October 24, 1901] 



NA TURE 



643 



and professional opposition, the first mainly through the assistance 

 and countenance of Mr. Chamberlain and also with the assistance 

 of the managers of the Dreadnought Hospital. From the first 

 their student attendance was a fair one ; hut session after session the 

 numbers of students asking for admission had increased, and now 

 the applications were much more numerous than the accommoda- 

 tion they had to offer would allow them to admit. The mere 

 physical space at their disposal was not sufficient to accommodate 

 those who came to study there, and their appeal that day had 

 for its object the removal of that obstacle to their success. The 

 accommodation must be doubled if the school work was to go on. 

 They wanted their laboratories very much enlarged ; they 

 wanted a lecture room, a room for a museum, and a good 

 library. All these things were very necessary if the school was 

 to go on and prosper. The work which the students of the 

 school were doing warranted him in appealing for funds on its 

 behalf. As instances of such work Dr. Manson referred to the 

 investigation conducted by Dr. George Low in the West Indies 

 respecting elephantiasis, the work of Dr. Durham and Dr. 

 Myers in Brazil last year, and the new expedition of Dr. Durham 

 to Christmas Island. The English Government, said the 

 speaker, was very niggardly in regard to such matters compared 

 with the German Government. Prof. Koch had forwarded to 

 him, at his request, the following particulars of the subsidies 

 granted to investigators working in connection with medical 

 expeditions sent out under the auspices of the German Govern- 

 ment : — "(i) Prof. Erosch in Brioni (Istria), (2) .Staff-doctor 

 Bludau in Lussinpiccolo (Istria), (3) Staff-doctor Vagedes in 

 German South-West Africa, (4) Staff-doctor DempwolfFin New 

 Guinea, (5) Staff-doctor Ollwig in German East Africa, (6) Dr. 

 Krulle in the Marshall Islands. Further expeditions to Togo 

 and Kameruns are being planned. The expeditions I to 5 have 

 for their collective object, in the first place, the investigation of 

 malaria, and form regular continuations of any malaria expedi- 

 tions made to Italy, Dutch India, and New Guinea. Expedition 

 No. 6 has for its object the investigation of syphilis and its 

 different forms in the South Sea Island groups. The Enropean 

 expeditions I and 2 receive 20 marks (l/.) daily allowance, 

 besides compensation for the various travelling expenses, outlay 

 for the laboratory, &c. The "outside Europe" (foreign) 

 expeditions receive 40 marks (2/.) daily, besides compensation 

 for travelling expenses and outlay for scientific objects (books, 

 instruments, complete laboratory arrangements, their upkeep, 

 &c.), with a further 1000 marks (50/.) for personal equipment." 

 The treatment thus accorded to German scientific expeditions 

 was very much more generous than anything done for similar 

 expeditions in this country, and he trusted that the school would 

 receive generous accessions to its funds. 



I.N' distributing the prizes at the Royal Technical Institute, 

 Salford, on Friday last, Sir Henry Roscoe said it had often 

 puzzled him to account for the singular apathy with regard to 

 education which in times past, and to some extent even now, 

 had characterised the average Englishman. Surely one would 

 think that he of all men, dependent as he was for his very ex- 

 istence on his successful solution of problems relating to industry 

 and commerce, would have felt it not merely an advantage, but 

 an absolute necessity, that his knowledge and training should be 

 as perfect and widespread as possible, just because the arts and 

 trades which he practised had their foundation in artistic or 

 scientific principles, and could only flourish satisfactorily under 

 the guidance ol those priflciples — that was, under educated 

 effort. Whilst other countries — notably Scotland, Germany, the 

 United States, Switzerland and France — long ago established 

 their national .system of schools, England up to 1870 was with- 

 out one. Whilst Italy, Scotland, Germany and France in 

 earliest times founded Universities which had remained as 

 Universities of and for the people, the older Universities of 

 Oxford and Cambridge had gradually become mainly high 

 schools for privileged persons, and ceased to do for England 

 what the Scotti.'-h Universities did for Scotland — that was, to be 

 the Universities for all classes of the population, rich and poor 

 alike. It must be the aim of the reorganised University of 

 London to do for London's six or seven millions what the Scot- 

 tish Universities had done for four millions of Scotsmen, and to 

 become a real University for the people. England, however, 

 was awakening. A new era in the history of English education 

 began, first, in the foundation of the local University colleges, 

 and, secondly, in 1890, in the passing of the Local Taxation 

 (Customs and Excise) Act. The fact of the allocation of a sum 



NO. 1669, VOL. 64J 



of upwards of 750,000/. to technical and secondary education 

 was an event unparalleled in the financial history of this country, 

 and was in itself a proof of this awakening. That this act of the 

 CJovernment was appreciated was shown by the fact that the 

 local authorities generally at once availed themselves of the op- 

 portunities thus presented. No less than upwards of 3,000,000/. 

