;88 



NA TURE 



[August 15, 1901 



found by which the deeper pits could be protected from the 

 action, corrosion by acid could be used in substitution for a large 

 part of the usual process of polishing. 



In connection with experiments of this sort, trial was made 

 of the action of the acid upon finely ground glass, such, for 

 example, as is used as a backing for stereoscopic transparencies, 

 and very curious results were observed. For this purpose the 

 acid may conveniently be used much stronger, say one part of 

 commercial acid to ten parts of water, and the action may be 

 prolonged for hours or days. The general appearance of the 

 glass after treatment is smoother and more translucent, but it is 

 only under the microscope that the remarkable changes which 

 the surface has undergone become intelligible. Fig. 3 is from 

 a photograph taken in the microscope, (he focus being upon 

 the originally ground surface itself. The whole area is seen to 

 be divided into cells. These cells increase as the action pro- 

 gresses, the smaller ones being, as it were, eaten up by the 

 bigger. The division lines between the cells are ridges, raised 

 above the general level, and when seen in good focus appear 

 absolutely sharp. The general surface within the cells shows no 

 structure, being as invisible as if highly polished. 



That each cell is, in fact, a concave lens, forming a separate 

 image of the source of light, is shown by slightly screwing out 

 the object-glass. Fig. 4 was taken in this way from the same 

 surface, the source of light being the flame of a paraffin lamp, 

 in front of which was placed a cross cut from sheet-metal. 



The movement required to pass from the ridge to the image 

 of the source, equal to the focal length (/) of the lens, may be 

 utilised to determine the depth (I) of a cell. In one experi- 

 ment the necessary movement was '005 inch. The semi-aper- 

 ture ()') of the "lens" was 0015 inch, whence by the formula 

 _j'-=//, we find / = "00045 inch. This represents the depth of 

 the cell, and it amounts to about 8 wave-lengths of yellow 

 light. 



The action of the acid seems to be readily explained if we 

 make the very natural supposition that it eats in everywhere, at 

 a fixed rate, normally to the actual surface. If the amount of 

 the normal corrosion after a proposed time be known, the new 

 surface can be constructed as the " envelope " of spheres having 

 the radius in question and centres distributed over the old 

 surface. Ultimately, the new surface becomes identified with 

 a series of spherical segments having their centres at the deeper 

 pits of the original surface. The construction is easily illus- 

 trated in the case of two dimensions. In the figure (Fig. 5) a 

 is supposed to be the original surface ; E, c, D, E surfaces 

 formed by corrosion, being constructed by circles having their 

 centres on .\. In E the ridges are still somewhat rounded, but 

 they become sharp in n and E. The general tendency is to 

 sharpen elevations and to smooth ofi" depressions. 



THE FUNCTIONS OF A UNIVERSITY} 



'X'HE word University has borne many significations; and, 

 indeed, its functions are various, and the signification at- 

 tached to the word has depended on the particular point of view 

 taken at the time. An eminent German, who visited me some 

 years ago, made the remark after seeing University College ; — 

 " Aber, lieber Herr College, University College ist eine kleine 

 Universitiit." So it is ; for it fulfils most of the functions of 

 the most successful Universities in the world. And why is this ? 

 Because the traditions of University College have always been, 

 that it is not merely a place where known facts and theories 

 should be administered in daily doses to young men and young 

 women, but that the duties of the professors, assistant-professors, 

 teachers and advanced students is to increase knowledge. That 

 is the chief function of a University — to increase knowledge. 

 But it is not the only one. 



A University has always been regarded as a training school 

 for the "learned professions," i.e. for theology, lawand medicine. 

 The terms of uur charter have excluded the first of these branches 

 of knowledge. Founded as it was in the '20's, when admission 

 to Oxford or Cambridge involved either belief in the tenets of 

 the Church of England or insincerity, it was not possible to 

 provide courses in theology which should be acceptable to Non- 

 conformists, Jews and others who desired education. On the 

 whole, it appears to me belter that a subject about which so 

 much difference of opinion exists should be taught in a sepa- 



1 Oration delivered at University College, London, on June 0, by Prof. 

 \V. Ramsay, F.R.S. 



