May lo, 1 894] NATURE 



47 



points of view ; some think it a mere mean? of making money ; 

 some regard it as an instrumentality for benefiting the race ; 

 whilst others again delight in it as an interest in itself, and 

 delight in it most of all when new knowledge is added to that 

 which we know already. It is just the same with the medical 

 profession ; some attend patients for the guineas they receive, 

 some give a very high place to motives of benevolence, whilst 

 others love it ai a field where new knowledge may be found and 

 the delight of discovery enjoyed. In regard to the first class of 

 engineers, I have no doubt a little skill in managing a board of 

 directors or impressing a committee of Parliament will 

 be much more useful to the engineer than a great 

 deal of mathematics. Let him manage his board and 

 buy his mathematician, and it is very probable he will 

 make much more money than the milhematician or any other 

 person of skill whom he mav employ. But we cannot all of us 

 make money in this way. In the future it is likely that educated 

 men will have to work harder and receive less, and it is a great 

 thing if their work can be made itself a joy, and surely this can 

 best be by a thorough understanding of the reason of all they do 

 by the feeling that they have full competence to form their own 

 judgments without depending much on the authority of others. 

 This can only be in the words of Sir John Herschel by a " sound 

 and suflScient knowledge of mathematics, the great instrument 

 of all exact inquiry, without which no man can ever make such 

 advance in any of the higher departments of science as can 

 entitle him to form an independent opinion on any subject of 

 discussion within their range." 



After all, in any department of applied or pure science the 

 highest satisfaction comes from accomplishing that which no one 

 has done before, from disclosing what no one hitherto has known. 

 If a department of the arts or sciences ceases to advance and 

 becomes simply the application in known ways of known prin- 

 ciples to obtain known ends, that department has lost its charm 

 till the time comes for a fresh advent of change and develop- 

 ment. To effect such advances it is easy to show that mathe- 

 matics is a most necessary instrument. Llere it is no drawback 

 that the mind of the discoverer is too analytical ; he may deal 

 at his pleasure with one aspect of a problem, and it does not 

 detract in any way from the value of his solution that he does 

 not touch on incidental matters. Some of you who love the 

 interest of contmual advance in our science and practice, may 

 look forward with a shade of sadness to a possible time when 

 all is done or known which can be done or known, and the work 

 of the engineer shall he merely applying principles discovered 

 by his predecessors. In such a state, when the experience of 

 the older generations shall control the practice of today, the 

 free use of mathematical methods may be effectually superseded 

 by the application according to rule of mathematical formuUe. 

 But it would be a much less interesting condition than the con- 

 Islant chinge of to-day, when the practical experience of ten 

 iyears ago is in many departments rendered worthless iiy later 

 idiscoveries. Bat we need n n fear that such a time of petrifac- 

 Ition will come so long as, whilst reverencing the discoverers who 



Iiave added to our knowledge, we endeavour to replace their 

 nethods by better, and expect that those who come after us will, 

 n their time, improve upon ours. Our knowledge must always 

 )e limifed, but the knowable is limitless. The greater the sphere 

 of our knowledge the greater the surface of contact with our 



P^== ^ 



UNI VERS IT V AND ED UCA TIONA L 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



OxFORii. — By a resolution of Congregation, the care of such 



i>ortions of, as may seem desirable, the Lee collection of 



inatomical and physiological specimens, which have for many 



(•ears past been placed in the University Museum under care of 



he Linacre Professor, may be transferred lo the care of other 



Professors with the sanction of the Trustees of the Lee bequest. 



The date of tile preliminary examinations in natural science 



n the Michaelmas term has been fixed for the Monday in the 



ighlh week in Full Term in lieu of the dates hitherto observed. 



The resolutions proposed by the committee on the granting 



)f degrees for research were brought before Convocation on 



Tuesday afternoon. The first resolution, affirming the general 



irinciple that it was desirable that such degrees should be 



stablished, was agreed to luniinc cotitradiccntc. Some differ- 



nce of opinion manifested itself in the discussion on the suc- 



;eeding resolutions. That which suggested that the new degrees 



NO. I 2t)0, VOL. 50] 



should be styled Master of Science and Master of Letters was 

 rejected on a division, with the intention that the titles should 

 be further considered by the committee. The remainder of 

 the resolutions were agreed to, and the drafting of a statute 

 embodying the recommendations of the committee was referred 

 to a committee consisting of the Vice-Chancellor and twelve 

 others. 



