March 23, 1 



NA TURE 



499 



vii. — reads as follows: " In counties and county boroughs in 

 England which possess an organisation for the promotion of 

 secondary education, such organisation, if recognised by the 

 Department, may notify its willingness to be responsible to the 

 Department for the science and art instruction within its area. 

 In such case grants will in general be made to the managers of 

 new schools and classes, only if they are acting in unison with 

 such organisation. The rights of the managers of existing 

 schools and classes will not be interfered with ; and Town 

 Councils and School Boards which are managers of schools re- 

 receiving Science and Art grants will not be debarred from estab 

 lishing in their districts additional schools where necessary. In 

 Wales the Intermediate Education Authority is for this purpose 

 regarded as the authority for the promotion of secondary educa- 

 tion." Clause vii. was repeated in the Directory for 1898, and 

 has, since its introduction, been the cause of considerable 

 discussion. 



The following is a complete' list of those local authorities 

 which have up to the present been accepted by the Science and 

 Art Department as responsible for the science and art instruction 

 within their respective areas : — 



Counties. 



Cambridgeshire 



Cumberland 



Derbyshire 



Dorset 



Durham 



Essex 



Hampshire 



Herefordshire 



Lancashire 



Leicestershire 



Middlesex 



Norfolk 



Northuml)erland 



Nottinghamshire 



Oxfordshire 



Somerset 



Staffordshire 



Suffolk (East) 



Surrey 



Sussex (East) 



Sussex (West) 



Westmorland 



Wiltshire 



Yorkshire (West Riding) 



CouNiA' Boroughs. 

 Oxford 

 St. Helens 

 West Bromwich 

 Worcester 



Bath 



Bolton 



Brighton 



Burnley 



Devonport 



Just recently the application made by the London County 

 Council to be recognised as responsible within the County of 

 London, for the instruction in subjects sanctioned by the 

 Department of Science and Art, has been granted. 



Before referring to the opposition which has been offered by 

 educational organisations (other than those ultimately authorised 

 by the Department to act under Clause vii.) to an acceptance 

 of the claims of the public body applying for recognition, it will 

 be advisable to call attention to certain utterances of the 

 President and Vice-President of the Committee of Council on 

 Education, since their remarks have served to define more 

 clearly the scope of the new clause. His Grace the Duke of 

 Devonshire has said " he was perfectly aware that considerable 

 jealousy had been felt of these organisations (under Clause vii.), 

 because it was supposed that, if largely adopted, they would 

 probably be stereotyped hereafter by legislation as the future 

 educational authority. He did not believe there was any 

 ground for such jealou.sy or suspicion. The Government was 

 perfectly aware that the creation of strong bodies for the control 

 of secondary education must be the work of Parliament . . . 

 and when the time came the Government had no intention of 

 shrinking from making their own proposals." 



Such an utterance as this should go a long way towards dis- 

 pelling any idea that Clause vii. is an attempt " to carry out the 

 recommendation of the Secondary Education Committee with- 

 out legislation." At a conference in June last, between the De- 

 partment of Science and Art and the Organising Secretaries 

 and other representatives of the then recognised authorities, 

 Sir John Gorst explained that "the accepted organisations 

 would (i) receive en h!oc the grants earned in all schools in their 

 areas ; (2) be given power to appoint teachers in science subjects, 

 who would not be required to possess the special qualifications 

 laid down in the Directory ; and that the work of examination 

 and inspection would remain in the hands of the Department. 

 It was also decided at the same conference that such local 

 authorities should settle questions relating to the managers 1 f 

 different schools and their duties, and should receive examination 

 results direct from the Department. 



NO. 1534. VOL. 59] 



The opposition offered by the London School Board to the 

 claim of the London County Council referred to above, led to 

 an inquiry by the Department of Science and Art, and the 

 several points raised by the School Board may be fairly taken as 

 typical of the objections to the clause throughout the country. 

