3IO 



NATURE 



[July 24, 1890 



THE MANCHESTER WHITWORTH 

 INSTITUTE. 



'T'HE inaugural proceedings in connection with the formal 

 -*- organization and constitution of the Manchester Whitworth 

 Institute took place on Thursday last, July 17. Among those 

 present were Lord Hartington, Sir F. Leighton, Sir Joseph C. 

 Lee, Sir J. J. Harwood, Mr. W. Mather, M.P., Sir Henry 

 Roscoe, M.P., Mr. O. Hey wood, and many representatives of 

 educational institutions in the city. 



The governors first held their inaugural gathering in the 

 ■building which is to form part of the museum, and which stands 

 in one corner of the park. Afterwards, a meeting was held in 

 a tent in the park. At this meeting Lord Hartington said that, 

 although he had not been aware that he would be called upon 

 to address them before the evening proceedings, he was pleased 

 to move a resolution which acknowledged the wise benevolence 

 and generosity of the legatees of Sir Joseph Whitworth, and 

 commended the Institute to the support of the public as sub- 

 scribers and donors of works of art and books, and to the com- 

 munity of Manchester for a contribution from its municipal funds 

 for maintenance. He described the new departure taken that 

 day as of a very important and possibly momentous character- 

 probably the most important and ambitious step which had been 

 taken yet in the direction of the movement of technical and 

 scientific instruction and art education. That undertaking was 

 the embodiment of a great idea, and the charter of the institution 

 appeared to have embodied the ancient idea of a University, 

 tinder which various colleges independent of one another agreed 

 to co-operate in a common management and government, while 

 retaining a considerable independence for a common end and a 

 common good. In one respect, however, the ancient course 

 seemed to have been reversed, for the University was prepared 

 to support the colleges, which were the technical and art schools, 

 instead of the colleges supporting the University, as of old. In 

 conclusion, he expressed a hope that the example of the Whit- 

 vvorth legatees would lead others, and especially the Corpora- 

 tion, to assist and promote the useful objects of .the Institute. 



The proceedings connected with the opening 'of the Institute 

 were continued in the evening, when the Mayor entertained a 

 distinguished company at a banquet in the Town Hall. The 

 loyal toasts having been honoui-ed, 



The Mayor proposed the residuary legatees of the late Sir 

 Joseph Whitworth. 



Chancellor Christie, in responding, said it was the earnest 

 desire of the late Sir Joseph Whitworth that his fortune should 

 be employed in promoting the cause of education, and especially 

 ■of science and art education. He desired that there should be 

 a graduated system of schools and colleges, by which a deserving 

 lad might rise from the lowest elementary school to the highest 

 institutions for the teaching of science, literature, or art. How 

 best to accomplish this exercised Sir Joseph Whitworth for 

 many years, but he was never able to perfect a scheme. That 

 work he left to his legatees, and they had already spent over 

 ^300,000 in carrying out what they believed to be his ideas, 

 while other liabilities still remained. 



Mr. Alderman Thompson proposed " Success to the Whit- 

 worth Institute." 



The Marquis of Hartington, in responding, said that his con- 

 nection with the question of technical education was an ex- 

 tremely slight and superficial one. He did not pretend to be 

 be an expert on the matter, and he had only taken it up because 

 he had been struck with the fact that every other country in 

 Europe gave more time and money to the promotion of technical 

 education in some form or another than did the English nation. 

 This state of things was coincident with complaints of the great 

 severity of the commercial and industrial competition to which 

 we were exposed. He could not help asking himself whether 

 .there was any connection between our neglect of technical edu- 

 cation and the increased severity of the competition to which 

 we were exposed. Then there was another question. Suppose 

 the severity of the commercial competition were due to other 

 <;auses, were we giving ourselves every chance in neglecting the 

 technical education of our industrial population ? He thought 

 it was scarcely possible to exaggerate the importance of this 

 question. To us the maintenance of our place in the race of 

 commercial and industrial competition was not a question of 

 greater or less prosperity at any particular moment ; it was not 

 z. question of being leader or follower in the world's civiliza- 

 NO. 1082, VOL. 42] 



