June 28, 1900] 



NA TURE 



205 



but both these classes will be exceptional. For the average 

 man a broad training in many subjects, well taught and under 

 the most favourable conditions, is what is wanted, in order to 

 leave him adaptable and efficient in the subsequent uncertain 

 calls of actual life ; and such men should constitute the bulk of 

 the pass graduates, and be the backlxjne of the new scheme. 



Annexed to the report is an account of the visit of the 

 committee's deputation to American and Canadian Universities, 

 and the information thus obtained and summarised is of the 

 greatest interest and importance. 



A deputation of the Advisory Committee of the University of 

 Birmingham paid a visit to colleges and universities in the 

 United States and Canada at the end of last year, on the sugges- 

 tion of Mr. Carnegie, who, it is understood, is willing to provide 

 a good round sum for the establishment of an adequate scientific 

 and technical college on this side of the Atlantic. An appendix 

 to the committee's report contains a statement of the condition 

 of affairs which they found in America. 



They find that "almost the whole of the students enter on a 

 full four-year course of instruction with a view to graduation. 

 The student on entrance is required either to pass an examina- 

 tion or to present satisfectory evidence that he is qualified to 

 lake up the course on which he enters. The entrance examina- 

 tion is not very different, as a rule, from the matriculation 

 examination of the University of London. It is more advanced 

 in mathematics, but probably easier on the literary side." 



The working session ranges between thirty-three and thirty- 

 eight weeks ; but outside this there are summer excursion classes, 

 and summer workshop classes usually of about one month. 



One remarkable difference they find in the system of 

 lecturing. With us, college lectures form a connected course, 

 almost dispensing with the necessity of a text-book, except for 

 supplementing and extending information. It has often seemed 

 to us that such lectures are perfectly right if the student already 

 partially knows the subject ; it then systematises and organises 

 and more firmly impresses his knowledge ; but if, as too often 

 happens, a student comes to the lecture-room ignorant of the 

 subject, he cannot derive proper benefit from a course of 

 lectures ; he cannot discriminate between the essential and the 

 comparatively unessential ; he cannot without practice watch 

 experiments and take notes at the same time ; he cannot always 

 keep his attention fixed : we have noticed that students who 

 have recently been to a British secondary school, one of the large 

 public schools or indeed any other, cannot as a rule keep their 

 attention long fixed on anything. There are exceptional 

 students, and there are exceptional schools ; but as a rule what 

 they chiefly learn in class work at school is a habit of inattention 

 to what is going on, the average procedure in class being too 

 slow for the quicker boys, too rapid for the slower ones, and too 

 dull for all. This habit of inattention, once firmly acquired, 

 remains with them through the first year and sometimes through 

 the second year of their college life, and they are all the time a 

 perfect curse to any who wish to get on, and who are becoming 

 of an age to realise some of the responsibilities and opportunities 

 of life. 



For the college lectures in America it would appear that " a 

 large amount of home preparation and work is required. The 

 student is expected to read up in a text-book the subject 

 matter of the lectures beforehand, the lectures in many cases 

 consisting of exposition and experimental illustration of the text- 

 book. Recitation classes are held in connection with each 

 lecture, in which individual students are questioned on the text- 

 book or lectures, or asked to demonstrate on the blackboard 

 before the rest of the class." 



Literary studies are not wholly neglected by the students of 

 science, nor is attention to them confined to the needs of the 

 entrance examination. In addition to the requirements of the 

 entrance examination in languages, grammar, and history, a 

 certain amount of lime is given by the science students, especially 

 in the first two years, to what appear to be often called " culture 

 subjects," such as literature, composition and rhetoric, history, 

 political economy, French and German. 



But the most important and much-to-be-imitated portion of the 

 system adopted in America, is that whereby the credit given for 

 work does not depend solely on a concluding examination, but 

 is tnade really to represent the aggregate work of the whole 

 session. There is a Paper examination, and that is quite right, 

 for it is eminently desirable that a student should be able to 

 express what he knows accurately and on demand. Quite half 

 the credit ought to be awarded to this faculty, but not all ; the 



NO. 1600, VOL. 62] 



remaining half should be awarded for work in class-room and 

 laboratory. 



