NOVEMBER 20, 1913]| 
obscured by any misunderstanding on the subject. 
I am, therefore, venturing to set out in the form of a 
letter to yourself as Vice-Chancellor of the University 
the substance of what I said at the Mansion House 
the other day. 
2, As you are aware, I have appointed a Depart- 
mental Committee to consult the bodies and persons 
cencerned and to recommend the special arrange- 
ments and provisions which may be immediately 
adopted for the purpose of giving effect to the scheme 
_ of the report and as the basis of the necessary legisla- 
tion. The committee will not attempt to go again 
over the ground covered by the Royal Commission. 
The Government, after careful consideration, have 
decided that the scheme of the report is calculated 
to produce a University of London worthy of the 
name. Starting from this point it will be the business 
of the Departmental Committee to discover how far 
the numerous bodies and persons concerned are pre- 
pared to cooperate on the basis of the principles 
underlying the scheme. 
3. Those principles are in themselves simple. They 
may be shortly stated as follows :— 
(1) That the Government of the University, 
and particularly its financial administration, shall 
be entrusted to a small Senate predominantly lay 
in its composition and not representative of 
special interests; and 
(2) That on the other hand the control of the 
teaching and the examinations of students in 
colleges of the University shall be in the hands 
of the teachers; 
(3) That the educational and financial control 
of the constituent colleges shall be vested in the 
University; and 
(4) That as much of the University work as 
possible, together with the University adminis- 
tration, should be concentrated in a_ central 
University quarter. (The question of the par- 
ticular site to be selected is one on which the 
Departmental Committee will be able to advise 
the Government after they have considered the 
various alternatives that have been proposed) ; 
(5) The scheme of reconstruction should pro- 
vide effectively for continuance of access to Uni- 
versity examinations by external students—i.e., 
by those who are not attached to any college or 
school of the University. 
4. As regards the future of the Imperial College, 
I may say that it has never been proposed that the 
college should be moved from its present site. It is, 
however, an essential part of the scheme that it should 
become a constituent college of the new University 
_under ‘‘the educational and financial control” of the 
Senate. I ought to explain that the word “incor- 
poration,’’ which is sometimes used as a convenient 
term to describe the position of a constituent college 
under such control, does not imply any such vesting 
of the property of the constituent college in the 
University as would preclude the earmarking of 
capital or income by donors and benefactors for par- 
ticular institutions or specific purposes. This applies 
_ to past no less than to future gifts. Such a restric- 
_ tion is not contemplated by the Government, and, 
Speaking for myself, it would be contrary to the 
-Yiews which I have more than once expressed as to 
the value of local and private munificence in main- 
ping the highest standard of educational develop- 
ment. 
__5- On the conclusion of the necessary negotiations 
_ the Government hope to introduce legislation in due 
course to give effect to these principles, and I see 
NO. 2299, VOL. 92] 
no reason why sufficient agreement should not be 
NATURE 
357 
arrived at to secure the acceptance of the Bill in Par- 
lisment as a non-contentious measure. 
6. I trust that this statement, which I have already 
made in public, will be of assistance to all who are 
from whatever point of view interested in the work 
of reconstruction by defining the area within which 
amendments and modifications of the scheme of the 
committee are admissible. Particularly would I ask 
of them that they should not reject the scheme be- 
cause in this point or in that it may fall short of their 
ideals or is even contrary to what they think best. 
Some acquiescence or even sacrifice on individual 
points will be necessary for all concerned if a scheme 
worth having is to be carried out. It must be remem- 
bered that the scheme of the Royal Commission is 
the only one in the field and that if it fails of accom- 
plishment all chance of reform and _ progressive 
development may be gone for many years. In these 
circumstances and with a definite statement of prin- 
ciples before them I trust that they will not hesitate 
to make some mutual surrender of views and opinions 
which perhaps owe their origin in large measure to 
the uncertainty which has so long prevailed even as 
to the main lines of reconstruction. 
7. The Government will be. prepared, in the event 
of the scheme taking shape in legislation, to make 
substantial new contributions to the resources of the 
University, and they are confident that the establish- 
ment of a University worthy of the capital of the 
Empire will be regarded by the citizens, Livery Com- 
panies, and corporate bodies of London equally with 
the Government as an object deserving of their in- 
terest and support. 
8. I am sending a copy of this letter to the Press. 
Yours faithfully, 
f JosepH A. PEAsE. 
W. P. Herringham, Esq., M.D., &c. 
THE PREPARATION OF EYE-PRESERVING 
GLASS FOR SPECTACLES. 
Since March, 1909—in connection with the Glass 
' Workers’ Cataract Committee of the Royal Society— 
I have been experimenting on the effect of adding 
various metallic oxides to the constituents of giass in 
order to cut off the invisible rays at the infra-red end 
of the spectrum, and thus to prepare a glass which 
will cut off those rays from highly heated molten 
glass which damage the eyes of workmen, without 
obscuring too much light or materially affecting the 
colours of objects seen through the glass when 
fashioned into spectacles. 
Single metals were at first tried in varying quan- 
tities to see if from the colour and properties com- 
municated to the glass they were worth further 
examination. Each specimen is cut and polished into 
a plate 2 mm. thick. The plate so prepared is first 
put into the radiometer balance to find the percentage 
of heat cut off. It is then tested in the spectrum 
apparatus to ascertain the upper limit of transmission 
of the ultra-violet rays; next it is tested in Chapman 
Jones’s opacity meter to estimate the percentage of 
luminous rays transmitted, and finally the colour is 
registered in a Lovibond’s tintometer. 
The following elements were selected as likely to 
be worthy of further experimentation by combining 
the metals, two, three, or four at a time in one glass 
so as to enable the advantages of one to make up for 
the shortcomings of another :—Cerium, chromium, 
cobalt, copper, iron, lead, manganese, neodymium, 
nickel, praseodymium, and uranium. 
Whilst bearing in mind that the chief object of 
1 Summary of a paper read before the Royal Society on November 13 by 
Sir William Crookes, O.M., F.R.S. 