The annual B lyle Lecture was delivered on Tuesday evening 

 by Prof. A. MacAlister, who choie as his subject, " Some 

 morphological lessons taught by human variations." The lec- 

 ture, which is held under the auspices of the Junior Scientific 

 Club, was largely attended. 



Cambridge.— The new Engineering Laboratory, just com- 

 pleted under the supervision of Prof. Ewing, will be formally 

 opened on May 15. at 3 p.m., by Lord Kelvin, President of the 

 Royal Society. The Vice-Chancellor will preside, and it is 

 expected that Prof. Kennedy and others will deliver addresses 

 on the occasion. After the opening ceremony Prof, and Mrs. 

 Ewing will be "at home" in the laboratory, in order to give 

 members of the University an opportunity of seeing for them- 

 selves the provision that has been made for the scientific study 

 of engineering. 



The degree of Doctor of Laws will, on May to, be conferred 

 upon Dr. Carl Theodor von Inama-Sternegg. honorary Pro- 

 fessor of Political Science in the University of Vienna, and 

 President of the KK. Statistical Central-Commission of the 

 Austro- Hungarian Empire. Prof, von Inama-Sternegg was 

 President of the Demographic Section of the International Con- 

 gress of Hygiene held in London in 1S91, but was unable to 

 visit Cambridge with the other members of the Congress for the 

 purpose of receiving the degree. 



.■Kt the same Congregation the complete degree of M.A. will 

 be conferred on Prof. Ewing's able demonstrators, Mr. W. E. 

 Dalby and Mr. C. G. Lamb, who are Already Bachelors of 

 Science of the University of London. 



.Mr. Oscar Browning, who is an officier d'.\cadcmie, will 

 next month represent the University of Cambridge at the festal 

 opening of the new Palais des Facultes of the Academie of 

 Caen. 



Dr. Hobson, F.R.S., has been appointed a syndic of the 

 library, in the room of the late Prof. Robertson Smith. 



A grant of £zo from the University chest has been made to 

 Mr. H. Yule Oldham, University Lecturer in Geography, for 

 maps and apparatus. 



The growth of the botanical department under the direction 

 of Deputy-Prof. F. Darwin, F. R.S., has led the General Board 

 of Studies to recommend that his stipend as reader, and that of 

 Mr. W. Gardiner, F. R.S., as lecturer, should be increased to 

 £iy> a vear. An additional demonstratorship in botanyis also 

 proposed. The Board furilier recommend that the annual 

 stipend of Mr. S. J. Hickson, as lecturer in Advanced 

 Morphology, should be increased \.o £\.<X>. 



The Natural Sciences Tripo, for which there are about 130 

 candidates, begins on May 23, and will extend to June 12. 



The Convocation of the University of London met on Tuesday. 

 It was expected that a warm discussion would take pLice on the 

 Gresham scheme, but the expectation was not realised, as the 

 chairman, Mr. E. H. Busk, ruled out of order all motions re- 

 lating to that subject. One of these resolutions, stamling in the 

 name of Mr. Thiselton-Dyer, w.as — "That Convocation, while 

 reserving its right to represent its views before the pro- 

 posed Statutory Commission, hereby expresses its general 

 approval of the Report of the Roy.al Commission." The 

 Tunes reports that, when this and other motions had been 

 ruled out ot order. Prof. Silv.inus Thompson moved the ad- 

 journment of the House. After some discussion an amendment 

 to Prof. Thompsons motion— that the House should adjourn 

 until seven o'clock — was accepted almost unanimously, the 

 common object of all parties being to ascertain the result of the 

 voting for the annual committee, for the election of which the 

 two parties had their separate lists, one list consisting of those 

 who were practically in favour of the Gresham scheme, and the 

 other desiring to leave the wh le question in the hands of the 

 joint committee. The former party carried their whole list. 



On the adjournment before the declaration of the poll a body 

 of some 230 graduates met in the Graduites'-room of the Univer- 

 sity to draw up a protest ag.iinst their having been again 

 prevented from discussing the report of the Gresham Commis- 

 sion. Sir Henry Roscoe presided, and the speakers were .Mr. 