 had been expended by municipal and local authorities in pro- 

 viding technical schools throughout the land. Moreover, this 

 progress had been unchecked by reverses or by waning interest ; 

 on the contrary, it had been continuous, universal and rapid. 

 Still, much remained to be done. " Organise your secondary 

 education" had been the cry from Matthew Arnold's day to 

 our own. Yet nothing had been done in this direction by 

 Parliament, with whoin the duty lay. It was true that begin- 

 nings had been made ; local authorities in some instances — and 

 here he must name those of Manchester — had taken the matter 

 into their own hands and had reilised how necessary it was to 

 consolidate and coordinate the education of various kinds ex- 

 isting in their midst, and actually had done so in advance of 

 national action. The country had, he thought, made up its 

 mind and would back any sensible plan for putting this part of 

 our educational house in order. Let them unite in urging im- 

 mediate action. Let them be satisfied with one thing at a time. 

 If they saw that to put forward and to carry a measure which 

 would bring about that which all desired— namely, that the 

 various forms of educational effort should be organised as one 

 compact whole — was at the present moment beyond the range of 

 practical politics, let them not fail to secure the organisation of 

 a part. iThis seemed to him to be common sense. 



Om Tuesday last Mr. R. B. Haldane, K.C., M.P., delivered 

 an address at University College, Liverpool, on " The Function 

 of a University in a Commercial City," in the course of which he 

 compared the position of education in this country with that in 

 others, notably in Germany. Throughout the industrial world 

 of Germany they found science applied to practical undertakings 

 by men who had learned, if not in the Universities and high 

 technical schools, at least under teachers produced by those in- 

 stitutions. This was true of a multitude of trades. In electrical 

 engineering, in the manufacture of chemicals, in the production 

 of glass and of iron and steel, and of many other articles for 

 which Britain used to be the industrial centre, we were rapidly 

 being left behind. A striking case was that of the aniline colours 

 discovered and first produced in England and manufactured out 

 of English coal tar. The industry had almost wholly shifted to 

 Germany, although the dyers in this country were the largest 

 consumers. The reason for this was that in Germany the manu- 

 facture had been fostered by research in the University labora- 

 tories and by careful teaching in the technical schools, with the 

 result that great producing institutions, such as the Badische 

 Anilin Fabrik, had an endless supply of directors and workmen 

 trained in a fashion which we had not the means to imitate. 

 But the school was in Germany by no means the only point at 

 which the professor came to the aid of industry. Too 

 little was known in this country of the type of in- 

 stitution sometimes called the " Central-Stelle," which 

 had no parallel among our business men. This estab- 

 lishment, which was maintained by subscription at a 

 cost of about 12,000.'. a year, was presided over by one of the 

 most distinguished professors of chemistry in the University of 

 that city, with a staff of highly-trained assistants. To it were 

 referred as they arose the problems by which the subscribers in 

 their individual work were confronted. By it was carried on a 

 regular system of research in the field of production of explosives, 

 the fruits of which were communicated to the subscribers. The 

 great manufacturers were in constant communication with the 

 establishment, in which they took the keenest interest. In this 

 country, it was needless to say, there existed nothing of the 

 kind. And yet we had to compete with the Germans, not only 

 at home, but in such important markets for explosives as South 

 Africa, where their use was the life of the huge mining industry. 

 Proceeding, Mr. Haldane alluded to the German academic insti- 

 tutions and compared them with the University systein of this 

 country, and made a number of suggestions which, if carried 

 out, would, in his opinion, tend towards a better system of edu- 

 cation and be for the benefit of the country. The conclusion of 

 the whole matter, said Mr. Haldane, seemed to be that we could 

 establish in Great Britain and Ireland a system of teaching of a 

 University type, with the double aim of the system of Germany, 

 and that without injury to quality in culture. 



