590 



NATURE 



[April 20, 1899 



possible connection between the practice of business and 

 the academic training which we associate with university 

 education. 



The London School of Economics has had, so far, a 

 very successful career. In its temporary home in Adelphi 

 Terrace are found lecture-rooms and class-rooms, in 

 which a staff of over twenty teachers give instruction ; 

 also a well-furnished library containing over 10,000 

 volumes on economic subjects. The growing importance 

 of the study of economic science in its relation to inter- 

 national trade and commerce, and the success of the 

 attempt to establish in London a special high school for 

 the teaching of the subject will be regarded as justifying 

 the I'niversity of London Commissioners in recommend- 

 ing the addition of a faculty of economics to the other 

 faculties of the University ; and it may reasonably be 

 hoped that the present school will in the near future 

 be greatly developed, and become more closely associated 

 with the new University. 



To many persons it seems highly desirable that the 

 economic and commercial faculty of the new University 

 should be located in the Imperial Institute. The well- 

 arranged collections of Indian and Colonial products, 

 which form a most important part of the equipment of 

 that institute, would be found of especial value in illus- 

 trating the teaching of that branch of commercial edu- 

 cation known as VWiarctilcunde. Nowhere else in London 

 do similar facilities exist for instruction in the technology 

 of commercial products. Within the building, too, has 

 been provided a chemical laboratory, which is now largely 

 used for the examination and analysis of foreign products ; 

 and much of the scientific investigation, therein carried 

 on, under the able direction of Prof. Dunstan, is an 

 essential feature in the programme of a high school of 

 commerce. Indeed, a large part of the work which 

 entered into the original scheme of the promoters of the 

 Imperial Institute, might, it would seem, consistently, 

 and with great advantage to the public, be continued in 

 that institute under the auspices of a school of eco- 

 nomics, industry and commerce, in connection with the 

 reconstituted University of London. Whether such an 

 arrangement can be effected is a matter for careful con- 

 sideration ; but there is no doubt that the association 

 with the new University of a school of " economics and 

 political science," under a separate faculty, suggests a 

 reasonable basis of union between the educational side of 

 the Imperial Institute and the future University of London. 



As a consequence of the proposed recognition of 

 economics and commerce as a separate faculty of the 

 University, the London County Council have oflfered, 

 under certain conditions, to allocate to its maintenance 

 a yearly sum of 25CX)/., being part of their promised con- 

 tribution to the funds of the University. By the aid of 

 such an endowment, increased as it probably will be from 

 other sources, the present School of Economics might 

 enter upon a wider sphere of usefulness with new 

 resources and facilities for advanced teaching, and might 

 become a very important part of a teaching university. 



It is now generally understood that a modern univer- 

 sity must differ in many essential features from the 

 university of former centuries. Such a university must 

 gather up not only the wisdom stored of ages, but the 

 newest knowledge in its application to the industrial 

 requirements of modern life. The indebtedness of pure 

 science to the investigations and experiments of astro- 

 nomers, physicians and engineers is generally recognised, 

 and shows how inquiries originally undertaken with a 

 view to some practical end have often led to the dis- 

 covery of new scientific truths. What is true in physical 

 science is found to be the case also in economic science ; 

 and the establishment of a school for in(|uiry into eco- 

 nomic and industrial phenomena ; the better definition of 

 our existing knowledge of the subject for the purposes of 

 instruction ; the organisation of systematic methods of 



NO. 1538, VOL. 59] 



investigation and research ; and, above all, the recogni- 

 tion of the teachers, as constituting a separate university 

 faculty, with common aims and objects, will certainly 

 give a new impulse to the study of the laws of productive 

 industry, and will add largely to our knowledge of the 

 conditions under which trades are fostered, and nations' 

 are able to compete with one another in the struggle for' 

 new markets. 



The establishment of a Faculty of " Economics and' 

 Political Science (including commerce and industry)" by- 

 no means implies the granting by the University of a 

 corresponding degree. A University degree in any 

 faculty is only supposed to indicate that a student 

 has undergone a systematic course of instruction in a 

 certain department of knowledge, and the precise title of 

 the degree is a matter of comparative indifference. It is 

 essential that, in any new university, there should be 

 distinct and separate avenues to a degree, through the 

 study of the special groups of subjects, in which the 

 student elects to receive his training ; and it is enough 

 that the degree should certify that he has undergone 

 such a training. There is no necessary connection be- 

 tween a faculty and a degree. In London, a candidate can 

 take the M.B. or I5.S. degree in the Faculty of Medi- 

 cine, and the .M..-\. or D.Lit. in the Faculty of .•\rts. In 

 the Faculty of .Science, there are already several different 

 paths along which a student may proceed to graduation, 

 and it is a matter of no great moment whether students 

 in the Faculty of Economics should take the B.Sc. 

 degree, or whether a new title should be invented. 

 Indeed, it may be hoped that, both in engineering and 

 in economics, considerable freedom will be given to the 

 recognised teachers of the university, and that different 

 combinations of subjects, provided they involve an 

 equivalent academic training, will be accepted by the 

 .Acadeinic Council of the new university for the degree 

 examination. 



The e.xistence in London of a high school of com- 

 merce in close connection with the reorganised uni- 

 versity, will not only give an impetus to the study of 

 subjects bearing directly upon the development of our 

 manufacturing trades and commerce, but will exercise an 

 important influence upon the curriculum of our secondary 

 and higher grade schools. .■\s the " Board of Education 

 Bill" provides, in the first place, for the organisation of 

 the central authority and of the Consultative Committee, 

 and leaves to a later date the constitution of local authori- 

 ties, so it will be found that, if a commercial school of 

 university rank is successfully established, the first step 

 will be made towards the organisation of a system of 

 commercial education for schools of a lower grade. 



The proposal of the Statutory Commissioners to estab- 

 lish a Faculty of Economics and Political Science in 

 connection with the new university, is the opening of a 

 new era for comniercial education in this country ; and 

 the recommendation will be welcomed, as showing that 

 the Commissioners fully recognise the importance of 

 bringing the new I'niversity of London into close relation 

 with the varied educational requirements of the present 

 day. Philip Magnus. 



WILLIAM RUTHERFORD. 

 ''I'" HIS distinguished physiologist was a son of the 

 *■ border, lie was born at Ancrum in Roxburghshire 

 in 1839, and he died in Edinburgh on February 21, 1899. 

 About thirty-six years of his busy life, from the date of 

 his graduation in 1S63, were spent in the pursuit of 

 physiological science. After studying at Berlin, \'ienna, 

 and Paris, he became assistant to the late John Hughes 

 Bennett, who then filled the chair of Physiology in Edin- 

 burgh. For m.-iiiy years Bennett had taught histology 

 and the use of the microscope to voluntary classes, and 

 among his pupils may be mentioned the well-known 