NO. 1659, VOL. 64] 



rate institution. There are many branches of knowledge which 

 can be adequately discussed without intruding into any sphere 

 of religious controversy ; and, indeed, it would be difficult, I 

 imagine, to treat mathematics or chemistry from a sectarian 

 standpoint. I at least have never tried. There are subjects 

 which may be placed on the border-line, for example, philo- 

 sophy ; but such subjects, and they are few in number, might 

 well form part of the curriculum of the theological college, if 

 thought desirable. It is a thousand pities that instead of 

 founding King's College a theological college had not been 

 established in the immediate neighbourhood of University 

 College ; it would have strengthened us, and it would have 

 tended, too, to the advantage of the Church of England. How- 

 ever, what is done can't be undone; and let us wish all 

 prosperity to our sister College, and a long and a useful life. 

 We are now friends, and have been friends for many years. 

 May that friendship long continue ! 



Dismissing the faculty of theology, therefore, as out of our 

 power, as well as beyond our wishes, let us turn to the remain- 

 ing two learned professions. University College, I believe, 

 was the first place in England where a systematic legal 

 education could be obtained. Our chairs of Roman law, 

 constitutional law and jurisprudence were the first to be 

 established in England, although such chairs had for long been 

 known on the Continent, and in Scotland. "Imitation is 

 the sincerest flattery," and in the fulness of time the Inns of 

 Court started a school of their own. Our classes, which used to 

 be crowded, dwindled, and our law-school is certainly not our 

 strongest feature. I am not sufticiently acquainted with 

 English legal education to pronounce an opinion as to whether 

 methods of training as they at present exist in England are the 

 most effective ; I have heard rumours that they are not. That 

 must be left to specialists to decide. But arguing from the ex- 

 perience of another faculty, in which the apprenticeship system 

 once existed, and which has changed that system with a view to 

 reform, and judging, too, from the experience abroad and in 

 Scotland, I venture to think that some improvement in legal 

 education is possible. If that opinion is correct, it is surely 

 not too much to hope that the claims of University College may 

 be considered as having made the first attempt to systematise 

 legal education in England. 



The faculty of medicine has existed in a flourishing state 

 since the inception of University College. Not long alter 

 the College was built, the Hospital buildings, of which we 

 have the last unsightly remains still before our eyes, were 

 erected. One of my predecessors on a similar occasion to 

 this has given you an entrancing account of the early history 

 of this side of the College, and has discoursed on the eminent 

 men who filled the chairs in the medical faculty. Here 

 young men whose intention it is to enter the medical profession 

 are trained ; they now receive five years' instruction in the 

 various branches of knowledge bearing on their important 

 calling. I would point out that this function of a University 

 is professedly a technical one — the training of medical men. 

 True, many researches have been made by the eminent men 

 who have held chairs in this faculty ; but that is not the 

 primary duty of such men ; their duty is to train others to 

 exercise a profession. If they advance their subject in doing so, 

 so much the better : it increases the fame of the school, it im- 

 parts enthusiasm to their students, and in many cases their 

 discoveries have been of unspeakable benefit to the human race. 

 In a certain sense, every medical man is an investigator ; the 

 first essential is that he shall be able to make a correct diagnosis ; 

 the next, that he shall prescribe correct treatment. But novelty 

 is not essential ; few men evolve new surgical operations or 

 introduce new remedies, and though we have in the past had 

 not a few such, they are not essential for a successful medical 

 school, the object of which is to train good practical working 

 physicians and surgeons. The teaching staff of the medical 

 faculty must of necessity be almost all engaged in practice, and, 

 indeed, it would be unfortunate for their students if they were 

 merely theoretical teachers. Let me again recapitulate my 

 point ; the medical faculty is essentially a technical faculty ; 

 the hospital is its workshop. 



In England, of recent years, schools of engineering have been 

 attached to the Universities. Abroad and in America they are 

 separate establishments, and are sometimes attached to large 

 engineering shops, where the pupils pursue their theoretical and 

 practical studies together, taking the former in the morning, the 

 latter in the afternoon. Here again the subject is a professional 



