SCIENCE AND THE WAR in 



Trinity College has in its Fellowship system 

 one of the most important series of pecuniary 

 rewards perhaps in Europe, of an educational 

 character. A man has only once to pass an 

 examination, admittedly one of great severity and 

 competitive in character, and thenceforward to 

 go on living respectably and doing such duties 

 as are committed to him, to be ensured an ex- 

 cellent and increasing income for life. How great 

 the rewards are will be gathered from the fact 

 that a distinguished occupant of one of these 

 positions some years ago endeavoured with 

 complete success to enforce on me the import- 

 ance of the Fellowship examination by telling 

 me that he had already received over .50,000 in 

 emoluments as a result of his success. He has 

 received a good deal more since, and I hope will 

 continue to be the recipient of this shower of 

 gold for many years to come. 1 No doubt much 

 might be urged for this system, which was for 

 a long time popular in China for the selection of 

 Mandarins, and I am not criticising it here. 

 What I want to emphasise is that the examination 

 for these valuable positions is either classical or 

 mathematical, and there it ends. The greatest 

 biologist in the world would have as much chance 

 of a Fellowship as the ragged urchin in the street 

 unless he could " settle Hoti's business " or 

 elucidate II or do other things of that kind. It 

 is a luminous example of what was must we say 



1 It was the late distinguished Provost, Sir John Mahaffy, 

 at whose instance the change in the Fellowship system was 

 introduced. 



