Nov. 12, 1874J 



NA TURE 



27 



At last the determined and cowardly hostility of Kabba 

 R(fga and the thousands at his command became so un- 

 mistakable and dangerous, that after exercising astonish- 

 ing forbearance and withstanding bravely several attempts 

 at destruction, the handful of men, having set fire to all 

 their property and their pretty little station, started or. 

 their march back to Foweera, the headquarters of Rionga, 

 on June 14, 1872. This march of about fifty miles, we are 

 sure, is unparalleled in history. It was mostly througli 

 thick grass reaching far above the head, through a con- 

 tinuous ambuscade of thousands of savage enemies, who 

 kept up an almost continuous shower of spears within a 

 few yards on each side of the short line of weak, hungry, 

 but courageous men, who, notwithstanding, managed to 

 reach Foweera with comparatively little loss. The brave 

 Lady Baker performed most of the journey on foot, and 

 Sir Samuel in the end pays a just tribute to his noble 

 wife, who in many ways showed herself the ever-watchful 

 good genius of the expedition. 



We have only space to say further that Gondokoro was 

 reached on April i, 1873, when Sir Samuel found that 

 his Enghshmen had built a beautiful little steamer, and 

 that the engineer, Edwin Higginbotham, was dead. 

 Arrangements having been made to maintain Gondokoro 

 as a station. Sir Samuel started homeward in the new 

 steamer Khedive on the 25th of May, and after a swift 

 and easy passage, reached Khartoum on June 29 and 

 Cairo on August 24. Here the Khedive received Sir 

 Samuel and his companions with well-merited honours, 

 although we regret to say that he seems to have been 

 powerless to act with the uncompromising decisiveness 

 necessary to complete what Sir Samuel had so well 

 begun. The latter had rid nearly the whole of the 

 district through which the expedition journeyed, of the 

 iniquitous slave-hunters, and justly expected that an 

 end would have been put to the wickedness of the 

 inhuman Abou Saood. The final sentence of the narra- 

 tive is almost crushing : — " After my departure from 

 Egypt, Abou Saood was released and was appointed 

 assistant to my successor." We can only hope that this 

 may not turn out so disastrous as it seems, but that 

 Colonel Gordon. may succeed, in spite of this suspicious 

 companionship, in completing the work which it cost Sir 

 Samuel and his party so much trouble to initiate. 



One shuts the book with but a low idea of the natives 

 whom the courageous Englishman tried to benefit ; it 

 would seem as if they had no single characteristically 

 human quality which could be appealed to and used 

 as a basis on which to rear the virtues of civilisation ; 

 and one is very much inclined to believe with Sir Samuel 

 that some modification of the method which he found so 

 successful in training the " Forty Thieves " might be 

 more likely to succeed in raising these Africans from 

 their slough than any appeal to their moral natures. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[The Editor does not hold liimself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by /lis correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond ■with the 7uriters of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.} 

 ] Endowment of Research 

 In the article on "Endowment of Research," in Nature, 

 voL xi. p. 2, the following passage occurs : — 



" It does not appear from the Report of the Com-nission that 

 the Cambridge College; have yet taken any s'eps to appropriate 

 definitely any portion of their endowments to the encourasement 

 of scientific research ; but it is a matter of common notoriety 

 that at the October election to Fellowships at Trinity College, a 

 candidate was successful whose chief qualification was that he 

 had already accomplished good original work in embryolofical 

 investigation." 



Although it may not appear in the Report, it is nevertheless 

 the fact, that in December 1S72 the Master and Fellows of 

 Trinity adopted a revised set of statutes, wherein are distinct 

 provisions for the endowment of research, very like those com- 

 mended in the case of New College, Oxford. The Privy 

 Council has, however, deferred since January 1873 the con- 

 sideration of these statutes, until tlie late Commission should 

 have reported. This delay seems now all the more vexatious 

 and unjustifiable, inasmuch as it appears from the Appendix to 

 the Report, that changes of statutes were proposed at Oriel and 

 New Colleges five months after the date of our proposal, and 

 that these changes were ratified by the Privy Council within a 

 few months in the ordinary manner. 



If in the future the Government should desire to make any 

 changes in this direction in the constitutions of the Colleges, it 

 should be remembered to the credit of this College that two 

 years ago a complete scheme was offered which made liberal 

 provision for the endowment of research. It is due to external 

 authority alone, that in the meanwhile vested interests have 

 accrued, far heavier than any wliich would have arisen under the 

 proposed statutes, and that neirly one-third of the University 

 has been prevented from enjoying during the interval, statutes in 

 accordance with the prevailing opinion inside, and certahily, as 

 to scientific research, meeting with the approval of tlie outside 

 world. George Darwin 



Trinity College, Cambridge, Nov. 8 



The University of London 



In iu--tice to the graduates of the University of London and 

 to tci!. Annual Committee of Convocation, I trust you will allow 

 me to offer a few remarks with respect to Prof Foster's opening 

 address delivered at University College and published in your 

 columns, vol. x. pp. 506 and 525' 



Prof Foster very justly complains that in the present regula- 

 tions for the Matriculation Natural Philosophy Examination there 

 is not " a tittle of internal evidence to show that they were 

 drawn up in the present centiuy," that there is a want of con- 

 nection between the subjects recjuired from candidates, and that 

 the freedom of teachers in the instruction of their pupils is 

 seriously interfered with, by the necessity of adapting lectures to 

 the reqmrements of the examination. 



None have shown themselves more sensible of tlie justice of 

 these views than the graduates of tlie University ; and, in a 

 report whicli was drawn up by a sub-committee and adopted by 

 Convocation, with reference to certain proposed modifications of 

 tlie matriculation, the attention of the Senate was respectfully 

 called to tliis portion of the examination. Tliat report states : 

 •' Your committee are strongly of opinion that no revision of the 

 matriculation examination would be satisfactory which did not 

 effect some improvement in that part of it which relates to 

 Natural Philosophy. In proposing the following alterations, 

 their objects have been to adapt this examination to the courses 

 of lectures and to the most approved te.xt-books on Physics." 



It will be seen from this extract that Convocation was desirous 

 that tlie examination should be brought into harmony with the best 

 methods of instruction, and that the greatest possible freedom 

 should be left to teachers. It was further suggested that the 

 subjects of examination should include Mechanics, Hydrostatics, 

 Heat, and Light, and that the first only of these subjects should 

 be compulsory. 



In the new regulations issued by the Senate, which will come 

 into operation in June 1875, some improvements in this examina- 

 tion have been effected. The antiquated syllabus of subjects has 

 been retained, but the whole character of the examination has 

 been modified. Heat has been introduced ; and it has been 

 resolved that in the Natural Philosophy paper double as many 

 questions shall be set as are required to be answered, and that 

 candidates shall be free to choose any of them up to the required 

 number. This alteration wUI effect a great improvement on the 

 old system, which encouraged superficial knowledge by re- 

 quiring candidates to answer one question at least out of certain 



