July 21, 1904] 



NA TURE 



UNIVERSITIES AND THE STATE. 



THE deputation which was received by the Prime 

 Minister on Friday last put forward a plea for 

 the State endowment of universities which has been 

 accepted by leading nations as a fundamental principle 

 of progress. The influence of this principle upon the 

 development of nations was shown by Sir Norman 

 Lockj-er in his address to the British Association last 

 year, and the deputation was organised by the Asso- 

 ciation as the natural outcome of this address. 



It would scarcely have been possible for a case to 

 have received more impressive support than was 

 given to it by the representatives of universities, 

 industries, national and local interests who responded 

 to the appeal issued by the British Association as to 

 the need for recognition of the responsibility of the 

 State for higher education and research. Of the four 

 hundred people who expressed the sympathy of the 

 bodies or organisations they represented with the 

 manifesto sent out by the Association, only two 

 hundred could be received by the Prime Minister, but 

 these included leaders in many departnients of national 

 activity. 



In introducing the deputation, the importance of 

 the State endowment of universities was urged by 

 Sir Norman Lockyer, as presented in his address. 

 That university authorities hold the same view as the 

 men of science and political leaders was shown by 

 Prof. Pelham, representing Oxford ; the Vice-Chan- 

 cellor of Cambridge; and Mr. Chamberlain, who 

 spoke for the new universities. The importance of 

 applications of science was represented by Sir W. H. 

 \Vhite and Sir W. Ramsay ; the importance of the 

 humanities by Sir R. Jebb ; and the importance of 

 research by Sir Henry Roscoe. Mr. A. Moseley spoke 

 on American science and industry, and Mr. Bell, M.P., 

 speaking in the absence of Mr. Burt, M.P., pointed 

 out the importance of the reduction of fees and com- 

 plete educational organisation, and showed by his pre- 

 sence that the State endowment of universities is 

 approved by the artisan classes of the country. 



In replying to the deputation, Mr. Balfour acknow- 

 ledged that the endowment of universities assisted a 

 nation in the industrial struggle, and that there is a 

 great need, both in the new and the old universities, 

 for help toward this object. The Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer said that he would double the grant for 

 university colleges this year, and he hoped to be able 

 to redouble it next year; but before considering any 

 larger contributions to university education he w-ould 

 like an exposition from the universities themselves as 

 to the extent they were prepared to come under con- 

 trol if they received grants. He referred to the addi- 

 tional grant of 75,000?. a year to university colleges 

 (representing a capital sum of 3,000,000?. at 2i per 

 cent.) as having already been given as the result of 

 the appeal made last year by the president of the 

 British .Association. From this it seems quite clear 

 that if the university colleges had been content to 

 wait until the general appeal was made, the result 

 might have been better all round — so far as the early 

 grant of money is concerned. 



As the general result of the deputation, we may 

 therefore take it that the principle of State endowment 

 of universities has been conceded, and that the 

 Government is prepared to deal with the question in 

 a liberal manner when the universities have expressed 

 their views as to control, and the finances of the 

 countrv permit large contributions to be made. 



The manifesto issued by the British Association was 

 as follows : — 



NO 18 I 2, VOL. 70] 



Statement prepared by the president of the British- 

 Association and revised by a committee consisting 

 of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University 

 of Oxford, the Vice-Chancellor of the University 

 of Cambridge, Sir Oliver Lodge, principal of the 

 University of Birmingliam, Sir Michael Foster,. 

 M.P., and Sir Henry Roscoe. 



The National Need of the State Endowment 

 OF Universities. 



(i) The British Association has taken action re- 

 garding the State endowment of universities, because 

 at the present juncture the highest education and re- 

 search is a matter not merely of academic but of the 

 gravest national concern. 



There is now a general opinion that Britain is in 

 danger of falling behind in the industrial competition 

 now going on between the most highly civilised States. 



The university no less than the primary school is 

 in question, because we are in the midst of a struggle- 

 in which science and brains take the place of swords 

 and sinews ; the school, the university, the labor- 

 atory and the workshop are the battlefields of this new 

 struggle, and the scientific spirit must not be limited 

 to the workshop, since other nations utilise it in alll 

 branches of their administration and executive. 



The more our legislators, administrators and ex- 

 ecutive officers possess the scientific spirit, and the more 

 the rule of thumb is replaced by scientific methods, 

 the more able shall we be to compete successfully with 

 other countries along all lines of national as well as. 

 of commercial activity. 



It is a question of an important change of front,, 

 of finding a new basis of stability for the Empire in 

 face of new conditions; and since the full life of a 

 nation with a constantly increasing complexity, not 

 only of industrial but of high national aims, depends 

 upon the universal presence of the scientific spirit,, 

 of brain-power, our whole national life is involved. 



The Function of a University in a Modern State. 



The men upon whom the nation must chiefly depend 

 for aid under the complex conditions of the modern 

 world must not be entirely untrained in the study of 

 the nature and causes of the things which surround 

 them, or of the forces which have to be utilised in. 

 our daily life; their training and education in humani- 

 ties must also have been of the widest. 



Such men cannot be produced either by a university 

 which neglects science or by a technical college whlchi 

 neglects the humanities. 



Hence the universities must be enabled to combine 

 these two sides of a complete education, and they 

 must also be enabled to foster research along both 

 lines, for research is the highest and most important 

 instrument of education, as well as its most valuable 

 result. When science and its applications were of less- 

 importance than now the humanities sufficed and' 

 university requirements were small; rooms, books, and' 

 a small number of teachers of a small number of sub- 

 jects comprised the essentials of the university. 

 Modern university needs have been too much regarded' 

 from this old standpoint. 



.Ml this is now changed. For instance, in the most 

 modern German university the buildings, all elaborate- 

 and all differing from each other, have already cost a 

 million, and still the university is not complete. Books 

 have to be supplemented by expensive instrumental 

 equipments, which constantly have to be added to or 

 replaced, and by utilising this new material the fruitful' 

 ramifications of learning have increased fifty-fold, and 

 the teachers naturally in even greater proportion. 



The extraordinary 'thing is not that a claim to meet 



