634 



NATURE 



[October 27, 1898 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE, 



Speaking as chairman of a meeting of the Associated 

 Societies of Edinburgh University on Tuesday, Mr. Balfour ex- 

 pressed his views on examinations as follows : — I think the 

 lime is not very far back when the idea was prevalent that after 

 all a University was little more than an examination machine 

 for stamping a certain number of students with a hall-mark, in- 

 dicating that they had satisfied a certain number of examiners, 

 and that they possessed a certain amount of knowledge on a 

 certain amount of subjects. But that idea belongs to the past, 

 and everybody who realises how the University machinery may 

 do the work of higher education in the country has long re- 

 cognised that the University to be at its best must not be an ex- 

 amining University merely or particularly, but what is wanted 

 is a teaching University. I do not wish to overstate the case 

 against examinations. I have always insisted that they are a 

 necessity. They are evils, necessary evils, evils which no skill 

 on the part of the examiner, no dexterity on the part of those 

 responsible for University organisation, could wholly remove. 

 That an examination may be a good test of intellectual capacity 

 I cannot deny when I remember the numbers of eminent men 

 who in after life have been in the very first rank of scientific and 

 philosophical investigators, or in the very front rank as men of 

 letters, and who were all so distinguished in examination. But 

 while they were reading for examination they were occupied in 

 considering not what was the sort of truth, not what was the 

 best method of advancing the special study in which they were 

 engaged, and so increasing the science of the world. Not at all. 

 They were occupied to a large amount with an immense variety 

 of subjects, different altogether and at the same time ready for 

 immediate use — the last thing a practical man ever does. The 

 serious r.ian puts out of his head that which is not necessary 

 and is, indeed, superfluous. He focusses his mind upon the 

 work imniediately before him, and, though no doubt he may see 

 to the right or to the left more collateral subjects which have a 

 bearing upon the main question, he certainly is never in the 

 position of the unhappy victim of examination, who is going over 

 in his head, before entering the room, all the various problems 

 it is necessary to have at his finger ends if he is to satisfy the 

 gentleman who is examining him. 



Sir W. H. White delivered an address on engineering 

 education at the Institution of Junior Engineers on Friday last. 

 In the course of his remarks he said he was constantly asked 

 what course of training he would recommend for youths in- 

 tended to become engineers. His advice had always been the 

 same, and it was based on personal experience and extensive 

 observation. Practical training in the workshop, factory, 

 ship-yard, or other engineering establishment was, he con- 

 sidered, best begun when a lad was fresh from school. "Rough- 

 ing it " then came easy, observation was quick, while the facility 

 for acquiring handicrafts and manual dexterity was greatest. 

 Familiarity with the habits and modes of thought of workmen 

 was readily gained also, and was a valuable acquisition. During 

 this period of practical training it was most desirable that 

 scholastic knowledge should be maintained or extended. If this 

 programme were carried out, a young man finished his practical 

 course without loss of educational knowledge ; and if he had the 

 means and the capacity, he was well prepared for entry into a 

 technical college at an age which permitted him to obtain the full 

 benefit of theoretical training and laboratory work. With 

 ability and energy commensurate to the task, a student thus 

 prepared, and bringing with him considerable practical ex- 

 perience, ought to reap the greatest advantage from the higher 

 course of study, and to be ready for actual work when it was 

 completed. His observation and experience as student and 

 professor convinced him that many youths entered technical 

 colleges who, from want of preliminary education or of ability, 

 could never hope to benefit much, if at all. It would be a 

 kindness in such cases if entry were guarded by such preliminary 

 tests and inquiries as would prevent waste of time, and permit 

 other and more suitable training to be undergone. Perhaps the 

 ideal system of training was that which permitted an engineering 

 pupil to continue his scholastic training side by .side with the 

 preliminary practical experience, as the medical student attached 

 to a hospital did. Selected men, having proved their capacity, 

 could then proceed to a course of higher technical training 

 without losing all contact with practical work. The latter con- 

 dition could be met by arranging suitable intervals when 



NO. I 5 13, VOL. 58] 



students would suspend their studies of theory and go out to the 

 scenes of engineering operations, where they could compare the 

 lessons learnt in the study and laboratory with actual procedure 

 in carrying on work. 