 Amongst other matters the School Board urged that the present 

 policy of the Department was to look upon the managers of 

 elementary schools engaged upon higher work as intruders, and 

 that this was inconsistent with the ideas which led to the estab- 

 lishment of the Department. It was argued that the granting 

 of authority to the London County Council would be an improper 

 prejudicing of the function of Parliament, and would be uncon 

 stitutional ; and also that Clause vii. in operation might seriously 

 prejudice Ihe rights of volunteers in evening continuation 

 science and art work, inasmuch as the County Council would 

 under the clause have the right of vetoing what they considered 

 to be unnecessary evening continuation work. 



Such is briefly the present state of affairs. The Department 

 of Science and Art continues to judge each application received 

 from local educational committees, of one kind or another, upon 

 its own particular merits, and the decision of the Department 

 is final. The extent to which the powers of South Kensington 

 under Clause vii. may be modified by legislation — which appears 

 to be imminent — remains to be seen. Time alone might 

 perchance suffice to reconcile the objectors. 



A. T. Simmons. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambriuce. — The following is the speech delivered by the 

 Public Orator, Dr. Sandys, Fellow and Tutor of St John's, in 

 presenting for the complete degree of M.A. honoris causa Mr. 

 G Sims Woodhead, Professor of Pathology : — 



" Duos deinceps pathologiae professores, fere in medio 

 aetatis cursu morte immatura praereptos, non sine dolore nuper 

 amisimus, quorum utriusque egregia in Academiam merita mm 

 est quod longius exsequar : vosmet ipsi vobiscum non sine 

 desiderio recordamini. Hodie vero professorem talium virorum 

 in locum nuperrime electum, mora nulla interposita salutamus, 

 et senatus nostri in ordinem statim cooptamus. Abhinc annos 

 viginti regiae societati medicae inter Edinenses praepositus, 

 postea ibidem uno in quinquennio discipulorum duo milia patho- 

 logiae praeceptis imbuisse dicitur. Idem et olim inter Bero- 

 linenses et nuper inter Londinenses maximo cum fructu his 

 studiis operam dedisse fertur. Peritis quidem nota sunt 

 volumina ilia quae (ne alia cornmemorem) de pathologiae prae- 

 sertim scientia conscripsit. Ah isdem non sine spe magna 

 expectatur opus ingens, in quo de remedio novo contra diph- 

 theriae toxicum nuper feliciter adhibito, aegrotantium numero 

 immense recensito, accuratissime disputat. Sunt etiam alia 

 professoris nostri in studiis generi humano salutaria, quae 

 memoratu sunt dignissima ; sed hodie haec omnia, temporis 

 iniquo exclusus spatio, ut Vergili verbis utar, 



" ' praetereo, atqiie aliis post me memoranda refinquo. ' 



" Duco ad vos Professorem WooDHE..M>. " 



Dr. Thomas Bari.ow has been appointed to fill the vacancy 

 in the body of the University of London Commissioners cause<l 

 by the resignation of Sir William Roberts. 



Science announces the following recent gifts to educational 

 institutions in the United States: — Washington University. St. 

 Louis, has just received generous gifts enabling it to remo\e to 

 its new site facing Forest Park. This site was purchased with 

 a fund of 200,000 dollars, contributed by seventy-five different 

 subscribers. Funds for a library, to cost 100,000 dollars, are in 

 the hands of the directors by the bequest of the late Stephen 

 Ridgley. The additional buildings include an engineering 

 building, costing 150,000 dollars, given by Mr. Samuel Cupples. 

 and a chemistry building, costing 100,000 dollars, given by 

 Mr. Adolphus Busch. Mr. Brookings has also offered 100,000 

 dollars, on condition that 500,000 dollars be subscribed at once 

 for an endowment. — Mr. Philip D. Armour has given 750,000 

 dollars to the Armour Institute of Chicago, which he had 

 previously endowed with 1,500,000 dollars. — The will of the 

 late Alexander M. Proudfit, of New York City, gives 30,000 

 dollars to Columbia University for two fellowships, one in 

 letters, and one for advanced studies in medicine. — Knox College, 



