January 2, 1908] 



A^A TURE 



.'iiid so far as possible to be practically examined. In 

 the case of the higher degrees, such as D.Lit. and 

 D.Sc, original work on the part of the student is 

 an essential preliminary to his getting the degree, 

 and even with lower degrees provision is made foi 

 anyone showing any practical originality to be 

 excused a certain part of the usual theoretical book 

 uork. 



It is, of course, understood that these regulations 

 will require a stronger professorial staff to man the 

 colleges of the universities than if merely theoretical 

 instruction had to be given. A good many of the 

 colleges attached to the Indian universities, indeed all 

 I he largest and most important, are directly managed 

 1)V the Indian Government, and it is on the action 

 of this body that to a large extent the effective work- 

 ing of the' new Indian University Act will depend. 

 The colleges must be dealt with liberally in the matter 

 of staff, or the -Act will be inoperative, for If Govern- 

 ment colleges, with the resources of Government 

 behind them, do not take the lead, it is useless to 

 cKpect any others to work up to the desired standard. 



.\n important article in the influential Indian news- 

 l)aper. The Pioneer, of October 31, describes the con- 

 dition of things in the Indian colleges as being rather 

 critical at the present time. The following is an 

 extract from the article : — 



" The first commotion created by Lord Curzon's 

 measures of University Reform has died away long ago ; 

 but it must not be overlooked that the work merely 

 initiated by new Acts and sets of Regulations has yet to 

 be actually done, and that rather momentous issues depend 

 nn the spirit in whicli it is done. We are reminded of 

 this by certain papers of a controversial nature, written 

 by members of the Bengal Educational Service, into which 

 we have been allowed an insight. The controversy on 

 the face of it would appear to be one of purely local 

 interest, turning on the question whether the present pro- 

 fessorial staff of the Presidency College, Calcutta, is 

 adequate to the demands made on College leaching by the 

 new Regulations of the University. But a perusal of the 

 papers shows that matters of deep importance — the future 

 (if all teaching, learning and research in this country are 

 involved in the discussion. An educational officer specially 

 deputed by Government to report on the state and require- 

 ments of the Presidency College maintains that if the 

 College is to satisfy the new demands on teaching the 

 Science Professors must at once largely curtail the research 

 work in which they have been indulging in the past, and 

 another officer, closely connected with the College, in 

 I'ndorsing these remarks, tells us that research in the 

 Presidency College has of late become ' something of a 

 liogey,' even demonstrators and assistants being 'involved 

 in researches.' This, he assures us, has led to neglect of 

 pure teaching, and the first measure demanded by the 

 new era of higher education is that the entire staff, from 

 the senior professors downwards, should put aside their 

 researches which, as far as the interests of the College are 

 loncorned, are not only useless but positively injurious. 

 .Against these views the Science Professors maintain that 

 I hey and their subordinates have not neglected, and do not 

 mean to neglect, ' teaching,' but that research and train- 

 ing in the methods of research constitutes an important, 

 rn fact essential, element in all higher stages of instruc- 

 tion. It is evident that what is being discussed here is no 

 loss than the entire future character of the upper sections 

 of our large Colleges and the standing of their Professors. 

 Is it to be a principle recognised, and eventually to be 

 i-nforced, that Professors lecturing to B.A., B.Sc, M.A., 

 and M.Sc. classes must limit themselves to mere teaching, 

 whereby the antagonists of research evidently understand 

 the assiduous inculcation into the minds of students of 

 established facts and theories with the special aim of 

 training the recipients of knowledge rapidly to reproduce 

 in writing at examination time as much of the matter 

 .committed to memory as they can possibly manage ; or 

 should higher teachers in our Colleges be encouraged, 

 possibly definitely expected, to combine with such teach- 



NO. 1992, VOL. yy] 



ing efforts to rouse in their students the appetite and 

 capacity for original work and research? The latter 

 alternative, of course, would imply that the men to whom 

 higher teaching is entrusted should not be mere school- 

 masters, but should themselves take some active part in 

 !he advancement of knowledge and learning." 



It is greatly to be hoped that the Indian Govern- 

 ,nent will seize the opportunity and properly 

 strengthen all its colleges with professors who are 

 investigators as well as teachers, and thus at once 

 set a proper standard for the highest education in 

 India. On the action taken now the future of Indian 

 education largely dejiends, and on the giving of a 

 proper education to the future leaders of the Indian 

 community will depend the peace, progress and pros- 

 perity of our Indian Empire. 



NOTES. 



We understand that Sir Norman Lockyer has been in 

 communication with the French Minister of Public In- 

 struction with the view of securing active support; for the 

 science section of the Franco-British E.xhibition to be held 

 in London this year. The Minister has referred the matter 

 to the Paris Academy of Sciences, and it is hoped that 

 the result will be a satisfactory and substantial representa- 

 tion of scientific work in France at the forthcoming 

 exhibition. The various divisions of the British section of 

 the exhibition were described in Nature of November 21, 

 1907 (p. 67). This section was instituted with the assist- 

 ance of the British Science Guild, and is in the course of 

 organisation by a committee including leading repre- 

 sentatives of all branches of pure science. The British 

 committee has been given an area of eleven thousand 

 square feet, gratis, for the purpose of exhibiting apparatus, 

 appliances, and results of scientific research. This free 

 grant of space is equivalent to a gift of about 3000J., and 

 in addition the committee has been granted a sum of 

 monev in aid of the science section. The executive ■ com- 

 mittee of the British side of the exhibition has thus pro- 

 vided a very favourable opportunity of exhibiting some of 

 the achievements of scientific research and enlightening 

 the general public as to the instruments or methods 

 employed. It is the duty of the men of science of Great 

 Britain to show appreciation of this generous treatment by 

 assisting the committee in every way within their power to 

 make the science section of the exhibition instructive, 

 illuminating, and inspiring to the many thousands who will 

 1 visit it. 



Sir George Darwin, K.C.B., F.R.S., has been -elected 

 a , foreign correspondant of the Paris Academy of Sciences 

 in the section of geography and navigation. Lord Brassey 

 has also been elected a correspondant of the academy. 



Prof. Raphael Meldola, F.R.S., past-president of the 

 Chemical Society, has been elected president of the Society 

 of Dyers and Colourists in succession to the late Sir W. H. 

 Perkin. 



It is announced in Science, that Mr. Andrew Carnegie 

 has added 400,000/. to the endowment of the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington. 



■ Sir Otto Jaffe, president of the Belfast Natural History 

 and Philosophical Society, has taken preliminary steps to 

 form a committee to honour the memory of Lord Kelvin 

 by erecting a statue or other suitable memorial in his 

 native city of Belfast. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death c? 

 Sir Alfred B. Garrod, F.R.S., in his eighty-ninth ye.ov. 

 Dr. Garrod graduated as M.D. of the London University 



