NATURE 
217 
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1873 
THE NAVY AND SCIENCE 
T would be difficult to estimate the many excellent 
effects that are likely to result from the establish- 
ment of the Royal Naval College, which, as has been at 
last authoritatively intimated, is to be opened on Febru- 
ary I, in those noble halls at Greenwich that for so 
long have been associated in another way with the 
: 
err 
British Navy. Her Majesty’s Government deserve the 
highest praise for the wisdom—provokingly tardy though 
it has been—displayed in the thorough and handsome 
_ provision they have made for the scientific education of 
our naval officers. Much that is sarcastic, no doubt, 
might be said on this tardiness of a Government which 
seldom moves until it is driven ; but as we fear this would 
do little good, we shall only express a hope that in future 
when they are compelled to take action in any matter, 
especially if it be scientific, they will do so as decidedly 
and sweepingly as they have done in the present instance. 
It is usually acknowledged that the very existence of 
Britain as a first-rate Power depends upon the efficiency 
of her navy, and yet it is a lamentable fact that hitherto 
no nation in the world of any consequence has made less 
systematic provision for the training of the members of 
her nayy than has our own. Our naval officers and sea- 
men have been left pretty much to haphazard to gain a 
knowledge of their profession, and, indeed, until re- 
cently it would have been generally thought derogatory to 
what is vaguely known as “ British pluck,” had it been 
hinted that it would b2 not less plucky were it well in- 
formed ; that it would have a better chance to beat all 
the forces in the universe, did it know the scientific prin- 
ciples on which a few of these forces rested. Happily 
this is no longer the case; the strong light of science, 
“the irresistible logic of facts,” has shown this old 
knowledge to be but ignorance ; and let us rejoice that 
this great light has at lastdawned upon the magnates of 
our navy, and dispersed the great darkness in which they 
have forsolong sat. The college to be opened on Feb. 1, 
if we may judge from the prospectus, will furnish as 
thorough a scientific education in the branches to be 
taught as can be obtained at any similar institution in 
any country in the world. 
The immense advantages that are likely to accrue to 
the British Navy as such, from the excellent training 
which its officers must undergo at the new Naval College, 
are evident to all, and have been already pointed out in 
the columns of the general press. For one thing it will 
reduce the incompetents and idlerstoa minimum. We 
are inclined to think that the gains to Science from the 
establishment of such an institution will be of not less 
importance than the increase in the efficiency of the navy 
which must be its special result. Our naval officers form 
a large, important, and influential body, having opportu- 
nities for scientific research all over the world which 
all students of nature must envy. Even under the 
old 7éeime many of the most important additions to 
scientific knowledge in various departments were made 
by naval officers, some of whom have won for themselves 
ess names as scientific explorers, What then 
No, 169—VOL, VII. 
must be the conquests of Science in the future when 
every naval officer who is capable of profiting by the 
instruction to be furnished at Greenwich will go forth 
trained and equipped to wrest from Nature some of the 
many secrets which she still holds in her grasp ? What an 
immense advantage must it be to any scientific or exploring 
expedition when the officers that command the ship are 
as capable of unravelling the mysterizs of Nature as they 
are of boxing the compass. But it would be impossible to 
enumerate all the advantages that we may reasonably ex- 
pect to accrue to Science from the step taken by the Lords 
of the Admiralty. The scheme of education as it stands 
on paper is admirable, and most comprehensive as to sub- 
ject and as to the classes for whose advantage it has been 
drawn out ; with Rear-Admiral Kay as President of the 
College, and Dr. Hirst as Director of Studies, we have 
every reason to hope that the Royal Naval College will 
“become, not only an educational establishment affording 
the means of the highest training in theoretical subjects 
to naval officers of all classes, but also a nucleus of 
mathematical and mechanical science specially devoted 
to those branches of scientific investigation which have 
most interest for the navy.” 
We can only hope that the excellent example set by 
the Lords of the Admiralty will in a very short time be 
followed by the authorities of the War Office. Does not 
the profession of a military officer at the present dayrequire 
as thorough a training to be able to fill it efficiently, as does 
that of a naval officer? Are not the very highest scien- 
tific principles being brought to bear on the elaboration 
of military weapons, and military tactics? and would not 
military officers, like naval officers, perform the duties of 
their profession more efficiently if they had a systematic 
training in the sciences from which modern tactics 
draw their life? But sad to say, the military authorities 
have recently shown a tendency to take the very opposite 
course to that which our more advanced naval authorities 
have so commendably followed. We hope the example 
of the latter will ere long shame the former into mending 
their ways. 
The following are some of the principal points in the 
minute issued by the Lords of the Admiralty :— 
“The College, subject to the subjoined Regulations, 
will be open to officers of the following ranks :—1. Cap- 
tains and Commanders. 2. Lieutenants. 3. Navigating 
Officers. 4. Naval Instructors. 5. Acting Lieutenants 
and Acting Sub-Lieutenants. 6. Officers, Royal Marine 
Artillery ; ditto, Royal Marine Light Infantry. 7. Officers 
of the Engineer Branch, viz.:—Chief Engineers, En- 
gineers, Ist Class Assistant Engineers, Acting 2nd Class 
Assistant Engineers. 8. A limited number of Dockyard 
Apprentices will be annually selected, by competitive 
examination, for admission to the College. A course of 
instruction at the College will also be open to a limited 
number of :—9. Private students of Naval Architecture 
or Marine Engineering. 10. Officers of the Mercantile 
Marine. 
“Tt is not intended to provide at Greenwich for the 
education of the Naval cadets. My Lords intend that the 
Royal Naval College at Greenwich shall be so organised 
as to provide for the education of naval officers of all 
ranks above that of midshipman, in all branches of theo- 
retical and scientific study bearing upon their profession ; 
but my Lords will continue the instruction given in the 
Lxcelient gunnery-ship as heretofore, and arrangements 
for instruction in practical surveying will also be con- 
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