December 5, 1895] 



NATURE 



103 



are very visible in the British Museum specimen, are quite non- 

 apparent in the Derby Museum specimen. These cross-bands 

 are, in all probability, remnants of the immature plumage, the 

 British Museum specimen being not quite adult. I was, there- 

 fore, wrong in using this character ("Cat. Bd?.,"xv. p. 140) to 

 separate Dendrexctastes teminiiuki from D. devi/Hi, which, how- 

 ever, are quite different species, easily distinguishable by other 

 characters. But D. capttoides - D. temtnincki in my decided 

 opinion, as has been stated in the "Catalogue." 



,P. L. SCI.ATER. 



" The Zoological Record." 



In reference to the note in Nati RE of November 21, about 

 the Zoological Keccrd for 1894, I must ask to be allowed to say 

 that it is stated in the preface that Prof. Hickson could not 

 undertake a record of Ccelenterata. Consequently there has 

 been 110 failure of contract on his part. Prof. Hickson has been 

 a valued contributor to the Record for several years, and his 

 work was always ready at the time agreed on. 



Cambridge, November 23. D. Sharp, 



Editor of the Zoological Record. 



THE LONDON UNIVERSITY. 



FORTUNE so far has not been too kind towards the 

 efforts made for adding teaching functions to the 

 existing University of London. As already chronicled 

 in Nature, the answer of the late Government to the 

 request of the deputation to Lord Rosebery from institu- 

 tions mentioned in the Report of Lord Cowper's Commis- 

 sion was the introduction of Lord Playfair's " University of 

 London Act, 1895," enacting the appointment of a 

 Statutory Commission to give effect to the recommenda- 

 tions of the Royal Commission. Before it had been 

 read a second time, the Government went out of office 

 and the Bill was dropped. From reports which have 

 lately appeared in the press, it would seem that on 

 June 13 a deputation from the members of Convocation 

 hostile to the scheme waited on the Duke of Devonshire 

 and Lord Salisbury, then in Opposition, and were led to 

 believe that these statesmen were not unwilling to sup- 

 port an amending clause to Lord Playfair's Bill, which 

 would entail the scheme, when arranged by the Statutory 

 Commission, being submitted to Convocation for approval 

 in the manner prescribed for a senatorial election, i.e. 

 by voting-papers. And by July i. Sir John Lubbock, in 

 seeking re-election for the University, had pledged him- 

 self to oppose the Statutory Commission Bill unless such 

 a clause were inserted, and comes into line with those 

 against whom he voted in the Senate a year previously. 

 Following this, came the Duke of Devonshire's reference 

 on August 15 to the " strong opposition taken 

 by a large and not uniinportant section of Con- 

 vocation" to the scheme of Lord Cowper's Com- 

 mission, coupled with the announcement that legislation 

 on the subject would not be undertaken in the short 

 session then commencing. 



Judged from such incidents, the outlook could not be 

 regarded as reassuring, and with the return of Ministers 

 to tow n, steps have been taken to bring to the notice of 

 the Government the urgent necessity of dealing with the 

 burning question of a Teaching University for London. 

 On November 2i the delegates represented on the depu- 

 tation to Lord Rosebery, met at the University of London, 

 and unanimously passed the following resolution : — 



" That the Governinent be requested to introduce, at 

 an early date, a Bill, similar to Lord Playfair's London 

 University Commission Bill, 1895, appointing a Statutory 

 Commission to carry out the recommendations of Lord 

 Cowper's Commission, but with an added clause giving 

 [in accordance with precedent Acts of similar tenor ^] to 

 all Institutions or persons directly affected by any Statute 



1 Oxford and Cambridge Act, 1877, sec 46. 

 Scottish University Act, 1889, sec. 20 (a). 



NO. 1362, VOL. 53] 



or Ordinance proposed by the Statutory Commission, a 

 right of appeal to the Privy Council for the disallowance 

 or alteration thereof, previous to such Ordinance being 

 laid before Parliament for confirmation." 



The Duke of Devonshire, on Thursday last, re- 

 ceived a deputation in support of this resolution, the 

 delegates present representing not only the institutions 

 named in the Report of Lord Cowper's Commission, but 

 also the members of that and of the earlier (Lord 

 Selbome's) Commission on a Teaching University for 

 London, as well as members of the recent Bryce Com- 

 mission on Secondary Education. The deputation was 

 introduced by Lord Kelvin, and its views were enforced 

 by Prof. Riicker on behalf of the Senate of the University 

 of London : Dr. Allchin for the Royal College of 

 Physicians, Mr. Heath for the Royal College of Surgeons, 

 Sir George Young (University College), Principal Wace 

 (King's College), Dr. Frederick Taylor (Medical Schools), 

 Principal Whitehouse (Nonconformist Theological Col- 

 leges), Sir Henry Roscoe (Association for promoting 

 a Professorial University for London), Prof Silvanus 

 Thompson (.Annual Committee of Convocation), and Mr. 

 Anstie (Committee of Graduates). 



In the presence of so emphatic an expression of the 

 unanimity not only as to the need for but also the method 

 of the reorganisation of the present University existing 

 among the many institutions and persons interested in the 

 settlement of this grave question,a sympathetic reply might 

 surely have been expected from the official head of the Edu , 

 cation Department. This, however, was not to be the case. 

 The Duke, after conceding the representative character 

 of the deputation, made no further reference to the mani- 

 fold interests represented by the delegates ; no reference 

 to the needs of higher education in London ; no reference 

 to the widespread recognition of the necessity for a Teach- 

 ing University without which, in view of the conflicting 

 nature of the interests concerned, little approach towards 

 a united appeal for a Commission with e.xecutivc and 

 judicial powers for their settlement could have been 

 gained. On the contrary, his reply dwelt on the difficulty 

 of securing the present status of the external students 

 under the scheme of Lord Cowper's Commission, while 

 admitting that the scheme and deputation were at one in 

 insisting that this should be maintained unimpaired ; on 

 his desire to obtain, if possible, an expression of opinion 

 on the subject from the external students, and on the dif- 

 ferences in opinion which had arisen in Convocation about 

 the scheme. In Convocation the Duke of Devonshire 

 recognised three sections — those who accept the scheme 

 with such modifications as may be made by the Statutory 

 Commission, those who are irreconcilable, since they ex- 

 press the view that if a Teaching University for London is 

 needed it should be founded apart from the existing Uni- 

 versity, and those who are of opinion that it would not be 

 enough for the amendments they desired introduced in the 

 scheme to go merely as recommendations to the Commis- 

 sioners when appointed, whence their claim for a veto on 

 the scheme when arranged, to which we may add a fourth, 

 viz. the large proportion, nearly one half of the members, 

 who, so far, have not been beguiled by the foregoing 

 three to express any opinion at all. And recognising 

 only these three, he dwelt on the expediency of every- 

 thing possible being done to conciliate the opposition, if 

 only on the ground that it is extremely desirable that the 

 Bill, if it comes before Parliament, should come before it 

 in a shape which should excite as little opposition as pos- 

 sible. 



It is not too much to say that, in tendenng this advice,, 

 the Duke showed that he had not had time to balance 

 the relative importance of the views laid before him by 

 the deputation from some members of Convocation in the 

 summer, and those which had been so strongly urged by 

 the delegates whom he was addressing. Had it been 

 otherwise, the disparity between the interests involved is- 



