708 
NATURE 
[FEBRUARY 26, 1914 
means of college tutors or the holders of several 
college and university offices, of university pro- 
fessors, some adequately, others very badly re- 
munerated, or of lecturers or demonstrators so 
insufficiently paid that they must possess private 
means or undertake private coaching. 
That the colleges have an important part to play 
in the training of men is accepted by the author, 
but he thinks that it should be brought home to 
them that where the college system is wasteful 
in the matter either of men or money, and where 
their interests clash with wider and greater in- 
terests, some attempt ought to be made to allow 
things to.assume their proper proportions and 
perspective. Vested interests are firmly rooted 
and powerful, and the whole question is so com- 
plicated that it will be necessary to move warily, 
and to consider any suggested changes very care- 
fully, but that some changes must come those 
who read this work will be thoroughly convinced. 
Method rather than “subject” is the guiding 
factor in education, and it is recognised that 
the college system is valuable in the formation 
of character, but that the system might with 
advantage be modified very profoundly without 
impairing this special function scarcely admits of 
argument. Here finance is the key to the whole 
situation, and so long as the management of the 
bulk of the funds in the dual corporation of col- 
leges and university remains with the colleges, 
any great economy appears to be out of the ques- 
tion. Those most intimately concerned appear 
to think that the colleges cannot transfer to the 
university any greater share of their endowments 
unless they can succeed in concentrating their 
forces and effecting great savings. If, then, the 
university is to avail itself of its great oppor- 
tunities, it must look for additional support from 
the public, using all these terms in their widest 
sense. : 
It is interesting to find how some critics of the 
universities appear to belittle the physical and 
natural sciences as educative subjects; and even 
where they are pleading for the retention of these 
branches of knowledge in the university curricu- 
lum, to look upon them as supplying “soft 
options.” Sir William Hamilton, speaking for 
these critics, argued that a university ought to 
teach the physical sciences because they require 
costly experiments, apparatus, and collected ob- 
jects, whilst he looked upon the natural sciences 
as peculiarly fitted to the pass or poll men, and 
seemed to think that such subjects are worthy only 
of reception by inferior minds. By implication 
our author falls in with Sir William Hamilton, 
who says that “the knowledge which depends on 
the ocular demonstration of costly collections and ; element, which is the life-blood of an applied 
WO, 2313; VOL;. O21 
‘experiments—this knowledge, easy and palpable, 
requiring an appliance more of the senses than 
of the understanding, can be fully taught to all, 
at once, by one competent demonstrator, the 
teaching of the natural sciences, therefore, ought 
to be ‘ professional’ (professorial ?).” 
To some it appears that the university should 
concern itself not only with obtaining efficiency 
of education, but with elevating ideals, with rais- 
ing the standard of culture, with the encourage- 
ment of research and the production of new 
knowledge, and with the building up of character. 
For all this the natural and physical sciences 
constitute as useful a medium as classics, mathe- 
matics or philosophy, whilst the latter, going 
hand-in-hand with science in the “search for 
truth,” must, in the long run, prove irresistible. 
All who take an interest in the welfare of our 
ancient universities should read this book; what- 
ever may be their view as to the functions of 
these universities, they will here find, in conveni- 
ent form, information that cannot but be valuable 
to them, information that hitherto has been 
accessible only to those who had the leisure and 
enthusiasm to read through an enormous amount 
of uninteresting detail in order to acquire material 
relevant to the subjects now under consideration. 
To many the book will be a call to action. 
MEDICAL HYDROLOGY. 
The Principles and Practice of Medical Hydro- 
logy. Being the Science of Treatment by 
Waters and Baths. By Dr. R. Fortescue Fox. 
Pp. xiv+295. (London: University of London 
Press, 1913.) Price6s..net. 
ITHIN the compass of fewer than 300 
‘ pages Dr. Fortescue Fox presents us with 
a most readable and comprehensive survey of the 
history and physiology of bathing, of hydro- 
therapy, of medicinal springs and baths, and of 
the indications for hydrological treatment. The 
author has so thoroughly digested his judiciously 
chosen material that he leaves the reviewer but © 
little scope for criticism; and that material is 
presented in an easy flowing style which will 
commend itself to the non-professional reader as 
well as to the spa physician and the general prac- 
titioner. The lay reader will also find this hook 
particularly useful for guidance in the hygienic 
use of baths for sensitive subjects and children. 
The strong feature of the work, considered from — 
the professional point of view, is the free use of 
physiology in explanation of the curative action 
of baths and waters, thus infusing into the 
empirical data of hydrotherapeutics the scientific 
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