502 
MALOTEE 
[Marcu 21, 1907 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
Oxrorp.—Lord Curzon was elected Chancellor of the 
University on Thursday, March 14. The votes recorded 
were :—Lord Curzon, 1101; Lord Rosebery, 440. There 
are 6576 members of Convocation, so that about one- 
quarter cf them came to Oxford to vote. Lord Curzon 
was a commoner of Balliol, afterwards a fellow of All 
Souls’, and he gained the Lothian and Arnold prizes. He 
received an hon. D.C.L. in 1904 on the occasion of the 
late Chancellor's installation. 
The statute brought forward in Congregation on May 12 
to provide an official residence for the Savilian professor 
of astronomy adjoining the observatory in the parks was 
lost by 55 votes to 156. In the course of the debate on 
the proposal, the Warden of All Souls’, one of the’ Rad- 
cliffe trustees, stated that the trustees would welcome a 
scheme for the cooperation of the University and Radcliffe 
Observatories. 
CampripGe.—.\ lecture will be given by Sir Frederick 
Lely on ‘“* The Practical Side of Famines in India”? on 
Wednesday, April 24, at 5.30 p.m., in the museum of 
archxology. ‘The lecture will be open to members of the 
University and others who are interested in the Indian 
Empire. 
Tue King of Spain has, La Nature reports, created a 
chair of automobilism at I’Fcole des Arts et Sciences at 
Madrid. The professor will be expected to give all the 
practical and theoretical instruction young chauffeurs 
require. 
A PARAGRAPH referring to the Indian Institute of Science 
appeared in the Pioneer Mail a few weeks ago, and was 
printed in an abridged form in these columns. Dr. Morris 
W. Travers, IF.R.S., director of the institute, writes to 
say that he has had numerous applications for admission 
to the institute, so the statement in the Pioneer Mail, that 
it will be difficult to obtain students, is scarcely correct. 
As to the standard required for degrees in Indian universi- 
ties, Dr. Travers remarks :—‘‘ It is true that I have ex- 
pressed disappointment at the standard of the work re- 
quired for degrees in the Indian universities, and am of 
the opinion that the practical teaching is quite inadequate. 
I have met only one research student, and have heard of 
one other.” 
A CONFERENCE on the teaching of hygiene and temper- 
ance in the universities and schools of the British Empire 
will be held in London on St. George’s Day, April 23. 
The conference is convened by a committee formed to 
stimulate general interest in the scientific teaching of 
hygiene and temperance as an integral basis of national 
education, and to bring before the country during the visit 
of the Colonial Premiers information as to what is being 
done in various parts of the Empire. Among the members 
of the committee are Sir Lauder Brunton, Sir Thomas 
Barlow, Sir Victor Horsley, Mr. Mayo Robson, Dr. Claude 
Taylor, and Prof. Sims Woodhead. Further information 
and tickets of admission to the conference may be obtained 
from the henorary organising secretary, Miss St. John 
Wileman, 11 Chandos Street, Cavendish Square. 
A RECENT article in the Pioneer of Allahabad deals with 
the work and usefulness of the Thomason Civil Engineer- 
ing College at Roorkee, United Provinces, which is the 
leading engineering college in India. In 1891 the college 
was transferred from the Public Works Department to the 
Education Department, affiliated to Allahabad University, 
and its educational staff strengthened on the purely scien- 
tific side. The Government of the United Provinces has 
decided again to extend the college, and the improvements 
will call for an expenditure of three and a half lakhs. 
The important part which a properly organised technical 
institution may play in industrial development should be 
borne in mind when the extensions or changes at Roorkee 
are under consideration. Higher technical education is, of 
course, costly to provide, but the development of technical 
institutions on broad scientific lines is an urgent need in 
India, and in endeavouring to meet it the close relation 
NO. 1951, VOL. 75] 
between pure and applied science must be remembered. It 
is to be hoped that further developments at Roorkee will 
continue, along the lines proved. to be ‘successful at home, 
and result in a strengthening of Thomason College and 
other Indian educational institutions. 
Tue council of King’s College, London; with the assent 
of its court, has concluded an agreement by which the 
departments of the college dealing with arts, laws, science, 
engineering, and. medicine (preliminary and intermediate 
studies) are to be incorporated in the University of London 
on terms similar to those recently adopted in the case of 
University College. An indispensable condition to the in- 
corporation of the college is the raising of a sum of 
125,0901. Of the sum in question, 22,o00l. is needed to 
pay off the debt on the college, 37,0001. to pay off the 
debt on- King’s College School, which will thereafter be 
placed under separate government, and 66,000!. to form 
an endowment fund and enable the college to occupy the 
whole of its premises. An appeal is being made to the 
public to provide this amount. The appeal has been 
endorsed by the Senate of the University of London, and 
already encouraging promises of support have been given. 
The Goldsmiths’ Company and the Clothworkers’ Company 
have each given 5oool. In addition to the 125,000l., the 
council asks for 20,o00l. for the endowment of the thee- 
logical department. Donations may be given generally to 
the fund in aid of the incorporation of King’s College in 
the University of London, or else to any of the specific 
objects above mentioned. No sum will be devoted to the 
theological department unless specially given for that 
purpose. 
Tue cleventh annual distribution of prizes and certifi- 
cates to ihe students of the day college and evening classes 
of the South-Western Polytechnic, Chelsea, took place on 
March 15. In the unavoidable absence of the Lord Chief 
Justice (Lord Alverstone), Sir Owen Roberts presented the 
awards. The principal, in the course of his report on the 
sessicn 1905-6, spoke of the satisfactory character of the 
work carried on, and directed special attention to the 
large increase of student entries in the natural science 
department. He referred to the need which existed for 
more continuous work on the part of the students; and 
instanced the fact that during last session the average 
hours worked by each adult student in the day classes 
was only 234, or the equivalent of eight weeks’ full work 
out of thirty-six weeks possible. The institute’s record in 
respect of examination honours and degrees had been well 
maintained. The cquipment of the various departments 
had been largely increased, and was being rapidly brought 
up to the standard of modern requirements. Sir Owen 
Roberts, in addressing the students, expressed satisfac- 
tion at the close relationship between the institute and 
London University. He urged the desirability, in the case 
of persons actively. engaged, of some study to take them 
outside their ordinary occupation, and which was provided 
by the scheme of work carried out in the institute. 
Yue inaugural lecture of the new Sibthorpian professor 
in the University of Oxford develops a plea for the 
reconsideration of agriculture by the University. 
Although Dr. Somerville has been appointed professor of 
rural "economy, his present duty is to lecture upon forest 
botany, and he makes it clear that this is not his own 
interpretation of the term ‘‘ rural economy.’’ Those who 
read this lecture will agree that a good case is made out 
for agriculture as a university subject. Dr. Somerville, 
as becomes a new professor, contents himself with making 
suggestions. Outsiders interested in the development of 
agriculture will ‘probably wish that it had been possible 
to make demands,’ for it is surely time that Oxford was 
doing something for agriculture. The first page of this 
lecture tells us that Sibthorp endowed the chair in 1796; 
we read further that for a century it was the only uni- 
versity chair of its kind in England; but when, after 
following Dr. Somerville’s account of the progress of agri- 
cultural education during this century, we pause and ask 
what Oxford's share has been, we find that it has been 
practically nil. Occasional lectures have been given, and 
once or twice attempts have been made to introduce an 
agricultural course, but the University has rejected the 
schemes of the advocates of agriculture; and now, 110 