In the Slates there are no practical examinations as with us. 

 Proficiency in laboratory work is accredited by assigning marks 

 for attendance and for excellence of laboratory and manual work 

 throughout the session. We believe that this system is very 

 successfully in force at such places as the City Guilds Central 

 Technical College at South Kensington, but we have not yet 

 heard of its much to be desired introduction into universities in 

 this country. There is no doubt that it would have the best 

 effect on both student and demonstrator ; and it would have the 

 further advantage that the troublesome practical examinations, 

 especially those in the senior stage, when they become rather 

 farcical, could be dispensed with. 



Another desirable innovation is thus expressed : — "The right 

 of dismissal at any stage is maintained and used. Any student 

 who shows that he is unable or unwilling to keep up with the 

 work is excluded by the Faculty from the graduation course. 

 He may be allowed to take on special courses, but usually he is 

 dismissed from the institution. The system has been devised to 

 keep, and succeeds in keeping, the students continuously at work, 

 and the result of the process of exclusion in the earlier stages is 

 that nearly the whole of the final classes are successful in 

 graduating." 



One of the most important arrangements in America is the 

 large provision made at some of the institutions for post-graduate 

 work Only a small proportion of students are able to spare 

 time for it, but it is encouraged by affording every facility for 

 study and research to the post-graduate ; and graduates from one 

 institution frequently work as post-graduates at another. This 

 system of interchange between universities, which already ob- 

 tains largely in GermatTy, is surely to be desired in this country, 

 especially in post-graduate stages, where specialisation naturally 

 and properly sets in. 



Over-specialisation in undergraduate stages is, we believe, to 

 be deprecated. A certain amount of general knowledge, both 

 literary and scientific, is needed, and should be acquired by all. 



The committee found that in America the proportion of staflF 

 to students is much greater than with us ; and they further found 

 — what is a matter of great importance — that the subdivision of 

 subjects is, as in Germany, likewise carried much further ; so 

 that, for instance, every important branch of engineering has its 

 own professor, with perhaps an assistant professor, and certainly 

 with instructors ; and no attempt is made, as with us, to place 

 the whole of a gigantic scientific subject in its higher stages 

 under the control of one man. 



We observe that in the fundamental subjects of chemistry and 

 physics the general laboratory arrangements and the scope of 

 teaching appear to be much the same in America as in this 

 country. The laboratories are, however, as a rule more 

 spacious, the equipment in apparatus is on a larger scale, greater 

 facilities are given for research, and the size of the laboratories 

 allows most of the physical apparatus to be kept in position — 

 different rooms being used for different subjects. In the more 

 important laboratories many rooms are provided for original re- 

 search, which is carried on by the staff and post-graduate 

 students. At Cornell there is a special laboratory for physical 

 chemistry. .A.t several colleges there is a department of applied 

 chemistry, through which all students pass who are graduating 

 in chemistry. This is excellent, and tends to make the know- 

 ledge much more real and practical. Chemicals are made, in- 

 stead of being merely purchased; "the course is short, and 

 generally consists in the production of pure chemicals from com- 

 mercial articles on a scale in which many kilogrammes are dealt 

 with. The processes are made to resemble, as far as possible, 

 those of manufacturing practice." 



In civil engineering we observe that " the work in surveying 

 is very thorough, and includes field work throughout the year, 

 together with a summer course. There is usually an extensive 

 stock of theodolites, levels, and chains, so that each student in 

 the field has his own instrument. During the two last years 

 particular attention is devoted to bridge construction, the 

 student preparing complete drawings and stress sheets in ac- 

 cordance with the practice of the leading railway companies." 



Less hostile feeling to academically bred apprentices would be 

 felt in this country if these practical features could be imitated. 



In mining engineering, a summer excursion class is sometimes 

 formed to spend some weeks in a mining district, where facili- 

 ties are given to inspect the actual processes of mining. 



Great importance is a.ssigned to engineering- laboratory work. 



