2 
5 
NATURE 
medal, or partly one and partly the other, for the reward 
of original discovery in the physical sciences, particu- 
larly electricity and magnetism, or their applications.” 
A gold medal, to be called the “Hughes” medal, will 
be awarded for the first time this year. 
These bequests involve corresponding obligations, as 
may be seen under the heading of “The Trusts of the 
Royal Society,” and the multiplicity and variety of these 
and similar'responsibilities, duly recorded in the volume 
under review, appear to have stimulated the Council to 
something in the nature of a protest and an appeal ; for, 
by a memorandum facing the first page of the “ Record,” 
we learn that the Council has arrived at the conclusion 
that it is neither to the advantage of the Society nor in 
the interests of the advancement of natural knowledge 
that the already long list of medals should be added 
to, and the Council expresses the opinion that no further 
bequests for awards as prizes for past achievements should 
be accepted by the Society. The memorandum then 
proceeds to direct attention to the fact that the funds be- 
longing absolutely to the Society and available without 
restrictions for its general purposes are very few indeed, 
and that the usefulness of the Society has been greatly 
hampered by the lack of such funds. 
These facts are familiar to those acquainted with the 
working of the Society, but outside this circle there 
seems to exist a general impression, whether it be due to 
the Royal Society’s ancient and honourable association 
with the throne, or to its occupying handsome premises 
in Burlington House, or to its entertainments in the 
London season, that it is a wealthy body, able to dispense 
material assistance to all and sundry undertakings in the 
wide field of natural knowledge. How far this is from 
the truth may be seen from the statement of the Society’s 
income published in the ‘“‘ Year-Book.” In this we see 
that the total regular income of the Society, apart from 
funds which it administers in a fiduciary character, 
amounts only to about 5o0o/., and out of this, supple- 
mented by various small miscellaneous, and vicarious, 
receipts and a portion of the Government publication 
grant, provision has to be found for an expenditure which 
last year amounted to 2572/. onits publications alone, and 
1300/. for its “ Catalogue of Scientific Papers,” in addition 
to all the expenses of establishment and library. Such a 
condition of affairs, hampering, as we are told it does, 
the usefulness of the Society, which has been aptly de- 
scribed by a distinguished foreign savant as “ the mother 
of learned societies,” and renders almost daily to the 
nation important services in matters of deep concern 
to the people in all parts of the Empire, is testimony only 
too eloquent to the indifference with which the pursuit 
of science is regarded in this country. 
Space forbids us to refer at length to other undertakings 
in which advance is recorded in this volume. One of the 
most important is the completion of the “ Supplementary 
Volume of the Catalogue of Scientific Papers,” a volume 
of 807 quarto pages containing a list of the papers not 
previously catalogued in the volumes already published, 
for the period ending with 1883. The Society has already 
embarked upon the compilation of a similar catalogue for 
the period 1883-1900. With the completion of this work, 
however, the Royal Society’s direct responsibilities in 
this matter will cease, the task being taken up from that 
point by the organisation, to which attention has more 
than once been called in these columns, of the “ Inter- 
national Catalogue of Scientific Literature.” 
Other matters of more strictly domestic interest are | 
duly recorded, The Society’s collection of portraits and 
medals has received some notable additions. The lists 
of presidents and other officers, and of the recipients of 
the Society’s medals, are brought up to date. 
But perhaps the most interesting part of the volume is 
the list of Fellows of the Society from its foundation up 
tothe present time. Such a roll of worthies furnishes a 
NO. 1706, VoL. 66] 
[JuLY 10, 1902 
wealth of suggestion to the student of natural knowledge, 
and their biographies, if they could be presented to us 
in due sequence, would form an epitome of the history of 
scientific advance during the past 240 years which might 
almost be said to be synonymous with the history of the 
development of modern England. A word must be 
added in praise of the interesting series of portraits which 
is begun in the “ Record,” reproduced from photographs 
made by Sir William Abney from pictures in the posses- 
sion of the Society. The present volume contains por- 
traits of Sir Isaac Newton, Henry Oldenburg, Lord John 
Somers and Sir James Burrow, and we are promised a 
continuation of the series in future editions of the work. 
The principal new feature in this year’s “ Year-Book,” 
now in its sixth issue, is the incorporation of the complete 
official list of Fellows of the Society living on January 1, 
1902, in place of the abbreviated list which has hitherto 
done duty in this work. This expanded list has added 
twenty pages to the size of the handbook, which contains 
besides, among other current information, the statutes 
and standing orders of the Society, lists of its Council and 
its twenty-six standing committees, the regulations for 
the administration of the Government grant for scientific 
investigations, the president’s anniversary address and 
the annual report of the Council, with a statement of 
accounts and obituary notices of Fellows deceased. 
Appended to the Council’s report is the report of a 
committee of the Society upon the vexed question of the 
organisation of philosophico-historical studies, a subject 
which has been already much discussed in the Press. 
Altogether the ‘“ Year-Book” indicates clearly enough 
how multifarious and important are the activities of the 
Royal Society. 
THE FUTURE OF THE VICTORIA 
UNIVERSITY. 
URING the next few months the Privy Council will 
be called upon to come to a decision on a matter 
vitally affecting higher education in the north of 
England. The Victoria University, which has been in 
existence for twenty-three years, has come to a stage in 
its career when its future must be definitely settled. 
Liverpool has applied for a separate charter, and Owens 
College gives its hearty support to the establishment of 
three distinct and independent universities in place of the 
present federation. 
The ambition of Manchester to have an independent 
university is not of recent growth. In the year 1641 a 
petition was presented to Parliament asking fora charter, 
but rival claims were brought forward by the town of 
York and nothing came of the effort. A fresh start in 
the same direction was made in 1836, but only resulted 
in the affiliation of the Manchester Academy to the 
London University. The more recent attempts of Owens 
College to establish a university in the city of Manchester 
will be in the recollection of many readers of NATURE. 
The opposition of Yorkshire (history repeats itself) was 
again successful, and led to the foundation of the Victoria 
University, which has, on the whole, worked well. What, 
then, are the reasons for its proposed dissolution ? 
The functions of a university are threefold—to teach, 
to advance knowledge and to examine. The more inti- 
mately these three functions are interwoven, the more 
effectively will the university fulfil its purpose. Their 
separation has been the great impediment to the progress 
of university education in this country. This is beginning 
to be recognised, and the recent efforts of Wales, of 
Birmingham and of London all tend in the direction of 
subordinating examination to teaching and of giving a 
proper place in the university ideal to research and 
advance of knowledge. 
The Victoria University was founded in order to es- 
tablish a greater harmony between teaching andexamining 
