334 



NATURE 



[February 4, 1892 



led to inflict upon you, the central idea concerning the proposed 

 action of this Society I hope begins to loom with a more or less 

 definite form. It is not for you to add to the general tinkling of 

 small bells, but it remains lor you to bring together a strong 

 staff of expert ringers who can give us a good loud peal on the 

 chimes. You will, I hope, sooner or later, set an example in 

 technical education in your own subject — which so admirably 

 lends itself to the purpose — which shall act indirectly on all 

 related subjects, by showing how much of the real work of techno- 

 logy begins after the elementary and advanced training have 

 been completed. The instruction imparted under the existing 

 arrangements is good as far as it goes, but from your point of 

 view it must be regarded as the means of supplying the raw 

 materials out of which the technologist of the future is to be 

 moulded. It is not your province to assist in the multiplication 

 of elementary classes, but to set the seal of efficiency on the 

 existing organizations. 



I should have but little justification for addressing you as I 

 have did I not feel what a splendid opportunity lies before you 

 for raising the level of at least one important branch of tech- 

 nology. Siill less should I be justified in responding to your 

 invitation did I not offer some suggestions which may be of use 

 in furthering your object. The Photographic Institute, such as 

 we desire, would be an establishment thoroughly equipped for 

 the best practical instruction, well provided with appliances for 

 carrying on research in every department of the subject, and 

 having attached to it the most competent specialists in every 

 branch. The staff" need not be numerous at first ; a chemist, an 

 optician and physicist, an expert in photo-mechanical processes, 

 and an artist would represent the chief departments. Your 

 committee or governing body would know the right men to 

 select ; if they cannot be found in this country you may have to 

 go abroad for them. This course may appear ignominious, but 

 if it has to be adopted so much the better ; it will bear practical 

 witness to the necessity of having the means of raising such men 

 in our own country. The ideal institute may be a slow growth, 

 but every eff'ort should be made to establish it. The Photo- 

 graphic Society has already taken the initiative by proposing an 

 affiliation with kindred Societies. This scheme should be 

 energetically pushed forward, and every means adopted for 

 urging the importance of the claims of photography to have a 

 rec.ignized technological centre. I venture to think that an 

 impetus would be given to the movement if representatives of 

 the Camera Club, the Photographic Convention of the United 

 Kingdom, and of the numerous photographic Societies of the 

 metropolis were invited to another conference, such as was held 

 last year, but with the special object of forming a joint committee, 

 under whose authority a further appeal might be made for public 

 and private support. If only a moderate fund could be raised 

 at first, operations might be commenced. Surely the numerous 

 firms which have come into existence through the general intro- 

 duction of photographic processes, and the large body of wealthy 

 amateurs who practice the art as a pastime, might be sufficiently 

 interested in the movement to give it their support. 



It only remains now to bring these suggestions to a practical 

 issue. We are such a very practical nation that unless some- 

 thing tangible is offered, the foundation of the Institute may be 

 indefinitely delayed ; as yet there is nothing of the kind in 

 existence — there is no organized work being done that appeals 

 directly to the patriotism and to the pockets of those to whom 

 you may legitimately look for assistance. But elementary photo- 

 graphy is being taught in connection with technical schools and 

 classes all over the country. A good beginning might be made 

 if under the auspices of the joint committee a few first-class 

 specialists were enlisted and authorized to give short courses of 

 demonstrations to those affiliated Societies or in those centres 

 which desired to receive such instruction. The local centres 

 might fairly be asked to make the necessary arrangements and 

 to bear the small expense of local organization ; the fund raised 

 by the joint committee would be well spent at first in defraying 

 the costs of a few special lectures. You may have some diffi- 

 culty in laying your hands on the right men for this work ; I 

 need hardly remind you that the whole success of this initial 

 movement would depend upon your sending only the most 

 highly qualified specialists. You must have men who can teach 

 the teachers and convince practical photographers that under- 

 lying the practice of their art are broad scientific principles 

 which it is their interest to know something about. These pre- 

 liminary peripatetic courses must be regarded in the light of 

 missionary efforts, having for their object not the multiplication 

 of photographic operators, but the awakening of the elementary 



NO. I 162, VOL. 45] 



and advanced student to the higher aspects of their subject. It 

 is desirable to have this function of the lectures well understood 

 at the outset ; the experts who are entrusted with this work will 

 know well enough that it is impossible to make a technologist 

 out of a student, however enthusiastic he may be in his subject, 

 simply by giving him a course of lectures. 



