212 SIR WILLIAM EAMSAY 



The speaker then proceeded to discuss several other 

 subjects, and the oration concludes with a statement of 

 his objections to the predominant influence of examin- 

 ations in English education. There can be little doubt 

 from a comparison of dates and other circumstances 

 that this oration was used as an opportunity of rejoinder 

 to Lord Rosebery, who, as Vice-Chancellor of the Univer- 

 sity of London, had in the previous month (May 1901), 

 at the meeting for conferring degrees, being called on 

 to speak, allowed himself to give utterance to views of 

 a wholly different character. For he declared in plain 

 terms that in his opinion the university should teach, 

 but should have nothing to do with research. Although 

 this dictum was received by a considerable section of 

 the audience with evident signs of approval, it certainly 

 excited a great feeling of dissatisfaction in the minds 

 of many persons present. Such a remark falling from 

 the lips of a speaker of such eminence and holding a 

 position of such authority in the university seems to 

 show that at that time he had thought but little about 

 the question. It stands out in marked contrast to the 

 view expressed only a few weeks earlier by Mr. Joseph 

 Chamberlain, then Chancellor of the then newly-con- 

 stituted University of Birmingham, who exhorted the new 

 university to aim at doing four things : it should teach, 

 it should examine, it should add to knowledge by 

 research, it should show the applications of knowledge. 

 And this is practically the programme set forth in 

 Ramsay's discourse. 



