NATURE 
7 oS 
237 
THURSDAY, JULY 24, 1873 
THE ENDOWMENT OF RESEARCH 
III. 
re is probable that though the main proposition here 
advocated, that original workers in the Sciences de- 
serve, on public grounds, a recognised position and pecu- 
niary support, will not meet with much opposition from 
any quarter, the means by which this desirable end is 
chiefly proposed to be attained will not be acquiesced in 
with equal readiness. Englishmen have been so long 
accustomed to regard their Universities as merely high 
schools of liberal education, and the independent growth 
of modern Science in this country has been so rapid and 
vigorous, that to many worthy persons it will seem nothing 
better than a Utopian dream to attempt to re-establish 
the genuine pursuit of scientific knowledge as an end in 
itself at our ancient seats of learning. Those, however, 
who know something about the system of a German 
University, and are acquainted with the former history of 
Oxford and Cambridge, will not consider the attempt to 
be of sucha hopeless character. The present time also 
affords an admirable opportunity of urging upon public 
attention a fundamental reform in the direction above indi- 
cated. The Universities have of late years been losing 
many of the peculiarities which they once so warmly 
cherished, and at the same time their revenues have been 
increasing to an enormous extent. The same Govern- 
ment which passed a Bill to pronounce them national 
and not ecclesiastical establishments, has also issued a 
Royal Commission to inquire into the extent and 
distribution of their endowments. Now that the nation 
has established its claim to remodel the Universities 
solely with a view to the public interest, and is taking 
stock, as it were, of the property which has fallen under. 
its disposal, the very occasion has come when scientific 
men should formulate their demands on behalf of those 
public interests which the practical politician is likely to 
neglect. It must, moreover, be borne in mind that the 
impulse in this direction must come from without, for 
although it will not be difficult to prove that no less 
benefit would accrue to the Universities themselves than 
to the cause of Science from the scheme herein ad- 
vocated, yet the most advanced academical reformers 
do not seem to have got beyond the notion of extending 
and perfecting the professorial functions. 
We propose then to show at some length that the En- 
dowment of Research should naturally take a leading 
place in the reconstruction of the University system 
which appears to be close at hand, and to indicate in 
what manner such endowment may most readily be 
carried into effect. For this purpose it will not be neces- 
sary to reveal the many minor abuses which the reforms 
of twenty years ago failed to remove, but it will be neces- 
sary to adopt the more difficult task of sketching out the 
true conception of what a University should be, and of 
considering the comparative claims to endowment of 
teaching and of study. 
Without any attempt to prejudge the matter, or to 
awake the dormant controversy as to the original meaning 
_ of the word, it may be safely laid down that a University 
No. 195—VOL, vit. 
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is an institution composed of the most competent teachers 
and the most promising students, on which the State, in 
consideration of its diligently promoting the higher edu- 
cation, confers a lofty position and important privileges. 
That such an institution should enjoy large endowments > 
is evidently not of the essence of its nature, for the Uni- 
versities of old were uniformly most famous when they 
were least rich : it is, however, absolutely necessary for 
the healthy activity of its functions that it should not be 
so encumbered with wealth as to be disposed to lavish sine- 
cures upon its favourite members. It is evident, also, that 
it will forfeit its trust as the home of Culture and of 
Science, and will degenerate into a lyceum for the adult 
sons of the well-to-do classes, unless it continually main- 
tains itself on a level with the ever-advancing boundaries 
of human knowledge, and that just so far as it lags be- 
hind it will exercise a mischievous influence on the simple 
public, who continue to rely upon its treacherous 
authority. Further, it is of great importance that the 
original institution, on which alone the rank was bestowed, 
and which alone deserves the high privileges, should not be 
absorbed by the growth of a number of parasitic institu- 
tions, whose interests and aims may be not identical with or 
even analogous to itsown. Butabove all other symptoms 
of decay that a University can show, is to be placed its 
rejection of the highest branches of knowledge which 
the progressive activity of human thought is ever compre- 
hending within the domain of Science. To this danger 
the most ancient and the most wealthy Universities are 
naturally the most exposed. Their antiquity leads them 
to regard the erudition which they have inherited through 
many centuries as synonymous with real knowledge, and 
their wealth is used (where it is not misused) to afford 
encouragement only to those kinds of learning which their 
traditions have sanctified. In brief, a false University would 
be an institution which is content merely to satisfy the de- 
mand for teaching which custom approves, and which 
neglects as a hindrance to its tuitional duties the higher 
knowledge which it was originally founded to promote. 
To recall such a University to the true conception of 
its duties no mere mechanical changes with reference to 
its internal organisation will be sufficient. It has lost 
the spirit of disinterested study which first gave it life, and 
the atmosphere of intellectual activity under which alone 
it can flourish. It requires that new vigour should be 
poured into it, and a new order of workers established 
within its limits. It requires to be relieved of the burden 
of part of its wealth, in order that it may receive back 
again greater advantages than it can give. By endowing 
research in all those departments of knowledge to which 
the scientific method has been already extended, and by 
reserving the power of similar endowment for those other 
departments of knowledge which will, no doubt, before long 
besimilarly reduced to orderand law, Oxfordand Cambridge 
may yet regain the proud position which was once theirs, 
as “‘ bodies of learned men devoting their lives to the cul- 
tivation of Science, and the direction of academical 
teaching.” 
To point out more particularly the source from which 
the endowments of research should be drawn, it will be 
necessary to revive the original distinction between the 
Universities and the Colleges of which they may be said 
to be now composed, To raise the University proper at 
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