428 
NATURE 
[Marcu 3, 1904 
A syndicate is to be appointed to draw up a scheme of 
instruction and examination in mining engineering, with 
a view to the requirements of the Coal Mines Regulation 
Amendment Act, 1903. 
THE Secretary of State for War has, on the nomination 
of the Senate of the University of London, appointed Sir 
Henry Roscoe, F.R.S., to be a member of the War Office 
Advisory Board for Military Education, as a representative 
of the university. 
Tue King has been graciously pleased to promise a 
donation of 100 guineas in response to the appeal of the 
Senate of the University of London for funds to build and 
endow an Institute of Medical Sciences under the control 
of the university. A large sum is needed to carry out the 
scheme. Donations, which may be extended over a period 
of three years, should be sent to the honorary treasurers, 
Dr. J. K: Fowler and Mr. H. T. Butlin, at 35 Clarges 
Street, W. 
Tue Senate of the University of London has adopted the 
following resolution :—‘‘ That the Board of Education be 
informed that the Senate, while in no way wishing to 
cause any postponement of the appointed day, think it 
desirable, in the interests of education in London, that the 
University should be closely associated with the Education 
Committee to be appointed by the London County Council, 
and that persons experienced in education should be members 
of that committee.’’ 
Tue new Paddington Technical Institute of the London 
County Council was opened by Sir Arthur Riicker on 
February 27. The premises have been acquired for a sum 
of 15,000l., and are now admirably equipped as a technical 
institute. Sir Arthur Riicker, in his address, said that the 
new institute represents what those in connection with the 
London University have long desired to see carried out— 
the union of the forces which have been engaged already in 
the work of teaching. What is being done at Paddington 
must be done on a larger scale elsewhere throughout the 
metropolis so as to bring the schools into closer contact with 
the university, for until the combination of forces was 
effected they could not realise the full advantages of the | 
system they wanted to inaugurate. Cooperation will be the 
note of the education in the future. The chairman of the 
London Technical Education Board, in proposing a vote of 
thanks to Sir Arthur Riicker, mentioned that in the course 
of a short time it was intended to erect a power-house at 
the new institute and establish an engineering laboratory 
for the purpose of carrying on a motor-car school. 
AT a meeting of the Senate of the University of Wales, 
held at Bangor, it was resolved to present an address of 
congratulation to Sir Henry Roscoe in connection with the 
forthcoming celebrations. It was also unanimously desired 
by the Senate that Principal Griffiths should represent the 
university in his official capacity of Vice-Chancellor at the 
opening of the new laboratories by the King at Cambridge. 
The memorial circulated by the Royal Society with refer- 
ence to the teaching of science in schools was read by the 
Vice-Chancellor and discussed. A protracted discussion 
took place on a motion relating to the desirability of 
framing a scheme for the matriculation examination by 
which Latin would cease to be compulsory, and on a division 
taking place the notion was carried by a majority, 
a committee being appointed to bring the matter before 
the Senate in a more definite form later on. In connection 
with a recent petition presented to the University Court by 
the Mayor and an influential deputation from Swansea on 
behalf of the Swansea Technical College, a committee was 
appointed to draft a scheme, to be submitted to Parliament, 
for conferring on that college certain privileges of affili- 
ation to the university. 
Lorp Ketvin distributed the prizes and certificates, gained 
during the past session, to the students of the Northampton 
Institute, Clerkenwell, on February 26. During the course 
of his address, speaking of the work of the London Technical 
NO. 1792, VOL. 69] 
Education Board, Lord Kelvin said:—‘‘ Many must feet 
regret that that board will cease to exist in the course of 
a few days. The new board which is to take its place will 
have all kinds of education under its charge—primary,. 
secondary, and technical. It will need more money, and I 
hope it will be courageous and not fear to make a call on 
the rates when it is convinced that the payment of them 
will be for the benefit of the ratepayers.’’ Continuing Lord 
Kelvin remarked :—‘‘ When you think of the great dis- 
ceveries of Faraday in England and of Henry in America, 
and the succession of workers from their time to the pre- 
sent day who have added so much to our knowledge, you 
cannot help being struck with the enormous progress which 
science has made within a comparatively short period; and 
perhaps that progress has been even more remarkable and 
striking at the beginning of the twentieth century than 
during the whole of the nineteenth century. Many of these 
discoveries were for the moment in the realm of pure 
science, presenting no prospect of practical application ; but 
what is to be thought of a scientific investigator who only 
locks for an immediate practical application of the result of 
his labours? The electrical discoveries of Faraday and 
Henry would never have been made if those great men had 
contented themselves with asking Cui bono?—who will 
benefit by them? ‘The every-day workman would be all the 
happier for knowing something of the laws of nature de- 
veloped in the work he is called upon to perform. The 
habit of mind of thinking scientifically and bringing scien- 
tific knowledge to bear on the practical work of life not only 
contributes to the work being well done, but also to the 
richness and mental wealth of the work.” 
Tue Prince and Princess of Wales paid a visit on February 
24 to the Battersea Polytechnic, on the occasion of the 
tenth anniversary of the opening of that institution by the 
present King. ‘The Prince of Wales distributed the prizes 
and certificates gained by the evening students during the 
past year, and Her Royal Highness opened a number of 
new rooms which form an extension of the domestic economy 
department. Addresses of welcome weré read by the chair- 
man of the governing body of the polytechnic and by the 
Mayors of Battersea and Wandsworth. The Prince of 
Wales, in replying, pointed out how much the success of 
the London polytechnics was indebted, first, to the far- 
seeing thought of the Charity Commissioners, who twenty- 
one years ago suggested that the funds of certain ancient 
City charters should be devoted to the establishment in 
different parts of London of polytechnic institutes, and also 
to the City parochial foundations and the Technical Educa- 
tion Board of the London County Council. In the course 
of his address to the prize-winners, His Royal Highness 
remarked :—‘* Probably at no time in the history of our 
country has there been a greater demand upon the in- 
tellectual powers than there is to-day. Keen competition 
and rivalry characterise the existing relations between com- 
munities and nations. Prof. Huxley some years ago pointed 
out with regard to our industries that we were in the 
presence of a new struggle for existence ; and more recently 
Sir Norman Lockyer, in his address to the British Associ- 
ation last year, went further, and declared that the scientific 
spirit, the brain-power, must not be limited to the workshop 
when other nations utilise it in all branches of their adminis- 
tration, and he declared that universities and other teaching 
centres are as important as battleships and big battalions, 
and are, in fact, essential parts of a modern State’s 
machinery.’’ By thus directing attention to the principle 
that national development depends upon the provision made 
for the cultivation of brain-power, the Prince of Wales has 
advanced the plea put forward by Sir Norman Lockyer in 
his presidential address at Southport. The Prince evidently 
recognises that the progress of a nation is promoted by the 
forces of higher education and research; and his conviction 
should encourage far-seeing statesmen to face seriously the 
question of organising the forces which will make us equal 
to Germany or the United States in the struggle for com- 
mercial supremacy. It must be clearly understood that the 
scientific spirit—inquiring, critical, and progressive—is 
essential in the polity of a modern State; and for this reason 
| it is to be hoped that the Prince of Wales’s remarks will be 
| well considered by our political leaders. 