We are glad to see that an attempt is being made to co- 

 ordinate the educational institutions in Bristol, and so prevent 

 the present overlapping of work and conflict of interests. At a 

 recent meeting of the Technical Instruction Committee of the 

 County Borough Council the following resolution was adopted : 

 "That the governors of the Bristol University College, the 

 governors of the Merchant Venturers' Technical College, and 

 the Bristol School Board, be requested to send three represent- 

 atives each to meet a sub-committee of the Technical Instruction 

 Committee, for the purpose of taking into consideration the 

 needs and resources of the city as a whole, with a view ot 

 combining all parties in one comprehensive plan for the supply- 

 ing of such technical instruction as the circumstances of Bristol 

 require." 



Science reports the following gifts to educational institutions 

 in the United States :— The will of the late Colonel Joseph M. 

 Bennett, who during his life-time had made generous gifts to 

 the University of Pennsylvania, leaves to the University property 

 valued at 400,000 dollars. The money is to be used for the 

 higher education of women. — A sum of money, said to be 

 158,000 dollars, has been given by friends of Barnard College to 

 pay the entire indebtedness of the College due to its removal to 

 the new site adjacent to Columbia University. — A donor, whose 

 name is withheld, has given Wellesley College an astronomical 

 observatory and a telescope, said to be of large size. — Vassar 

 College receives 10,000 dollars by the will of the late Adolf Sutro, 

 of San Francisco. The same College has been given 1000 dollars 

 by Senator Coleman, of Michigan, the income to be used to 

 purchase books and instruments for the astronomical observ- 

 atory. — The annual report of President Low to the Trustees of 

 Columbia College states that during the year the University 

 received 346,409 dollars for permanent endowment and 43,909 

 dollars for current uses. 



The Athemmim states that the Joint Committee of the bodies 

 concerned in secondary education, which includes representatives 

 of the universities and the administrative authorities, has been 

 summoned to meet on November 5, when the Government 

 Education Bills will be taken into consideration. It seems 

 probable, from what has taken place during the recess, that the 

 constituent bodies will not deem it advisable to urge the 

 Government to immediate legislation on the subject of local 

 authorities. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal of Science, October. — The compressibility 

 of colloids, with applications to the jelly theory of the ether, by 

 C. Barus. Various colloids were compressed in capillary tubes 

 with mercury terminals. A solution of gelatine or albumen in 

 water was found to have a low compressibility, and a solution 

 of india-rubber in ether was taken as a type of a highly com- 

 pressible colloid. When the colloid was compressed by the 

 mercury, the meniscus would occasionally give way, and a 

 droplet of mercury be projected through the substance of the 

 colloid to a distance of 12 cm. or more. This has an interest- 

 ing application to the problem of the motion of material bodies 

 through a solid ether. The mechanism of this motion is not 

 yet explained, but there is probably a temporary liquefaction of 

 the colloid in front, and a subsequent solidification behind the 

 moving body. — Eolian origin of loess, by C. R. Keyes. 

 The amount of dust brought up out of the Mississippi valley 

 into St. Louis is about one-hundredth inch in a day when the 

 wind blows. An open book placed in a protected nook was 

 after a few hours of wind so covered with dust that the print 

 could not be distinguished. Probably the rate of deposition of 

 the Mississippi loess is one-tenth of an inch per annum. Being 

 spongy and absorbent, the loess retains moisture in the dry 

 season, and gives rise to a luxuriant vegetation. — Detection of 

 sulphides, sulphates, sulphites, and thiosulphates in the presence 

 pf each other, by P. E. Browning and E. Howe. To about 

 P'l gr. of the substance dissolved in 10 cc. of water, add an 

 alkali to slight alkaline reaction. Add zinc acetate in distinct 

 .excess, and filter. The precipitate may be tested for SH2, on 

 iacidifying, in the usual manner. To the filtrate add acetic acid 



