344 



NATURE 



{Feb. II, I < 



beetroot are over, and sugar-cane will go the way of all 

 discarded products." This prediction depends, however, 

 upon another condition besides that of the abundance 

 of the flowers. If the sugar they contain be wholly or 

 chiefly cane-sugar, that is, " sucrose," then the argument 

 is not without weight. But the nature of the saccharine 

 matter of the Mahwa does not appear to have been 

 ascertained. MM. Riche and R^mont {Journ. de Pkariii. 

 el Chimie, iSSo, p. 215) stated that the air-dried flowers 

 contain 60 per cent, of fermentable sugar, of which about 

 one-seventh is crystallisable. The material available for 

 analysis in Europe consists, of course, of the dried flowers. 

 These may have suffered some change beyond the mere 

 loss of water, but the evidence they aftbrd on chemical 

 examination is not favourable to the view that they are 

 likely to compete with sugar-beet or sugar-cane as a 

 source of cane-sugar. Here is the result of an analysis 

 of a sample of Mahwa flowers (from the Kew Museum) 

 in their air-dried condition ; — 



III 100 parts 



Cane-sugar ... ... ... ... 5-2 



Invert-sugar ... ... ... ... 5 2 '6 



Other matters soluble in water ... 72 



Cellulose ... ... ... 2'4 



Albuminoids ... ... ... ... 2 '2 



Ash ... 4-8 



Water lost at 100° C... ... ... 15-0 



Undetermined... ... ... ... 12 '5 



The flowers analysed had a slight smell of fermented 

 saccharine matter and a distinct acid reaction. But it is 

 not at all probable that they could have contained any 

 large proportion of cane-sugar even when quite fresh, 

 and that i5/i6ths of that sugar had been inverted during 

 the process of desiccation. We cannot argue from 

 analogy in this case. For while the nectar of many flowers 

 contains no sugar e.\cept sucrose, invert-sugar occurs 

 in some blossoms, as well as in many other parts of 

 plants. Even the unripe and growing stems of the sugar- 

 cane and of many grasses contain much invert-sugar. 

 It must, however, on the other hand, be remembered 

 that cut sugar-canes imported into this country contain 

 a large amount of invert-sugar, and that if they be kept 

 a week only after the harvest the invert-sugar naturally 

 present in the juice shows a marked increase and the 

 cane-sugar a corresponding diminution. On the whole, 

 then, so far as the materials at my disposal enable me 

 to judge, I believe that the saccharine matter of fresh 

 Mahwa flowers will be found to consist mainly of dextrose 

 and levulose, and that consequently they will not be 

 available as a material for the economic production of 

 sucrose. 



I have to thank Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer, C.M.G., 

 Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, for drawing my 

 attention to this subject, and for a supply of the material 

 on which I have worked. A. H. CHURCH 



THE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION MOVEMENT^ 

 'T'HIS "movement" is one of the most significant of 

 ■•■ the present day, and provides a most useful step in 

 that ladder of learning which it is desirable to see reach- 

 ing from the elementary school up to the University 

 degree. 



Under the University Extension system, knowledge of 

 the highest character is offered by its acknowledged pos- 

 sessors to all classes alike, yet with the very popular 

 qualities of cheapness and attractiveness. The contents 

 of this paper fall naturally into two heads : first, the 

 advantages offered and the objects aimed at by those 

 engaged in the work : and, secondly, hints and instruc- 

 tions as to the methods by which the work may be suc- 



,,,'. "The University Extension Movement." By R. G. Moulton, M..\. 

 With an Introduction by Prof. Stuart, M.P. (London : Bemrose and Sons, 



cessfully carried on. Mr. Moulton vigorously urges the 

 former, and has ten years' experience in the latter. 



The ideal aimed at is, that a University education 

 should be placed within the reach of any " person " in 

 any grade of society, and that large bodies of students 

 all over the country should be attached to the University 

 as associates, of whom, if few ever became full members, 

 yet any might do so, and all have started on the road. 

 The Universities have set themselves to meet the wants 

 of classes who have been long debarred from such privi- 

 leges ; and an ample page of knowledge will be spread 

 before the eyes of all whom partial education may lead to 

 seek it yet further. 



The desire has long been felt both among middle and 

 lower classes. The old Literary and Philosophical 

 Society on behalf of the one, and the old Mechanics' 

 Institute of the other, were both anxious attempts to 

 do, by voluntary eftbrt and amateur work, what the 

 University now offers to undertake as a special business, 

 by means of an itinerant system of authorised teachers 

 taken from their most highly-trained and successful 

 graduates. Under the eye of the Syndicate, and not 

 making popularity their end, they will have a power at 

 their back and a guarantee of their quality and of its 

 permanency which the old lecturers could never give. 



The great difference, accordingly, from the single 

 desultory lectures given at the old institutions is the 

 thoroughness of the instruction aimed at under this 

 new system rising by stages to the full studies 

 of the University. No subject is undertaken in a 

 set of less than twelve lectures ; notes are expected to 

 be taken, the books recommended by the lecturer are 

 expected to be read, and a class is held before or after 

 the next lecture to incite and help the students. An 

 examination takes place at the end of the course requiring 

 a higher standard than the ordinary college examination, 

 and not a lower one on account of the student's diffi- 

 culties, for such students are allowed eventually to take a 

 University degree, and it is correctly felt that it would be 

 exceedingly mischievous in any way to lower the standard 

 now required for that. This may seem a high one for 

 candidates often consisting of a large proportion of work- 

 ing men, but nevertheless, in many cases where com- 

 parison could be made with young men resident at 

 college, the former have proved to have the advantage 

 over the latter. This again is not incredible ; persons 

 attending these lectures are drawn from all classes alike, 

 yet all are volunteers, who have felt their want and chosen 

 their subject — the best soil for any seed of knowledge to 

 fall upon. It is not the upper classes only who are found 

 to appreciate higher education, but it has proved to be a 

 cause which can rouse passionate effort among workmg 

 men placed in the most unfavourable conditions. 



The Universities thoroughly sympathise with thedemand 

 in these days for knowledge in the lines of science and of 

 modern history. There is perfect freedom from holding up 

 classics and ancient languages, and abstruse mathematics 

 as the suinmuin honuin. The principal supporters of the 

 movement are clearly divided into favourers of science, 

 and favourers of literature and art, and an effort is made 

 to thoroughly meet either demand. Indeed, nothing is 

 more strikipg in reading this publication than the elasti- 

 city with which the University sets itself to fit its syllabus 

 of subjects, and its arrangements for teaching them, to the 

 various wants of the different bodies who wish to avail 

 themselves thereof — whether colleges, philosophical socie- 

 ties and institutes, free libraries, subscription libraries, or 

 special societies or companies for the purpose. Instances 

 are given of the lectures being carried on by all these 

 various bodies, and to all who would make use of 

 this means of increasing knowledge, practical advice is 

 here given upon matters down to those of the smallest 

 range, and we may quote the following experiences : — 



Ladies more than gentlemen are glad of the educa- 



