- NATURE 
337 
THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 1873 
THE REPORT OF THE SCIENCE COMMIS- 
SION ON THE OLD UNIVERSITIES 
Il. 
N relation to the Colleges, the attention of the Com- 
missioners has been principally directed to the 
following points :—1. The Scholarships. 2. The Fellow- 
ships. 3. The Organisation of the Instruction given in 
the Colleges in relation to the Instruction given in the 
Universities. 4. Contributions from the Colleges to a 
fund for University purposes. 
After giving a list of the Scholarships filled up in Ox- 
ford from January to December 1872, it is remarked that 
“it is evident upon a comparison of the numbers contained 
in this list that the Scholarships offered for Natural 
Science are but a small fraction of the whole number. 
The state of the case appears to be that the Colleges do 
not offer Scholarships for Natural Science because they 
fear they would not get good candidates from the schools ; 
and the schools do not teach Natural Science because 
they are afraid of injuring the prospects of their pupils 
by diminishing their chances of obtaining a Scholarship. 
It cannot be doubted that the effect upon the schools of 
this unequal distribution of rewards has been, and is, 
very disccuraging to scientific study; and that it has 
_ exerted a most unfavourable influence upon the number 
of Natural Science students.” 
Without being prepared to concur in this estimate of 
the relative value of the two objects, we are nevertheless 
of opinion that it is of great importance, with the view 
of promoting the study of Natural Science in the first 
grade schools throughout the country, that there should 
be an immediate, and ultimately a large, increase in the 
number of Scholarships offered for this subject by the 
Colleges. 
The part of the report which deals with the Fellowships 
is of great importance. 
After quoting from the evidence of the Chancellor of 
the University of Oxford and others, evidence to the 
effect that the present application of the revenues to 
Fellowships is exceedingly unsatisfactory, the report 
proceeds :— 
“Whilst giving every weight to the considerations 
urged by Prof, Jowett, and admitting to the fullest extent 
the great stimulus which the higher education has re- 
ceived at Oxford from the system of election <o Fellow- 
ships by open competition, we are nevertheless satisfied 
by the evidence laid before us that an unduly large pro- 
portion of the revenues of the Colleges is expended in 
sinecure Fellowships ; and we have reason to believe that 
this opinion is shared by a large and increasing number 
of the resident members of both Universities. : 
“Tt is doubtless advantageous to the country at large, 
as has been urged by some of our witnesses, that young 
men of ability, who choose to enter into one of the great 
professions, should be supported, or nearly so, in the 
early years of their professional career, and thereby be 
enabled to apply themselves at once to the higher studies 
of their profession, instead of wasting their energies in 
drudgery of some kind, for the mere purpose of obtaining 
No, 200—Vot, vit. 
a temporary livelihood. But this end may be secured by 
means of Fellowships tenable only for a limited period. 
It has been urged that the feeling of security given by 
the system of unlimited tenure greatly enhances the value 
of a Fellowship. No doubt it is a very comfortable thing 
for a young man to feel that, come what may, he is secure 
of an income so long as he chooses to remain single. 
But we can see no adequate reason why he should be 
thus comforted at the expense of the College, when he 
has preferred the more attractive prospect of a profes- 
sional career in the outer world to the work of the 
College. 
“We are therefore decidedly of opinion that the Fellow- 
ships awarded as prizes are excessive in number if not in 
value, and that the system ought to be remodelled. We 
are further of opinion that in any such remodelling a con- 
siderable proportion of the Fellowships should be sup- 
pressed or consolidated for the purposes of contributing 
to the general fund of the University and of endowing, 
within the Colleges and the University, new institutions, 
new offices, in aid of education or research. But it must 
be remembered that, as Prof. Jowett has stated, the pro- 
perty of the Colleges at Oxford, in some instances at least 
is greatly increasing, so that quite independently of the 
suppression of Fellowships there will in all probability be 
considerable sums available for these purposes. In any 
case, therefore, we are prepared to admit that a great 
part of the Fellowships ought to be retained as Fellow- 
ships, and the problem that has to be solved is how to 
employ those which are so retained in the most useful 
manner possible. 
“ The following are the chief purposes to which, in our 
judgment, the Fellowships should be applied :— 
“Tn the first place, a certain but not a very large pro- 
portion of the Fellowships will be always required, as at 
present, for the payment of the persons entrusted with 
the management of the College estates, and with the go- 
vernment and administration of the Colleges themselves. 
“ Secondly, a large number of the Fellowships is at pre- 
sent employed, and probably a still Jarger number ought 
hereafter to be employed, in Connection with the instruc- 
tion given in the Colleges. 
“Thirdly, a smaller, but still a considerable number of 
Fellowships ought to be employed as Terminable Prize 
Fellowships. 
“Fourthly, a certain number of Fellowships ought, as 
we have already said, to be united with Professorships in 
the University; the University professor becoming ex 
officio a Fellow of the College and a member of its 
governing body. 
“ Lastly, it is,in our opinion,’most important that a cer- 
tain number of Fellowships should be appropriated to the 
direct promotion of learning and research in various 
directions. It has been objected to this proposal that the 
Fellowship system, as hitherto administered, has not 
shown any great tendency to encourage original research, 
either in the field of learning or in that of Science ; that, 
when an office is created simply and solely with the view 
of giving a man leisure and opportunity for original re- 
search, there is always the appearance, to say the least, 
of creating a sinecure ; and that it is impossible, as Prof. 
Jowett has said, to get a man for money who can make a 
discovery. But, though you cannot get a man for money 
T 
