April 20, 1916] 



NATURE 



A73 



masters in obtaining men who could ttach and keep 

 order in a class. Often the man who taught science 

 in school did so as junior mathematical master be- 

 cause his other teaching duties were lighter than those 

 of his colleagues; but his knowledge of the subject 

 might be but little deeper than that of the scholars he 

 was instructing. 



Where schools have been fortunate enough to secure 

 properly trained science masters, the masters have 

 usually to prove their value to the school, not by 

 soundj all-round teaching, but by devoting much time 

 to coaching-up the brilliant boys to win scholarships. 

 Owing to the absurd nature of many of the questions 

 set at the open scholarship examinations, candidates 

 are forced to read and " get-up " quite specialised 

 branches of work of far too advanced a nature, instead 

 of devoting themselves to acquiring a sound know- 

 ledge of the principles and experimental data and their 

 relations to the fundamental principles of science. 

 Again, the successful scholar, say, in chemistry, is 

 usually too proud of his position to go to a course of 

 lectures on general chemistry by the professor, but 

 prefers to attend special courses on advanced subjects, 

 and thus become a specialist long before he should, 

 suitable, perhaps, to hold a fellowship of his college, 

 but almost as unfitted as his fellow-classic for active 

 and useful life in an industrial centre and for facing 

 j industrial problems. 



I The brilliant youth who goes to Oxford or Cam- 



I bridge, and whose ambition it is to lead the life of a 



i student, is taught to regard the fellowship of his 



1 college as the greatest prize at which he can aim. 



I Although the college authorities may state that the 



j chances of gaining a fellowship are open equally to 



a science and to a classical student, this is not the case, 



for the simple reason that the electors to fellowships 



I are, in almost all colleges, mainly classical men, who, 



; however fair-minded they may be, are unable to esti- 



I mate the value of that which they do not understand. 



.'\gain, in some cases, all the fellowships which a 



college may devote to natural science are given to one 



branch. 



What are the prospects of a brilliant schoolboy who 

 takes up chemistry as his subject, and, after gaining 

 a scholarship, obtains the highest possible places in 

 the honours examination ? If he be elected to a fellow- 

 ship and decide to remain and take his part in the 

 college life, his income as a fellow can only be re- 

 garded as a mere pittance if he is devoting himself to 

 jreal research work. He may do fairly well at the 

 Bar now that scientific opinion is more frequently 

 j sought in patent cases than it was; but no prize equal 

 to the bishopric offered to members of the clerical 

 profession can be his. There is no chance for him 

 to hold any high Government office, for all the Civil 

 Service examinations, whether at home or abroad, are 

 heavily weighted in favour of the classical and mathe- 

 matical candidate. Everything of a nature to test a 

 iman's ability to tackle an unknown problem, however 

 simple its nature, is carefully excluded by cautiously 

 worded syllabuses which detail the range of the facts 

 and the nature of the tests which may be applied. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



We learn from the issue of Science for March 17 

 :hat in the will of the late Mr. R. R. Rhodes, of Cleve- 

 and. Western Reserve University, through its medical 

 school and afifiliated institutions, is a beneficiary to 

 :he amount of about ioo,oooZ. ; and that the will of 

 Marie Antoinette Fisk, of Pasadena, Cal., gives 

 10,000/. to Princeton University. 



NO. 2425, VOL. 97] 



Mr. Arthur Du Cros, M.P. for Hastings, has 

 generously promised a gift of 7000Z. to the Extension 

 Fund of the London (Royal Free Hospital) School of 

 Medicine for Women, thus completing the 30,000/. 

 for which appeal was made. The appeal was first 

 put forward in December, 1914, so that the sum has 

 been subscribed in sixteen months. There have been 

 more than twelve hundred subscribers, which is satis- 

 factory as showing wide sympathy with the work of 

 medical women. Next to Mr. Du Cros's generous 

 gift, the largest subscription is 3000/. from Mrs. Gar- 

 rett Anderson. The extension of the school is ap- 

 proaching completion, and will be opened in October 

 next. It is indispensable to the increasing demands 

 made upon the accommodation of the school, as 

 another large entry of students is e.xpected next 

 session. 



The annual report on the work of University Col- 

 lege, London, which has now been published, deals 

 with the period February, 1915-February, 19 16, and 

 includes financial statements, for the session 1914-15. 

 The total number of studencs who registered during 

 the session 1914-15 was 1416, being a decrease of 790 

 compared with the preceding session. During the 

 session 335 men students withdrew to join H.M. 

 Forces, and forty-three other students to undertake 

 some other recognised form of national service con- 

 nected with the war. The total fees available for 

 1914-15 amounted to 18,936/., a decrease of 9775/. on 

 the prevous session. There has been a further de- 

 crease, both in the number of students and in fees 

 received for the current session. The financial result 

 in the course of two sessions is that the fee revenue 

 has declined by some 24,000/. The position has been 

 relieved by Treasury grants of 10,500/. for the sessions 

 1914-15 and, 1915-16, and economies to the extent of 

 about 9000/. will reduce the probable deficit at the 

 end of the current session to 3500/. A very gratify- 

 ing number of war honours obtained by members of 

 the college are chronicled in the report. There are 

 now sixty members of the academic and administrative 

 staffs absent on war service. 



The appointment of a Royal Commission on Uni- 

 versity Education in Wales is announced. The terms 

 of reference of the Commission are as follows : — To 

 inquire into the organisation and work of the Univer- 

 sity of Wales and its three constituent colleges, and 

 into the relations of the University to those colleges 

 and to other institutions in Wales providing education 

 of a post-secondary nature, and to consider in what 

 respects the present organisation of university educa- 

 tion in Wales can be improved and what changes, if 

 any, are desirable in the constitution, functions, and 

 powers of the L'niversity and its three colleges. The 

 following are the names of the persons appointed to 

 serve on the Commission : — Lord Haldane (chairman) ; 

 Prof. W. H. Bragg, Quain professor of physics. Uni- 

 versity of London; the Hon. W. N. Bruce, a principal 

 assistant-secretary under the Board of Education ; Sir 

 Owen M. Edwards, chief inspector, Welsh Depart- 

 ment, Board of Education ; Dr. W. H. Hadow, prin- 

 cipal of -Armstrong College, Newcastle ; Mr. A. D. 

 Hall, a Commissioner under the Development Act; 

 Sir Henry Jones, professor of moral philosophy, L'ni- 

 versity of Glasgow; Sir William Osier, Bart., regius 

 professor of medicine, L-niversitv of Oxford; Miss 

 Emilv Penrose, principal of Somerville College, Ox- 

 ford. The secretarv to th^ Commission is Mr. A. H. 

 Kidd, of the Board of Education, to whom all com- 

 munications should be addressed. 



The earnest aooeal on behalf of the children which 

 appeared in the Times of .April 17 over the signatures 

 of some of the most distinguished women of the 



