October 19, 1893] 



NATURE 



591 



guide our institution amid the difficulties which have sur- 

 rounded it, has retired from her post. Many here have 

 already had opportunities of expressing their regrets to 

 her in person, but I feel sure that none interested in 

 Bedford College would wish the first meeting of this 

 session to pass without our conveying to Miss Martin the 

 assurance of the affection with which she has inspired 

 many generations of Bedford College students, or with- 

 out our telling her once more of our hopes that she may 

 enjoy for many years the rest she has so well earned. 



In an inaugural address, however, it is natural to look 

 rather to the future than to the past. 



It has been thought well that the organisation of the 

 College should be brought into closer approximation to 

 that which obtains in most similar institutions, whether 

 intended for the education of men or of women. We 

 have now a Lady Principal. It would be impossible in 

 the presence of Miss Penrose to express fully how much 

 we hope from her in the future : it may be sufficient to 

 say that we welcome her as the daughter of a distin- 

 guished scholar, and as one who has shown herself 

 capable of climbing the very highest rounds of the ladder 

 of learning. Miss Penrose was selected as Principal by 

 the Council from among a group of candidates, of whom 

 several would have adorned the post, and we believe 

 that the large share in determining the future of Bedford 

 College, which she must now take, has been placed in safe 

 hands. 



On the occasion of this new departure it may be well 

 to consider how widely the position of those who are 

 now engaged in working for Bedford College differs from 

 that of its founders. 



When the College was first instituted the very principle 

 which it was intended to embody was disputed on all 

 hands. It was denied that the doors of the Temple 

 of Learning should be thrown open to women equally 

 with men ; that there is no crypt, however dark, no 

 chapel, however sacred, which may not be entered by 

 both alike. 



That principle has now been vindicated. Women are 

 working side by side with men in the same universities, 

 competing with them in the same examinations, and 

 proving by their successes that they can bear a worthy 

 part in the intellectual strife of the schools. 



But if in this respect the Council have not to face the 

 prejudices which their predecessors overcame, they have 

 to encounter new difficulties caused in part by the very 

 success of the principle for which their predecessors 

 contended. 



Bedford College was the first institution designed for the 

 introduction of women to the higher learning, but unfor- 

 tunately, or, as the cause is greater than the College, I 

 should perhaps say fortunately, it had no patent rights 

 in the theory which it first illustrated. Rivals, friendly 

 rivals, have sprung up, and in some respects they possess 

 advantages we cannot claim. 



Some share the charm of the surroundings and the 

 prestige of the names of the older universities. Another, 

 near London, has wealth to which we have not yet 

 attained. As women's colleges have become more 

 numerous, the beauty of their buildings has increased, 

 the standard of their equipment has improved. To 

 beauty of outward adornment we cannot in York Place 

 pretend, but I would not have dwelt on this point to 

 discourage you. Our laboratories, though small, are 

 well fitted ; the art studio, the class and lecture rooms 

 are sufficient for all the claims that are at present made 

 upon them, and we may truly assert that Bedford 

 College, though without the advertisement of external 

 decoration, is adequately equipped for its great task. 



Another change which has taken place since Bedford 

 College was founded is in the ideals of those who are 

 engaged in promoting the higher education. 



When the College was first inaugurated the great 



NO. 1251, VOL. 48] 



examination craze was at, or was approaching, its height. 

 Since then we have learnt that that method of testing 

 ability is not all-sufficient, and signs are not wanting of 

 a growing disbelief in its efficacy, especially when 

 applied to very advanced students. 



The Education Department is laying greater stress on 

 inspection and less on examination. In the University 

 of London the note-books of the work done by scientific 

 students in the laboratory are submitted to the examiners, 

 thus recognising work done outside the examination 

 room. 



At Cambridge the Smith's prizes are given for suc- 

 cessful theses instead of after an examination test. 



To have completed an original research now carries 

 a man further towards his fellowship than all the 

 triumphs of the Schools. 



In the University of London the degree of Doctor of 

 Science is given without further examination, if the 

 candidate can prove that he has added to knowledge on 

 the subject he professes. 



I am told that there is at present a movement on foot 

 at Oxford for giving to those who have carried out a 

 successful research, what is still to some Englishmen 

 almost inconceivable, an examinationless degree. 



It is perhaps chiefly in the mathematical and physical 

 sciences that this movement is most noticeable, and it is 

 largely based upon the growing conviction of both 

 teachers and students, that it is, if not useless, 

 at all events unsatisfactory to master all the intricacies 

 of a mathematical or experimental machinery for 

 investigating nature, if the knowledge gained with 

 much pain and labour is not turned to account. 



Every man who has solved a mathematical problem 

 has done work which is, as far as he is concerned, 

 original, antj it is absurd to train men so as to endow 

 them with a special facility for such work, and yet to 

 do nothing to show them in what direction their excep- 

 tional attainments may be of real service. 



A student who has mastered a science but complains 

 that he can add nothing to knowledge, is like an athlete 

 who has learned to run well on a cinder track, but fails 

 on the high road. 



More and more stress, then, is now being laid on the 

 power both of teacher and students to use their knowledge. 

 It is no exaggeration to say that original papers are 

 produced in the principal London colleges by the 

 score. If we turn to the provinces we find that the Com- 

 missioners of the 1 85 1 Exhibition give scholarships to 

 those among the provincial students whom their colleges 

 recommend as capable of undertaking advanced scientific 

 work. And here it may be noticed that examination 

 has again been dispensed with. In the old days the 

 candidates would have been selected after a centralised 

 examination held in London, whereas now the Com- 

 missioners are content — and, in my opinion, very pro- 

 perly content — with the recommendation of responsible 

 authorities. 



In view then of this great change in the aims and 

 objects of the higher education, I want to impress upon 

 you that fact that if Bedford College, if women's colleges 

 in general are to hold the high position which the success 

 of their students in the examination room has won for 

 them, they must become places, not merely for acquiring 

 knowledge, but for adding to it. I do not think that it 

 can be honestly said that up to the present time the 

 success of women as investigators has, in spite of some 

 notable exceptions, been as great as their rapid 

 and extraordinary achievements as students would 

 have led us to expect. Nevertheless, if the fundamental 

 idea of our founders is to govern us in the future as it 

 has guided us in the past, the students of Bedford 

 College must distinguish themselves in the research 

 laboratory as they have often distinguished themselves 

 in the struggle for a degree. In undertaking this task, 



