NATURE 
———— 
“THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1974. 
WHAT OF THE ANCIENT UNIVERSITIES? 
A History of University Reform from 1800 A.D. 
to the present time, with suggestions towards 
a Complete Scheme for the University of Cam- 
bridge. - By A. I. Tillyard. Pp. xv+392. 
(Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., 1913.) 
Price ros. net. 
HE unrest amongst the critics—favourable 
and adverse, with knowledge and without 
—of our ancient universities continues. The old 
foundations have been compared, sometimes not 
very intelligently, and put into competition 
with the newer university institutions. Men 
have formed themselves into camps, very strong 
views as to the merit of the type of university for 
which they were contending have been formed, 
and a few thoughtful and illuminating articles 
have appeared. Lord Curzon set the ball a- 
rolling at Oxford, and, although the momentum 
acquired is not yet great, things are moving, and 
it is being discovered that around finance centre 
most of the possiblities of improvement or reform. 
At Cambridge, syndicates of men with extreme 
views, associated with a number of more moderate 
men, have formulated schemes which have been 
so far mutually destructive, that after years of 
heated discussion it has at last been agreed to 
recommend the re-arrangement of the method of 
paying degree fees. 
From this it may be argezi with some point 
that those within the University do not realise the 
importance of the questions that are being raised 
outside the University. Oxford and Cambridge 
are not private corporations, but national institu- 
tions, and some of the would-be reformers hold 
that they have a right to ask these Universities to 
continue to fulfil the functions for which they exist. 
Throughout this controversy, however, it has been 
manifest that many who have taken part in it are 
not acquainted with existing conditions or the past 
history of the universities. It is not surprising, 
therefore, that attempts made to stir up the ques- 
tion of university reform have been futile. The 
author of the work before us, though a classical 
scholar and taking comparatively little interest in 
the scientific work of the University, has un- 
doubtedly adopted the scientific method of collect- 
ing, sifting, and verifying facts and of consider- 
ing the history of the University and its relation 
to their present attitude and position. 
The work opens with a brief but very interest- 
ing history of the University, in which, of course, 
Cooper’s “Annals,” Mullinger’s “History of 
Cambridge,” and Goldwin Smith are largely 
NO. 2313, VOL. 92] 
797 
drawn upon. Then follows a brief but sufficiently 
detailed account of the attack made by the Edin- 
burgh Review on the University of Oxford; and 
we are taken step by step through the second 
attack made by the review and Sir William 
Hamilton, all this leading up to an account of 
the controversies out of which arose the Royal 
Commissions of 1850 and 1872, and of the series 
of legislative measures which brought the two 
Universities more nearly into line with modern 
methods and requirements. Of this phase our 
author writes out of the fullness of knowledge 
arising from a careful study of numerous docu- 
ments and the collation of facts and statistics 
derived from many sources. 
Perhaps the most interesting chapters in the 
book are those dealing with the legislation ending 
in the abolition of tests and clerical Fellowships, 
in the opening wider of the doors of the univer- 
sities, in strengthening and welcoming men seek- 
ing a broader curriculum on which might be built 
up more advanced professional training, in the 
institution of college contributions to a common 
university fund, and in the foundation of the 
Financial Boards and of the various Boards of 
Studies. A full abstract account of the finances 
of the Oxford and Cambridge Colleges enables 
the reader to form some idea of their resources, 
and only after giving a really impartial statement 
of facts and figures are any suggestions offered 
for a scheme of reform, a scheme dealing specially 
with Cambridge. 
It is maintained that although in recent years 
great advances have been made, the education 
provided by our national universities is too ex- 
clusive and, at the same time, too costly. The 
extreme exclusiveness of the colleges has been 
broken through to some extent, for they are 
anxious to attract by scholarships and exhibi- 
tions brilliant scholars from whatever source, and 
brilliant boys are welcome, whether they come 
from the State schools or from the great public 
schools. From the former and the smaller public 
schools come those who devote themselves to 
the mathematical, the natural science, the moral 
science, and tripos examinations other than the 
classical; and with the increase of the natural 
science and physical-science tripos work in the 
university there has been a great extension in the 
study of the applied sciences—engineering, medi- 
cine, and agriculture. 
It may be pointed out—this with no wish to 
detract from the merit of an admirable book—that 
the passing of difficult examinations, even if done 
at small cost, is not always the best thing for the 
student. The university has a higher function 
than that of training € i wallahs by 
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