202 



NATURE 



[July 



903 



Courses of Study for Internal Students. — The distinction 

 between an internal and an external student is that, while 

 the latter can obtain a degree on passing certain prescribed 

 examinations, the internal student must not only pass ex- 

 aminations but also produce certificates that he has attended 

 courses of instruction approved by the university and con- 

 trolled by recognised teachers. 



The case of evening students has received special con- 

 sideration. The hours of compulsory attendance are re- 

 duced in the case of those who submit certificates that they 

 are engaged in some business occupation for twenty-five 

 hours a weeli. The time required for the complete course 

 varies with the subjects chosen, but in general the reduction 

 allowed makes it possible for a student giving some three 

 evenings a week to attendance on lectures and laboratories 

 to complete a degree course in four years. It is satisfactory 

 to be able to state that the regulations under this head are 

 working smoothly at the polytechnics. 



Organisation of Teaching. — It is not, however, only by 

 curricula and arrangements as to examinations that the 

 work of a teaching university must be carried on. It is 

 also necessary to extend, organise, and coordinate the work 

 of the teachers. This task requires funds, and also the 

 cooperation of the various schools and other institutions 

 connected with the university. 



The Senate has approved a scheme for the establish- 

 ment in the neighbourhood of the university of an institute 

 of preliminary and intermediate medical studies, which has 

 the support of the Faculty of Medicine, and has authorised 

 the issue of an appeal for its building and endowment. 

 When this is carried out, some, at all events, of the medical 

 schools will be relieved of the necessity of maintaining in- 

 dependent courses of instruction on subjects which are only 

 ancillary to medicine, and need not be studied in the 

 immediate vicinity of a hospital. For the realisation of this 

 project a large sum of money is required, but there can be 

 no doubt that it will be an addition of the first importance 

 to the equipment of London as a centre of medical study. 



The attention of those interested in the teaching of 

 engineering has been drawn to the proposals made by Mr. 

 Yarrow in support of the system by which students of that 

 subject spend alternate periods of six months in a college 

 and the workshops. It is satisfactory to be able to state 

 that in all probability some of the schools of the university 

 will cooperate with employers in introducing into the 

 metropolis a system of technical education which has worked 

 well elsewhere. 



Lastly, it may be added that the negotiations between 

 th-; university and University College for the incorporation 

 of the college in the university have been brought to a 

 successful conclusion, and a joint committee has been 

 appointed to draft a Bill for giving effect to the agreement. 

 University College has purchased a plot of land in the 

 neighbourhood of the hospital, to which the medical school 

 will be transferred on an independent footing. This step 

 is a necessary preliminary to incorporation, as it is not con- 

 sidered to be desirable that the university should itself 

 control one, and one only, of the numerous medical schools 

 which exist in London. 



Post-graduate Work and Research. — The physiological 

 department of the university, which is established in the 

 university buildings, has been at work throughout the year 

 under the direction of Dr. Waller, F.R.S., who has devoted 

 the whole of his time to the interests of the laboratory. It 

 will be remembered that all the principal teachers of physi- 

 ology in London have banded themselves together to give, 

 in turn, lectures to post-graduate students. 



The research work carried on in the laboratory has re- 

 sulted in the production of eight or ten original papers, 

 which have appeared in English, American, and German 

 periodicals. 



The excellent example given by the physiologists has been 

 followed by the botanists, who have in Irke manner agreed 

 to give courses of post-graduate lectures at the Chelsea 

 Physic Garden, a scheme which has only been made possible 

 by the cordial cooperation of the trustees of the City 

 Parochial Charities. 



Gifts to the University. — The first year's payments on 

 account of the grant of 10,000/. a year from the Technical 

 Education Board of the County Council have been made, 

 and the various professors and lecturers have been appointed 

 and are now at work. 



NO. 1757, VOL. 68] 



The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths has presented 

 to the university the very valuable library of pamphlets and 

 other works relating to economics, collected by Prof. Fox- 

 well, and recently purchased by the Company at a cost of 

 10,000/. To this munificent gift the Company has added 

 considerable sums to aid the university in installing and 

 maintaining the library. 



During the year, Mr. G. W. Palmer, M.P., has con- 

 tributed the sum of 1000/. towards the endowment of the 

 physiological laboratory, and Mr. Alfred Palmer has made 

 a contingent promise of a like amount for the same object. 



In addition to their former munificent promise of 30,000^. 

 in aid of the incorporation of University College in the 

 university, the Worshipful Company of Drapers has pre- 

 sented 1000/. to the university, and a scheme is being drafted 

 for the application of this grant to University College. 



Apart from the grant of the Technical Education Board 

 of the County Council, about 25,000/. has been given to the 

 university by the above-mentioned donors in the course of 

 last year. 



Summary. — The foregoing report will, it is hoped, prove 

 that the university is anxious to leave no part of its duties 

 unfulfilled. 



New avenues of work have been opened in connection 

 with schools, with university extension, with the colleges, 

 medical schools, and polytechnics ; students are entering 

 both for the ordinary matriculation examination and for 

 post-graduate study and research in unexpected numbers. 

 The authorities of the institutions connected with the uni- 

 versity have in all cases shown the most anxious desire to 

 work in harmony with it, and to arrange their classes to 

 meet the conditions which the Senate has laid down. 



But, while there are many grounds for hope, and while 

 th^ university is doing its best to make itself worthy of 

 public support, it must be frankly admitted that it can 

 never adequately fulfil its duties without the supply of funds 

 from public or private sources on a very large scale. The 

 incorporation of University College cannot be carried out 

 until another 100,000/. has been raised ; the complete en- 

 dowment of the Institute of Medical Sciences would need 

 much more than that amount; the fuller organisation of 

 teaching on lines which have been already adopted in the 

 case of German, and towards which a small beginning has 

 been made in the case of chemistry, would require very large 

 sums. On the one hand, technical instruction is sorely in 

 need of development ; on the other, if funds were available, 

 a scheme could be worked out by which students of literature 

 and archaiology might make full use of the magnificent 

 libraries and collections which London possesses. 



Lastly, the payment of the professors, which is in many 

 cases very inadequate, and of the cost of their departments, 

 depends so much upon fees and so little upon endowments 

 that the expense of education in London is comparatively 

 high. Those who are engaged in the work are convinced 

 that the one thing needful is endowment adequate to make 

 good the apathy of the past, and to secure the promise of 

 th? future. It is for London to say whence and when that 

 endowment will be forthcoming, and to determine whether 

 a university which is providing for all learners, from the 

 evening student to the candidate who has already graduated 

 elsewhere, shall control means and appliances worthy of 

 the highest educational institution in the capital of the 

 Empire. 



After :be Prince of Wales had been presented for 

 the honorary degree of doctor of laws and the Princess 

 for that of doctor of music. Prof. Tilden. Dean of the 

 Faculty of Science, presented Lord Kelvin for the 

 degree of doctor of science^ and in doing- so he said : — 



My Lord the Chancellor, I present to you William 

 Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs, for the degree of doctor 

 of science, honoris causa. The illustrious -son of a family 

 famous for mathematical talent, for more than half, a 

 century Lord Kelvin filled the ofBce of professor of natural 

 philosophy in the ancient University of Glasgow. Two 

 generations have passed since he entered on his professor- 

 ship, and the advances in physical science which have dis- 

 tinguished the nineteenth century from all preceding epochs 

 have been largely due to the influence of Lord Kelvin in 

 promoting true ideas concerning the conservation of energy, 

 the laws of thermodynamics, and their application to the 



