science is not enhanced by Gothic or 

 Palladian architecture. Science looks to the 

 future, not to the past. Steel girders and sheets 

 of glass can be rearranged to meet new needs. 

 The cotton-mill style is the only style appropriate 

 to museums and laboratories. Proportion, light, 

 ventilation, and convenience of access of the build- 

 ing as a whole and of its several parts are the only 

 merits for which the man who designs them can 

 lay claim to renown. 



Excluding the professors of mathematics and 

 astronomy, the scientific staff of the university 

 comprised the professors of chemistry, anatomy, 

 botany, geology, natural philosophy, and zoology, 

 each of whom received a yearly stipend of 300I., 

 together with a demonstrator of anatomy, who 

 received looZ., and an attendant at the chemical 

 laboratory. These officers alone were paid out of 

 the University Chest. Additional assistants, 

 lecturers, and demonstrators were to be found 

 in some departments, but their employment was 

 the professor's private affair. To the university 

 staff must be added a lecturer in natural science 

 at Trinity, two lecturers at St. John's, a medical 

 lecturer at Caius, the superintendent of the 

 laboratory at Sidney, and two lecturers in medi- 

 cine and natural science at Downing. To-day v/e 

 find nineteen professors of natural science and 

 seventy-three readers, lecturers, and demonstra- 

 tors on the university staff, and forty-three 

 college lecturers. 



The lures set in the gates of science were scarce 

 likely to beguile a student from the broader ways. 

 "Three-quarters of all university prizes and more 

 than one-half of all college prizes are awarded 

 for classics and English," the Calendar boasted 

 in 1869. English might as well have been omitted. 

 It could not stand alone. The only prize for 

 natural science was the Sedgwick. Thirteen 

 names appeared in the Natural Sciences Tripos, 

 against 1 1 1 in the Mathematical and 73 in the 

 Classical class-lists. In 1914, 153 men and women 

 took honours in the Natural Sciences Tripos, 

 against 121 in the Mathematical, 113 in the Clas- 

 sical, and 352 in the various other Triposes which 

 have come into existence in recent years. 



At University College, London, the laboratory 

 accommodation was singularly modest, as, indeed, 

 it remained until quite recent times. The steady 

 flow of discovery which has issued from the 

 cramped, dark, inconvenient chemical laboratory 

 is testimony to the genius of the men who have 

 successively occupied the chair. Students were 

 not expected, in 1869, to do practical work, as 

 understood to-day. The writer recalls sitting 

 in a row of other students, in 1872, pulling petals 



