Al'RIL 23, I908J 



NA TURE 



585 



systems was best ; but the teaching- of English con- 

 tinued to make fairly rapid headway, and was popular 

 with Indian gentlemen. A despatch from the Court 

 of Directors of the East India Company, written by 

 Sir Charles Wood in 1854, dealt with the whole ques- 

 tion in a most masterly way, and practically set the 

 question at rest in favour of the higher teaching being 

 conducted on Western lines and through the medium 

 of English. This despatch was quickly followed in 

 1856 by the creation of regular education departments 

 in the great provinces of India, manned largely by 

 graduates of English universities, and in 1857 by 

 the establishment of the Calcutta University, and 

 later on of the Universities of Madras and Bombay. 



It says much for the faith and energy of those in 

 power in India in 1857 that during the actual period 

 of the Indian Mutiny steps were being taken to create 

 Indian universities, and to foster in every way the 

 educational advancement of the country. 



The Calcutta Iniversitv thus had a clear and 

 favourable field for its operations, for the spread of 

 education through the medium of English was at 

 once warmly welcomed by Indian gentlemen, and 

 year by year it continues to increase in favour. So 

 rapid, indeed, has been the growth of high education 

 ill India that within the area originally allotted to the 

 Calcutta University, two other universities (Punjab 

 and Allahabad) have had to be created, and still the 

 numbers from the restricted area are almost more 

 than can be dealt with bv that university. 



.\t the time of the formation of the Calcutta Uni- 

 versity the London University was thought to be the 

 best model to be followed, but judging by results it 

 would probably have been better if the model of the 

 older universities had been followed, if residential 

 colleges had been formed, and if a teaching rather 

 than an e.xaniining university had been started. In 

 time probably the latter will be the ideal which will 

 be aimed at in India. 



The Calcutta L'niversity, for ncarlv the first fifty 

 years of its existence, has confined itself mainly to 

 the task of merely examining students sent up to it 

 from recognised or alTiliated institutions. Of course, 

 by laying down subjects for examination the university 

 has practically determined the subjects which had to 

 be taught in the colleges and schools sending up the 

 candidates, but the university has hitherto exercised 

 wo control as to the fitness of the affiliated institutions 

 for the work they were supposed to carry on. At 

 first little trouble arose from this fact, but great diffi- 

 culties arose owing to the extraordinarily rapid growth 

 in the number of colleges and schools, which rose at 

 one time to about eighty colleges and about 600 

 schools, which had the privilege of sending up can- 

 didates. Many of such institutions were competing 

 with each other with fierce rivalry, and some, if not 

 many, attracted students largely by lowness of fees 

 .•ind laxity of discipline. Many institutions were thus 

 working under unsatisfactory conditions, they were 

 inadequately and imperfectly staffed, and they had few 

 teaching appliances. They suffered indeed so acutely 

 from extremely inadequate funds that really they could 

 not do more than they were actually doing. With 

 th" sending up of very large numbers of imperfectly 

 trained candidates for examination, and their conse- 

 quent failure, the usual desire to lower standards was 

 manifested, and the examinations almost necessarily 

 became suited to the average level of the affiliated 

 institutions and to the teaching there given. 



It was with a view to raise the whole tone and 

 standard of university education in India that a new 

 University .\ct was passed some four years ago, and 

 under this a complete set of new regulations has been 

 Ir.imed. I'nder them standards are being raised, 



NO. 2008, VOL. 77] 



courses are being made more thorough, examinations 

 are being made more practical, specially in the 

 science subjects, original research is being fostered, 

 and has been made compulsory for the higher degrees 

 in science and literature, and post-graduate study is 

 being encouraged by the creation of university reader- 

 ships and professorships. 



In other important matters attempts are being made 

 to deal with the residence and discipline of college 

 students, and to bring influence to bear on the form- 

 ation of their characters. In the past the condition 

 of affairs in these respects has been somewhat de- 

 plorable, and the general influence of the surround- 

 ings of students has left much to be desired. What is 

 really wanted for India is a series of residential 

 colleges of the type of the Mohammedan college at 

 .Migarh, in the United Provinces, where most excel- 

 lent work is being done, intellectually, physically, and 

 morally. Under these new regulations, in order to 

 retain affiliation or recognition, all institutions send- 

 ing up candidates to the Calcutta University have lu 

 be inspected periodically by the university authorities, 

 and are bound to conform to certain standards of 

 work, of equipment, and of care for the well-being 

 of their students, while numerous other reforms have 

 been insisted on. 



The new regulations are being gradually but firmly 

 introduced, under the Vice-Chancellor, Mr. Justice 

 Asutosh Mukerji, who is one of the most distinguished 

 of the graduates of the Calcutta University, but it 

 will naturally take many years before their full effect 

 will be felt. In the future too much stress cannot 

 be laid on the desirability of closer and closer union 

 between the colleges and the university, and the 

 assumption of the higher teaching by or under the 

 immediate direction of the university itself. The de- 

 velopment of the residential system is also much to 

 be desired if discipline is to be improved and character 

 formed. The eloquent speeches delivered at the Con- 

 vocation on' March 14 by H.E. the Chancellor (Lord 

 Minto), and the N'ice-Chancellor (Mr. Justice Mukerji), 

 show that these objects are being steadily kept in 

 view, and that the work of reform is progressing 

 steadily, and perhaps even rapidly. It will hence be 

 agreed that there is a bright future in store for the 

 Calcutta University. 



RECENT WORK ON PLAGUE. '^ 

 CIXCE Ycrsin's discovery of the BaciUus pesfis 

 •--' in 1894, bacteriological experiment has shown 

 the possibility of spreading plague infection among 

 rats and other nianinials through the intermediation 

 of fleas. The reports before us are concerned 

 especially with the proof that this is the means by 

 which epidemics are actually set up. Such proof 

 may be summed up as follows : — 



In the first place Major Lamb, wilh the members 

 of the commission, who carried out the work under 

 the agis of the advisory committee, shows by 

 numerous charts and by series of maps that the 

 epidemic follows closely in time and place the dis- 

 tribution of the epizootic among Miis rattiis. In 

 Bombay this epizootic, in its turn, is similarly related 

 to that among Mus decuinanus. In earlier reports 

 they have dealt with the results obtained by using 



' (i)Journat of Hygiene, vol.vii.. No. 6, December. 1907. Third extr.<i 

 number, containing Reports on Plague Investigations in India, issued by 

 the Advisory Committee appointed by the Secretary of State fur India, the 

 Royal Society, and the Lister Institute (Cambridge: University Press.) 

 Price 6i. 



(i) " Report on Plague in Queensland (February 26, 1900-June 30, 1907)." 

 By B. Burnett Ham. (Brisbane : Public Health Department, 1907.) 



(3) * ' The Etiology and Epidemiology of Plague. A Summary of the Work 

 of the Plague Commission." Pp. vi + 93. (Calcutta, 1908.) Price 4 annas. 



