584 



NA TURE 



[Al'KIL 23, 1908 



each at the general meetings, have been another im- 

 portant feature of the congress. We have referred to 

 the first three of these discourses; the remainder 

 were as follows : — Darboux, methods and problems 

 of infinitesimal geometry; von Dick, the Mathematical 

 EncyclopEedia ; Newcomb, the theory of the lunar 

 motion, its history and present state; Lorentz, par- 

 lition of energy between matter and ether; Poincard, 

 an address read by Prof. Darboux on the future 

 (if mathematics; Picard, analysis in relation to 

 mathematical physics; G. Veronese, non-archimedean 

 geometry. \ lantern lecture was given by Prof. 

 .Stormer on the trajectories of electrified corpuscles in 

 the field of a magnetic molecule, witii applications to 

 llie .\urora Borealis. 



On the \\'ednesday evening a conversazione was 

 given by the Municipality of Rome in the museum of 

 the Capitol, which was brilliantly illuminated for the 

 occasion; the reception commenced at 10 p.m., and 

 lasted until the early hours of the next morning. On 

 the Thursda}' the congress was entertained to a sump- 

 tuous tea, by invitation of the Minister of Public In- 

 struction, at the Stadium discovered in 1893, on the 

 Palatine Hill. The old mausoleum of Augustus has 

 within the last two months been transformed into a 

 concert hall, the stalls in which alone contained ample 

 accommodation for the whole of the congressists. 

 Here, on the Thursday evening', we listened to an 

 orchestral concert conducted by .Signer Luigi Mancin- 

 elli. The programme would be generally described as 

 modern music; most of it was certainly very 

 " modern." 



.\ fitting termination to the work of the congress 

 was afforded by a splendid open-air banquet at Tivoli, 

 given in the grounds of the Hotel des Cascades on 

 the Sunday, the morning being spent, so far as time 

 ■ lUowed, in exploring Hadrian's Villa, where the 

 \»cmone apennina and other spring flowers were in 

 full bloom, while a hurried visit to the cascades, 

 irmple of .Serapis, and pretty gardens of the Villa 

 d'Este, sometime known as the Villa Hohenlohe, 

 occupied the too short interval after luncheon until 

 the " steam rumbler " whirled us back to Rome, 

 where we parted, hoping to meet in Cambridge in 

 191^- 



In the official list of congressists we note about 

 twenty-two English names, one with a German ad- 

 dress and another from Egypt. That Great Britain 

 should only be represented by four per cent, of the 

 total number of congressists affords abundant evi- 

 dence of the position of isolation into which our nation 

 has drifted in its neglect of higher mathematics. There 

 were many proofs that the Italian as well as the 

 (ierman mathematicians present constituted a power- 

 ful and influential body, and the presence of the King 

 at the inaugural meeting — an honour rarelv conferred 

 on such occasions — together with the brilliancv of the 

 receptions, afforded evidence of the esteem in which 

 Italy holds the mathematical professors of her 

 universities. 



The French Government was represented ofificiallv 

 by six delegates, besides special representatives of its 

 Office of Works and statistical service. The Govern- 

 ments of Hungary and Roumania sent delegates, as 

 did also many Continental actuarial societies and in- 

 surance companies. It is greatly to be hoped that the 

 decision to hold the next congress in Cambridge mav 

 111' the means of awakening our country to the great 

 <lisabilities under which English mathematicians 

 labour, in regard to higher study and research, in 

 ciimparison with the mathematicians of other nations. 

 II .-my good is to be done, the Cambridge congress 

 must consist of something more than a mere display 

 of hospitality towards foreign mathematicians. .\ 

 NO. 2008, VOL. 77] 



determined effort inu>t be made to work up a large 

 English contingent to meet and e.xchange ideas witlj- 

 the congressists of other countries. A strong feeling 

 has been expressed against the English practice 

 at such occasions of officially providing private hos- 

 pitality for some members and not for others, and it 

 has been felt that the success of these foreign gather- 

 ings is largely due to the absence of any organised 

 system of limited hospitality. Such a system neces- 

 sarily divides the members into two parties, and raises- 

 up a barrier to free intercourse between them. 



The invitation to Cambridge was proposed by Prof. 

 Forsyth, who represented the Cambridge l*hilo- 

 sophical Society. It was seconded by Prof. Hla^erna, 

 president of the present congress, and carried enthu- 

 siastically. For the congress of 1916, Stockholm has 

 been proposed. 



Before concluding, mention should be made of the 

 special privileges oftered by the Government and 

 Municipality in throwing open all their museums and 

 excavations to the congressists ; the important conces- 

 sions made by the Italian State Railways; and, last 

 but not least, the unfailing courtesy of the local com- 

 mittee, under the secretaryship of Prof. G. Castel- 

 nuovo, through whose exertions everything passed off 

 with the greatest success. 



G. H. Bryan. 



jrBILEE OF THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY. 



VERY few institutions have had such a remark- 

 .■ible influence on the history of any country as- 

 has been the case with the University of Calcutta, 

 which celebrated its jubilee on March 14. To put 

 the case on the lowest ground of mere numbers, 

 while in the first year of its existence less than 

 fifty students appeared at all its examinations from 

 the matriculation upwards, during the last few years 

 about 7000 students have appeared annually for its 

 matriculation examination alone, while also in this its 

 jubilee year no fewer than 855 students have taken 

 their degrees in such subjects as arts, science, 

 medicine, law and engineering. 



Educational effort on Western lines has naturally 

 I been of comparativelv recent development in India. 

 For manv years after the East India Company had 

 taken over the administration of the territories which 

 had been acquired in India, no attempt was made to 

 establish any regular system of education, and, in- 

 deed, no pains seem to have been taken even to 

 foster the indigenous systems which had been in exist- 

 ence throughout the country for many centuries. 

 Later on spasmodic efforts were, however, made to 

 try to prevent the higher forms of oriental learning 

 from falling' into decay by the establishment of the 

 Calcutta .Madrasah in 1782, intended for Mohamme- 

 dans and for the study of .\rabic and Persian, while .1 

 college for Hindus was started nine years later, the 

 aim of which was to foster the study of Sanskrit and 

 Sanskritic languages. 



The general neglect of education by the adminis- 

 tration continued up to about 1813, from which time 

 public funds appear to have been set apart system- 

 atically for the furtherance of education. I'p till 

 about 1835 education was conducted largely by 

 oriental methods and in oriental subjects, and the 

 authorities were bent upon the improvement of educa- 

 tion by the encouragement of those learned in Sans- 

 krit and .\rabic. .\t that time Lord Macaulay wrote 

 a minute, which has since become historical, advo- 

 cating the introduction of Western education into 

 India, and the teaching- of all the higher subjects 

 throug-h the medium of English. From 1835 to 1854 

 there was much controver^v as to which of these two 