If the system of itinerant instruction which I have suggested 

 can only be fairly started, even on a small scale, one important 

 function of the Institute will have been inaugurated. It will 

 have a claim upon the practical educationalist as a teaching 

 body ; it will appeal more specifically to the promoters of 

 technical education and to those public bodies which have 

 voluntarily or by Act of Parliament identified themselves with 

 this movement. It is certainly discouraging — I may say dis- 

 creditable — when we see the magnificent scale on which the 

 photo-technical Institutes of Berlin and Vienna have been 

 founded and equipped, that in this country, whatever the 

 importance of the subject, public recognition and support come 

 only after success has been achieved by private enterprise. I 

 am afraid you will have to reckon with this national charac- 

 teristic, which, although retarding advancement in many direc- 

 tions, is so far good that it calls forth the most strenuous 

 exertions to insure success at the outset of every new movement. 

 Upon the success of your first small undertaking will depend the 

 larger ultimate success which we all look for. 



One other suggestion occurs to me which may help to 

 strengthen your hands. I have said that instruction in photo- 

 graphy is already being given in many technical schools ; this 

 instruction is more or less of an elementary character. It seems 

 feasible to combine with the proposed courses of special lectures 

 a system of inspectorship which might be carried out by the 

 same staff. Your lecturers would be recognized experts, capable 

 of advising such schools as to methods of teaching and of co- 

 operating with local centres in the selection of the most highly 

 qualified teachers. I am sure that most centres would be only 

 too glad to avail themselves of the knowledge and experience 

 thus placed at their service. If you begin operations on these 

 lines at first — if you can carry on this combined system of 

 skilled teaching and inspection successfully for a few years, 

 your claim for permanent establishment and endowment as a 

 Photographic Institute cannot but receive that support from 

 public bodies to which your educational efforts will have entitled 

 you, and which in other countries is given by the State. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — Commencement of Hilary Term. — The usual 

 notices are being issued this week to undergraduates to come 

 into residence the end of next week, full term commencing 

 February 8. The notices state that Hilary Term will be of the 

 usual length — eight weeks. Residence for Easter Term will 

 begin on April 22. The dates for the examinations in Hilary 

 Term have been fixed as follows : Preliminary in Natural 

 Science, March 14 ; First Public Examination for Honours in 

 Classics, March 17 ; Responsions, March 31. 



It has been stated that this is the first time the date of the 

 commencement of Term has been postponed by reason of an 

 epidemic since the date of the Great Plague in the seventeenth 

 century, when a whole term was abandoned. 



The Senior Mathematical Scholarship has been awarded to 

 Mr. A. E. Jolliffe, B.A., late Scholar of Balliol and Fellow of 

 Corpus Christi ; Proxime Accessit, Mr. R. C. Fowler, B.A., of 

 New College, to whom the examiners have awarded Lady 

 Herschel's Prize for Astronomy. Mr. H. H. Piggott, Corpus 

 Christi, was awarded the Junior Mathematical Scholarship; 

 and to Mr. H. A. Pritchard, of New College, the Junior 

 Mathematical Exhibition. 



CAMfiRiDGE.— Mr. F. W. Dyson, B. A., of Trinity College, 

 bracketed Second Wrangler, 1889, and Smith's Prizeman, 1891, 

 has been elected to the second Isaac Newton Studentship, 

 tenable from April 15, 1892, to April 15, 1895. 



Mr. J. H. Flather, late Master of Cavendish College, has 

 been appointed Assistant- Secretary for the Local Examinations. 



An Exhibition of fifty guineas a year is offered by the Cloth- 

 workers' Company for proficiency in physical science. It is 

 tenable for three years hy a non-collegiate student of Oxford or 

 Cambridge. Application is to be made to [the Censor, Fitz- 

 william Hall. 



An influential syndicate has been appointed to obtain plans 