tion ; it was for many millions of our population a question of 

 actual existence. ]f, through any circumstances, we ceased to 

 be the greatest producers of the necessaries the world required ; 

 if, through any circumstance.-;, we ceased to be the greatest dis- 

 tributors of the wealth of the world, not only would these small 

 islands cease to be the seat of a great empire, but their limited 

 extent would fail to produce the materials of bare existence for 

 millions of people whom our industrial supremacy alone had 

 brought together and enabled to exist here. We had received 

 from our predecessors a great inheritance — the commercial and 

 industrial leadership of the world. Up to the present time that 

 inheritance had not shrunk or dwindled. Our pre-eminence 

 had been largely due to the natural advantages we had enjoyed, 

 but we knew that the conditions of supremacy, such as we 

 had hitherto enjoyed were not always permanent. History 

 taught us that in ancient times Greece and her colonies, and 

 in modern times Italy and Holland, enjoyed that commercial 

 supremacy which had more lately been ours. That supremacy 

 had passed away from those countries under the changing condi- 

 tions of commercial and industrial enterprise in Europe, and 

 it would be rash to predict that our natural advantages, 

 to which we owed so much, were sure to continue. It 

 would be impossible for human foresight to make adequate 

 protection against what might happen, but it must be a great 

 advantage to any nation when the leaders and captains of its 

 industries and commercial pursuits were able to avail themselves 

 of the most complete scientific education which it was possible 

 to give. It was such considerations as these that had induced 

 him upon more than one occasion to call the attention of his 

 fellow-countrymen to the importance of this question. He 

 could not pretend to do more. How these things were to be 

 attained he left to experts to say. We might have long to wait 

 before, by the action of the State, any measures would be taken 

 which we might hope would place us on a footing as regarded 

 technical and scientific education with other European nations, 

 and it therefore gave him the greatest satisfaction to see that 

 localities where the need was more especially felt had them- 

 selves taken the initiative, and had founded institutions for the 

 purpose of making some advance in that which had been con- 

 sidered to be the business of the State in other countries. There 

 was one feature of the present time which was calculated to give 

 cause for just and legitimate satisfaction. He alluded to what 

 he thought he saw in the growth of local public spirit. Such a spirit 

 had never been altogether wanting among us. That it existed 

 formerly among us was abundantly proved by the munificent 

 foundations for religious, educational, and charitable purposes 

 which our forefathers had handed down. There was a time 

 when there was a tendency for even these ancient foundations 

 to lapse into lethargy, and mismanagement began to prevail, 

 but all that had begun to change, and now we had not only 

 been occupied in reforming the abuses of those old foundations 

 and institutions, so as to make them fully available for the new 

 and growing wants of the people, but there had been shown to 

 exist at_ the present time to as great an extent as formerly a 

 disposition on the part of individuals who had acquired wealth 

 in certain localities to use that wealth not for any selfish or 

 personal purpose, but for the benefit and advantage of that 

 population in the midst of which they had lived. He doubted 

 not that the example which had been set by men like Sir Joseph 

 Whitworth would be largely followed, 

 Sir Frederick Leighton also responded. 



WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND FORMULAS 

 USED IN PHOTOGRAPHY. 



T^HE Photographic Convention of the United Kingdom, at a 

 ^ meeting held in the Town Hall, Chester, on June 26, 

 considered the Report of a Committee which had been ap- 

 pointed to consider the weights, measures, and formulas used in 

 photography. The Committee consisted of W. Bedford, C. H. 

 Bothamley (Secretary), A. Cowan, A. Haddon, A. Levy, A, 

 Pringle, and G. Watmough Webster. The Report was drawn 

 up by C. H. Bothamley. The following recommendations were 

 unanimously adopted by the Convention : — 



A. Weights and Measures. — (i) If the metric system be used, 

 weights will naturally be expressed in grammes and measures 

 in cubic centimetres. 



