406 



NA TURE 



[February 22, 1906 



clearly where it was best to draw generic lines. While it 

 must be admitted that there are many minor differences 

 in the generic concepts exhibited in the scholarly and 

 monumental works to which I here refer, vet they establish 

 a good usage, which on the whole has a considerable 

 measure of uniformity, and goes far to establish the rank 

 of such categories as genus, species, and variety. 



Let me urge that, while we remit no effort to secure 

 further light on this subject, there should be a general 

 agreement to treat the accepted and traditional interpret- 

 ation of large and important genera as sacred and bind- 

 ing until we can furnish definite and convincing evidence 

 that change is needful, and that for the welfare and 

 dignity of our science all should unite in opposing changes 

 of the artificial sort, which consist merely in the shifting 

 of ranks and modification of standards, 



Invi ttigations ami Commercial Tests in Connection with 

 ///,■ Work ../ an Engineering College.* 



In any school it is necessary, in securing the best 

 efficiency in instruction, that the professors shall I"' able 

 to speak with authority on the subjects which the) teach. 

 In technical schools those who teach the practical engineer- 

 ing subjects cannot speak with authority unless they have 

 had practical experience. Investigations and commercial 

 tests may serve to give them this practical experience, and 

 the question naturally arises, Is it a good policy for pro- 

 fessors to conduit such work in connection with their 

 regular college duties? 



Let us consider the various ways in which a professor 

 in an engineering school may acquire the practical experi- 

 ence which is necessary in his work. 



First, he ma} be .ailed to a professorship from the 

 prai tical field. 



Second, after teaching for a time and finding how neces- 

 sary a practical experience is in his work, he may turn to 

 the practical field, and then return to teaching. 



Third, he may undertake practical w-ork in connection 

 with his college duties, and gain his experience in this 

 way. 



Each method possesses its own advantages and dis- 

 advantages. Starting with the first, it must be admitted 

 thai many of our best instructors have entered ihe teach- 

 ing line after they have had experience in the practical 

 field. Such a man has an advantage in being able to 

 make use of this experience immediately, when he starts 

 at his teaching work. There is a disadvantage, how- 

 ever, in the fact that should he have secured a mature 

 experience in the practical field, he will necessarily be no 

 longer a young man, and it may be hard for him to teach 

 and properly to adapt himself to the theoretical part of 

 his course. 



The advantages of the second system of securing a 

 practical experience, where the professor leaves the teach- 

 ing field, takes up outside work, and then returns to 

 teaching, are that during his practical career he will be 

 very much alive to the points he should look into, and, 

 Furthermore, if he returns to teaching he will possess the 

 advantage of having experience both as a teacher and as 

 a practic al engineer. 



We will now take up the third method, where a pro- 

 fessor obtains bis practical experience by conducting out- 

 side work in connection with his college duties. The 

 outside work undertaken by a professor should be that 

 1: 1 scientific or strictly engineering type. 



I In' advantage to a college in having its professors do 

 research and outside work is that what reflects to the 

 credit of the professor will reflect to the credit of the 

 college. Furthermore, the college will be looked to as a 

 source from which an unbiased opinion can be obtained, 

 and in maintaining this standard it will be fulfilling a high 

 and useful mission. The results of the investigations may 

 lie made the subjects of scientific papers to be read before 

 the various societies, and any reputation that a professor 

 gains in this way will benefit his college. 



I la- day is past when there can be a strict line drawn 

 between the work of the consulting engineer and that of 

 the professor wdio teaches in the same field. The ideal 



1 From the address of Prof. D. S. Jacobus, president of Section D, 

 Mechanical Science and Engineering. 



professor in a given line should be able to take up the 

 work of the consulting engineer in that line, and the ideal 

 consulting engineer should possess enough technical know- 

 ledge to fit him for being a professor. There should be 

 no jealousy, but rather a bond of friendship in that the 

 fundamentals which each should master are the same. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The results of a census undertaken each year 

 by the Magazine show that there are 2722 undergraduates 

 actually in residence this term, as compared with 2621 in 

 Hilary term, 1905. The increase is probably due to the 

 Rhodes scholars and to the fact that a larger proportion 

 of undergraduates now complete three years of residence 

 than was the case a few years back. The three largest 

 colleges are Christ Church, New College, and Balliol, with 

 j 1 1, .an, ami i.s 1 members in residence. 



A long vacation course in geography will be held in 

 Oxford between August 7 and 25, provided that sufficient 

 names are sent to the Reader in Geography, Old Ashmo- 

 lean Building, Oxford, by June 1. The course will include 

 lectures and demonstrations in the School of Geography, 

 and surveying and map-drawing in the field. 



At a meeting of the Junior Scientific Club, held on 

 Wednesday, February 14, at the museum, papers wen- 

 read by Prof. Miers on "Spontaneous Crystallisation," 

 .ml b\ Mr. C. G. E. Farmer on " The Use of Finely 

 Divided Metals in Organic Chemistry." 



Cambridge. — The regulations for the diploma in mining 

 engineering were passed by the Senate last Thursday. 

 Among the chief of these regulations is that the candidate 

 may take such parts of the natural sciences tripos and of 

 lie special examination in mechanism and applied sciences 

 as bear upon the subject of mining engineering, or a 

 candidate may take honours in the mechanical sciences 

 tripos. Details of the examination and the schedules in 

 the art of mining and in metallurgy will be found in the 

 Cambridge University Reporter lor December 5, 1005. 



The Smith's prizes for 1004 have been adjudged as 

 follows, the names being in alphabetical order : — C. F. 

 Russell, Pembroke, for his essiv on " Ihe Geometrical 

 Interpretation of Apolar Binary Forms"; F. J. M. 

 Stratton, Gonville and Caius College, for his ess. a on 

 " A Problem in Tidal Evolution Suggested by the Motion 

 of Saturn's Ninth Satellite." 



Mr. J. W. Nicholson, of Trinity College, has been 

 elected to tin- Isaac Newton studentship in astronomy and 

 physical optics, of the value of 250Z. for one year, for study 

 an. I research in astronomy. 



Mr. R. II. Rastall, late scholar ..I Christ's College, 

 Harkness scholar in 1903, has been elected to a junior 

 fellowship at Christ's College. Mr. Rastall has worked 

 chiefly in the Ceological Museum at Cambridge, and has 

 written on the Blea Wyke beds of Yorkshire ami on 

 " The Buttermere and Ennerdale Granophyre " of Lake- 

 land. 



Dr. C. H. Lees, lecturer in physics and assistant director 

 of the physical laboratories of the University oi Man- 

 chester, has been appointed professor of physics at the 

 Fast London College. 



Tin: King's Speech, read by His Majesty at the opening 

 ..f Parliament on Monday, promised that, at the earliest 

 possible moment, a Bill would be introduced " fot amend- 

 ing lie- existing law with regard to education in England 

 and Wales." 



The Lancashire County Education Committee- has re- 

 commended the council to make a grant of 100Z. a year 

 to ill.- land for the establishment of a department in 

 economic botany in the University of Liverpool. The cost 

 of the proposed department has in consequence now been 

 completely guaranteed. 



I in Senate of the University of St. Andrews has resolved 

 to confer the following honorary degrees, among others, at 

 the graduation ceremonial on April 3 : — LL.D., Dr. 

 A. C. L. G. Gunther, F.R.S., in appreciation of his life- 

 long and distinguished labours in zoology, Prof. J. C. 

 Wilson, Oxford, and Prof. A. II. Young, Manchester. 



NO. 1895, VOL. J3] 



