204 



NATURE 



[July 2, 1903 



educational centre of the Empire." Lord Rosebery 

 considers it " little short of a scandal that our own 

 able and ambitious young men, eager to equip them- 

 selves with the most perfect technical training, should 

 be compelled to resort to the universities of Germany 

 or the United States." Why, then, should London, 

 which is already overtaxed, and has much more yet 

 to contribute to primary and secondary education, be 

 called upon to pay for the upkeep of this great 

 Imperial undertaking? Are our legislators so dead 

 to the interests of the nation that they will refuse — 

 if asked — to support such a scheme? or to find the 

 much larger sum which will be required for the 

 development of London University. 



Lord Rosebery has agreed to act as the first chair- 

 man of the trustees. Presumably they will appoint a 

 committee to advise and help them in drawing up and 

 settling the scheme. It is to be hoped that they will 

 use every endeavour to choose the right men, men 

 who are thoroughly conversant with the needs of the 

 nation, and who understand what technical educa- 

 tion is. 



The institute, if properly organised and equipped, 

 will be a national gain, a national asset; if run on 

 wrong lines a national loss. But with the magnifi- 

 cent institutes in Germany to adapt from, there is 

 really no reason why it should not be a grand success. 

 One thing, however, should not be forgotten, a 

 splendid equipment without an equally good curri- 

 culum and organisation is almost valueless. It must 

 also be remembered that the scheme does not touch 

 the question of the provision for development required 

 by the University of London. 



The scheme outlined in Lord Rosebery 's letter may, 

 we hope, be taken as a sign that our great manu- 

 facturers are becoming aware of the national advan- 

 tages to be derived from an alliance between science 

 and industry. The meeting held at the Mansion 

 House on Monday to inaugurate a memorial to thq 

 late Sir Henry Bessemer gave additional reason for 

 the belief that an awakening is taking place. It was 

 decided that a memorial should be established which 

 should not only commemorate Bessemer's work, but 

 also provide a means of carrying it on to further 

 achievements. The proposals of the memorial com- 

 mittee, which were read at the meeting on Monday, 

 include the provision of well-equipped mining and 

 metallurgical laboratories, and scholarships for post- 

 graduate study in London. In the words of the com- 

 mittee :— 



The establishment of completely equipped metallurgical 

 teaching and research works in London will form the first 

 object of the memorial, for which the practical cooperation 

 and financial aid of the industrial world is asked. The 

 primary aim will be the thorough technical instruction of 

 mining and metallurgical students. Metallurgical tests 

 and research of all kinds, for which facilities are not avail- 

 able in Birmingham or Sheffield, will be carried out at 

 these works, on a practical scale, by engineers and others. 

 In this way advanced students will be afforded opportunities 

 for the acquirement of practical knowledge and for original 

 research which it would be difficult to obtain in any other 

 way. The second object of the memorial will be a system 

 of grants, in the form of scholarships, for post-graduate 

 courses in specialised practical work in London and the 

 great metallurgical centres. 



In proposing the adoption of this form of memorial, 

 Mr. Haldane said the work which was to be done in 

 teaching by the Bessemer Foundation should form a 

 part — an integral part — of the larger scheme for 

 raising the nation's efficiency. He had reason to 

 know that the King was fully cognisant of the details 

 of the great scheme which was laid before the public 

 in Lord Rosebery's letter, and that His Majesty had 

 also been informed cf the proposal to launch the 



NO. 1757, VOL. 68] 



Bessemer memorial scheme in connection with and 

 as an integral part of it. 



The committee's proposals were adopted, and there 

 is little doubt that the support which will be given to 

 them will enable provision to be made for study and 

 research in mining and metallurgy on a scale appro- 

 priate to Bessemer's great name, and to our responsi- 

 bilities as a State. To maintain a leading position 

 among the nations of the world, industrial methods 

 must be developed in directions indicated by scientific 

 research, and the recognition of this fact in the 

 scheme for the proposed Charlottenburg Institute for 

 London, and in that of the Bessemer Memorial Com- 

 mittee, will give satisfaction to all who are familiar 

 with the developments due to the application of science 

 to industry. 



THE BRITISH ACADEMY. 

 'T^ HE first anniversary meeting of the British 

 A Academy was held last week. We have re- 

 ceived no report, but we learn from the Times that 

 the objects of the Academy, and the studies to be 

 fostered by -it, were described in the presidential 

 address. In the course of this address. Lord Reay 

 remarked :• — ■ 



The Academy might be regarded as embodying the recog- 

 nition on the part of England that she, too, at last recog- 

 nised that history, philosophy, philology, and kindred studies 

 call for the exercise of scientific acumen, and must take 

 their place by the side of the sister sciences, the priestesses 

 of nature's mysteries. 



We are all anxious to extend the boundaries of 

 knowledge by scientific study, and Lord Reay appears 

 to have overlooked the fact that the Royal Society 

 was founded for the purpose of promoting the pro- 

 gress of the subjects he mentions, among others. The 

 first charter granted to the Royal Society in 1662 con- 

 tains the following words : — 



We have long and fully resolved with Ourself to extend 

 not only the boundaries of the Empire, but also the very 

 arts and sciences. Therefore we look with favour upon 

 all forms of learning, but with particular Grace we en- 

 courage philosophical studies, especially those which by 

 actual experiments attempt either to shape out a new philo- 

 sophy or to perfect the old. 



The recognition of the value of the application of 

 scientific principles to all inquiries is therefore as old 

 as Charles II., and has not recently been discovered 

 as Lord Reay seems to suggest. 



Lord Reay remarked that it would be one of the 

 first important duties of the Academy with the Royal 

 Society to prepare a fitting welcome for the Inter- 

 national Association of Academies when it meets in 

 London next year at Whitsuntide, and to make that 

 meeting a success. The following points from the 

 address show some of the directions in which the 

 Academy Is to work : — 



In history we have to deal with the mutual interaction 

 of different civilisations, and to compare these civilisa- 

 tions. The task of the historian is very similar to that 

 of the explorer of nature's laws. Our colleague, Prof. 

 Bury, in his interesting inaugural lecture, has eloquently 

 emphasised the application of strict scientific methods to 

 the study of history, as the study of " all the manifestations 

 of human activity." In the department of archjeological 

 exploration an understanding might be obtained through 

 the International Association with regard to the spheres of 

 scientific exploration which should be allotted to various 

 nations, so as to arrive at a systematic distribution of 

 archseological research in the vast domain open to the ex- 

 plorers of different nationalities. Many questions belonging 



