NATURE 



[November 3, 1892 



is indeed a fundamental difference between the two cases. 

 The colleges of the Victoria University are widely 

 separated, and appeal to the strong local feeling of 

 powerful and independent districts. A generous rivalry 

 may therefore exist between them without ill result. 

 Each should be left, as they have been left, to work out 

 their own success with as little external interference as 

 possible. 



" It is sometimes argued that because the population 

 of London largely exceeds that even of such districts as 

 Lancashire or the West Riding, there ought to be room 

 within it for the separate and independent institutions in 

 which teaching of the highest type could be provided. 

 This view ignores the importance of geographical 

 separation, and unduly exalts that of the numerical 

 magnitude of the population whose wants are to 

 be met. If Manchester and Leeds were on 

 opposite sides of the Irwell or the Aire, if they 

 were connected by an elaborate system of over- 

 ground and underground railways, then it would be more 

 economical to concentrate, in one or the other, the higher 

 teaching which must now perforce be given in both. 

 The loss of time to the students in reaching the scene of 

 their daily labours would be but imperceptibly increased, 

 while the prestige of the colleges, great as it already is, 

 their claims on the State, strong as they already are, would 

 be enhanced in a proportion greater than that calculated 

 by merely adding their separate reputations and resources. 

 In a city of the size of London it is desirable to multiply 

 institutions in which preparatory work of all sorts is un- 

 dertaken, but I think it may be assumed as almost axio- 

 matic that it is impossible, at present at all events, to 

 create in one town more than one institution in which la- 

 boratories and lecture rooms and the other machinery of 

 scientific instruction shall be provided on the large scale 

 which the elaboration of the highest modern scientific 

 teaching demands. In London, then, the teachers in 

 almost all existing institutions feel the necessity for 

 a combination of forces. They have expressed them- 

 selves as willing to be formed into battalions and 

 regiments rather than to be left to carry on their work 

 as isolated companies. I will not dwell on the fact that 

 this desire could only be declared by men who were will- 

 ing to risk their personal position for the public good, but 

 I want you to observe how in this case also the work of 

 decentralization, which began with the foundation of Uni- 

 versity College, London, has been followed and would 

 have been far more effective had it been accompanied by 

 a corresponding manifestation of centralizing force." 



With these views we heartily agree. 



If ever we are to have in London laboratories such as 

 those which are to be found in Germany, it can only be 

 if the higher teaching in each subject is concentrated in 

 some^one great central institution, and if rival colleges are 

 allowed to combine their forces for the public good, instead 

 of being compelled as at present to fritter them in sui- 

 cidal competition. 



Taking it for granted that all will admit that such an 

 ideal would be the best if it could be realized, we believe 

 that the possibility of its realization is chiefly doubted on 

 two grounds, to neither of which any real importance is to 

 be attached. 



It has been supposed, in the first place, that those 

 who advocate a policy kti union among the London 

 colleges think that this union must be carried out in 

 all particulars immediately ; and secondly that in order 

 to secure this end it must be carried out by compulsion, 

 even if the practical confiscation of the property of the 

 existing colleges were necessary. 

 NO. I20I, VOL. 47] 



It need hardly be said that such a statement is a 

 parody of the views of men who have had at least as 

 much experience as their critics ^of the tone of mind 

 of the governing bodies of great educational 

 institutions, and who therefore would be the first to 

 anticipate the difficulties which such demands would 

 inevitably cause. 



No responsible body has, as far as we are aware, 



advocated more than the establishment of a University 



on a basis which would permit the union of the various 



colleges, in whose buildings the University teaching might 



at first be carried on, if the colleges were themselves 



willing that such a union should be effected. The 



advocates of union have all along been striving, not to 



I attain an immediate and complete realization of their 



I ideal University of London, but to prevent the Charter 



[ being drawn so as to make that realization impossible. 



It cannot be beyond the limits of human skill to frame 



a scheme which shall offer every inducement to the 



j London colleges to effect an immediate fusion, and 



shall further provide that any approximation which 



may at first take place shall easily become closer in 



the future. 



The Victoria University does not consist of competing 

 colleges. A federal University of London would consist 

 of colleges which from their mere local proximity would, 

 whether they willed it or no, be necessarily antagonistic. 

 Unless the Commissioners fairly grasp this fact and 

 realize that they have it in their power to lay down the 

 lines on which a great institution shall be founded in 

 close connection with the State, which shall concentrate 

 under one central di reeling power all the educational 

 efforts which are at present partly wasted through wa- 1 

 of joint action, they will have failed to make the most of 

 a great opportunity, and will have frittered the forces 

 which, if allowed free play, are competent to do for the 

 higher education of London all that the best friends of 

 London can desire. 



THE STUDY OF ANIMAL LIFE. 



The Sludy of Animal Life. By J. Arthu: Thomson, 

 M.A., F.RS.E. "University Extension Manuals."' 

 (London : Murray, 1892.) 



THE chief aim of an "Extension Manual" as of 

 "Extension lectures" is to stimulate interest and to 

 spread information. In natural science, at any rate, it is 

 impracticable through the medium of either Extension 

 lectures or Extension manuals, to give that training which 

 the student, be he specialist or generalist, can obtain only 

 by practical work, aided by practical instruction. But 

 there are a great number of people, some already busily 

 engaged, others on the threshold of their life's work, who- 

 possess some interest in, and some information about, 

 those matters, with the study of which scientific men are 

 occupied. For them Extension lectures and manuals 

 are a great boon ; and to them Mr. Thomson's work on 

 " The Study of Animal Life " may be cordially recom- 

 mended. We trust it will stimulate them, as he would 

 desire, to become themselves observers. 



