NATURE 



24 



THURSDAY. 'JULY 16, 1903. 



TUE UNIVERSITY IN THE MODERN STATE. 

 IV. 



IN previous articles we have pointed out that the 

 penuriousness of our national policy towards the 

 Universities results in the worst form of extravagance, 

 the waste of thought and effort through want of proper 

 tools. Because we will not give more, even what we 

 do give is robbed of its proper fruit. Few institutions 

 could be found which illustrate this more clearly than 

 the three colleges of the University of Wales, in spite 

 of the active work which they are doing. 



The earliest of their charters is barely twenty years 

 old, and the University was only founded in 1895, yet 

 they have within their walls some 800 matriculated 

 students pursuing full degree courses, and, roughly 

 speaking, as many more who are either preparing for 

 external degrees or diplomas, like the medical 

 students at Cardiff; or taking some university courses 

 as a part of a professional curriculum, like most of 

 the normal and many of the theological students at 

 all three colleges. The total population of Wales 

 amounts to only 1,700,000, so that a total of some 1500 

 students makes a proportion of nearly 9 in 10,000, as 

 against nearly 5 in England, nearly 8 in Germany, 

 and nearly 13 in America (see our article of May 14). 

 This is strong evidence of the eagerness with vi'hich 

 university education is sought in the Principality, and 

 of the confidence felt in its colleges. And the sound- 

 ness of their teaching as a whole is indicated both by 

 the names that appear on the list of their teachers and 

 by the successes won by their former students at older 

 Universities and elsewhere. 



What, then, is their need to-day? Why can they 

 not continue the work they have begun? 



For two reasons. First, because their achievements 

 so far have been attained at too great a cost. The 

 beginning of a new and promising national movement 

 aroused among its first promoters a spirit of enthu- 

 siasm and self-sacrifice which has not, indeed, passed 

 away, but which has been sobered by bitter lessons. 

 Those who knew anything of the life of the late 

 Principal Viriamu Jones know that he was literally 

 i killed by the burden of too heavy a task ; and there 

 have been several other cases of serious overstrain, 

 though none have ended so tragically. 



From facts before us it is clear that not merely the 

 principals, but the heads of all the large departments 

 in the colleges, feel that the difficulty of meeting the 

 g-rowing duties of the university without any increase 

 in its endowments has reached an intolerable degree, 

 that is to say, from the outsider's standpoint, it has 

 become incompatible with real efficiency. 



In the second place, the cost of university education 

 has risen greatly since the colleges began their work. 

 The developments in education which have taken place 

 in cities like Liverpool and Birmingham — to mention 

 these alone — have created a new demand for men fitted 

 for professorial work ; and conditions which twenty 

 years ago, when the work of the colleges was lighter 

 NO. 1759, VOL. 68] 



than it is now — and when the Civil Service drew no 

 men from the Universities — were sufficient to attract 

 young men of distinction, no longer seem so desirable. 



Nearly all the English colleges have been steadily 

 forced by competition to raise the terms they offer to 

 their staff. YVe know of two or three instances in 

 which stipends have been specially raised in order to 

 secure some professor who was at the time in the 

 service of a Welsh college. 



Even from an English point of view it is clear that 

 this implies that larger funds will have to be found 

 if university education is to be maintained at an effi- 

 cient level. But in Wales, where it is impossible to 

 raise such funds on any adequate scale, the facts wear a 

 more serious aspect. The colleges feel their needs in 

 three directions, in teaching, in research, and in 

 administration ; all alike are unnaturally burdened by 

 poverty. In regard to teaching, perhaps the worst 

 case is that of subjects like geology, botany and 

 economics, which in more than one college are repre- 

 sented only by lecturers; their remuneration varies, 

 but is at best scarcely more than half the professorial 

 stipend. In all the colleges, changes of staff are un- 

 desirably frequent. 



It seems unkind to point out further that large 

 branches of knowledge like chemistry and engineer- 

 ing, or, on the " Arts " side, English or philosophy, 

 not to mention older subjects, have outgrown the 

 power of any one man to teach properly. This fact 

 has been recognised by wealthier colleges (especially 

 in Germany and America), in which each of these 

 subjects employs several professors. 



In Wales, again, the later developments of uni- 

 versity study, such as the different branches of com- 

 merce, are hardly represented at all. 



Finally, under this head, we may observe that in no 

 one of the colleges is there any provision for pension- 

 ing their teachers when they reach the limits of effec- 

 tive work, and it is clear that this will shortly become 

 a serious question. 



In research we must acknowledge how much good 

 work has been done — the names of Principal Viriamu 

 Jones and Prof. Gray (now of Glasgow) at once suggest 

 themselves in the department of physics alone; and 

 among the present members of the colleges there are 

 men of distinction both in science and letters. But 

 the difficulties they have had to face have always been 

 serious, and of late years have grown greater rather 

 than less. 



For want of adequate endowments both the labora- 

 tories and the libraries have grown steadily poorer in 

 proportion to the growing demands of study. In one 

 of the colleges the total expenditure on the library 

 for more than twenty subjects, including the cost of 

 periodicals and binding, is some 150/. a year I Every- 

 one knows the discouraging effect of finding that some 

 instrument or book of which one is in pressing need 

 is put of reach. 



The long vacation, it is true, offers opportunities, 

 but here, again, a man's powers of research are 

 limited by financial conditions. Men who are hard at 

 work examining through most of July and August will 

 not produce a great deal of original work in Septem- 



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