470 



NA TURE 



[Makcii 20, 1902 



" On this first jubilee-day of your College the question 

 may be fairly asked whether it has fulfilled the object of 

 the founder. We are told that his idea was to provide, in a 

 great centre of population, commerce and industry, ' higher 

 education in such branches of learning and science as were 

 usually taught in the English universities.' Those who joined 

 with Mr. Owens in this scheme recognised that in the great com- 

 mercial centres there was both the opportunity for and the need 

 of something in the nature of real university life. Perhaps the 

 best proof of the wisdom of the policy adopted in the case of 

 Owens College is the fact that in nearly all the largest towns of 

 the country there have been founded during the last thirty years 

 colleges to a very large e.\tent on similar lines. Owens College 

 has sent many teachers, not only to these, but to the old Uni- 

 versities of O.Kford and Cambridge. And we may also, on this 

 jubilee-day, taUe stock of those influences which have been 

 instrumental in thus successfully developing and carrying out 

 the original scheme of the founders. Will Owens College ever 

 cease to venerate the names of Owens, Beyer, Christie, Whit- 

 worth, and other noble benefactors to whose munificence is 

 chiefly due her creation, endowment and material prosperity ? 

 Can she ever be sufficiently grateful to those great teachers and 

 students who have not only by their genius and force of intellect 

 maintained in the College a high standard of learning, bui also 

 by their personal example have helped to form the characters 

 and guide the lives of those who have been so fortunate as to come 

 under their influence? Amongst these former eminent leaders, 

 two — Dr. Ward and Sir Henry Roscoe — are, I am sorry to say, 

 prevented by illness from taking part in to-day's ceremony. 

 But great as have been these difTerent forces in building up this 

 vast and important educational machinery, they would not be 

 sufficient without the strength and sustenance which has been 

 secured by local patriotism and local enthusiasm. I feel sure 

 that Owens College may always count with confidence upon a 

 generous local municipal support to enable it to keep abreast of 

 the ever-growing demands ol modern life, whether it be in the 

 arts, in science, or other departments of a liberal education." 



In connection with the celebration, the honorary degree of 

 D.Sc. was conferred by the Victoria University upon the follow- 

 ing distinguished men of science: — Presented by Prof. \'oung. 

 Dean of the Medical Department : .Sir Thomas Barlow, Sir J. S. 

 Burdon Sanderson, Sir W. S. Church, Mr. H. G. Howes and 

 Prof. Simpson. Presented by Prof. Schuster : Prof. Becquerel 

 (Paris), Prof. Chodat (Geneva), Prof. (i. Carey Foster, Dr. 

 T. W. L. Glaisher, Principal E. H. Griffiths, Principal Hicks, 

 Dr. E. W. Hobson, Prof. (;. B. Howes, Prof. W. J.ack, 

 Principal Lodge, Prof. Nernst ((Jottingen), Prof. Poynting, 

 Prof. Tilden, Prof. Voigt (Gcittingen), and Prof. Marshall Ward. 

 The honorary degree of M.Sc. was conferred upon Mr. C. 

 Bailey, Mr. Francis Jones and Mr. J. H. Reynolds. 



CELEBRATION OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH 

 ANNIVERSARY OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS 

 UNIVERSITY. 



THE twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the 

 Johns Hopkins University was celebrated at ISalti- 

 more last month. The commemorative address delivered 

 by Dr. D.C. {".ilman, for twenty-five years president of the 

 University, and now president of the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion, is ptiblished in Stioice, together with the address 

 delivered by Prof. Remsen upon his inauguration as 

 president of the University. The assembly was one of 

 the most noteworthy that has been gathered together in 

 America, being composed of leaders in many branches 

 of intellectual activity. In the course of the ceremonies 

 an address, signed by more than one thousand alumni 

 of the university and others, was presented to Dr. Oilman. 

 We give extracts from the addresses delivered by Dr. 

 Oilman and Prof. Remsen. 



In the course of his address Dr. C'jilman said : — 



When this university began, it was a common complaint, 

 still uttered in many places, that the ablest teachers were 

 absorbed in routine and were forced to spend their strength in 



NO. 1690, VOL. 65] 



the discipline of tyros, so that they had no time for carrying 

 forward their studies or for adding to human knowledge. Here 

 the position was taken at the outset that the chief professors 

 should have ample time to carry on the higher work for which 

 they had shown themselves qualified, and also that younger 

 men, as they have evidence of uncommon qualities, should 

 likewise be encouraged 10 devote themselves to study. Ever* 

 those who were candidates for degrees were taught what was 

 meant by profitable investigation. They were shown how to 

 discover the limits of the known ; how to extend, even by 

 minute .iccretions, the realm of knowledge ; how to cooperate 

 with other men in the prosecution of inquiry ; and how to 

 record in exact language, and on the printed page, the results 

 attained. Investigation has thus been among us the duty of 

 every le.ading professor, and he has been the guide and inspirer 

 of fellows and pupils, whose work may not bear his name, but 

 whose results are truly products of the inspiration and guidance 

 which he has truly bestowed. 



The biological laboratory, the first establishment of its kind 

 in the United Slates, has carried forward for many years the 

 study of marine life at various points on the Atlantic and has 

 published many important memoirs, while it has trained many 

 able investigators now at work in every part of the land. Ex- 

 perimental psychology was here introduced. Bacteriology early 

 found a home among us. The contributions to chemistry have 

 been numerous and important. Here was the cradle of saccha- 

 rine, that wisely diffused and invaluable concentration of sweet- 

 ness, whose manufacturers unfortunately do not acknowledge 

 the source to which it is due. In the physical laboratory, light 

 has been thrown upon three fundamental subjects — the 

 mechanical equivalent of heat, the exact value of the standard 

 ohm, and the elucidation of the nature of the solar spectrum. 

 For many years this place was the chief seat in this country for 

 pure and advanced mathematics. 



I cannot sit down without bringing to your minds the mem- 

 ories of those who have been with us and have gone out from 

 us to be seen no more : Sylvester, that profound thinker devoted 

 to abstractions, the illustrious geometer whose seven prolific 

 years were spent among us and who gave an impulse to mathe- 

 matical researches in every part of this country ; Morris, the 

 Oxford graduate, the well-trained classicist, devout, learned, 

 enthusiastic and helpful, most of all in the education of the 

 young ; accomplished Martin, who brought to this country new 

 methods of physiological inquiry, led the way in the elucidation 

 of many problems of profound importance, and trained up those 

 who have carried his methods to every part of the land ; .\dams, 

 suggestive, industrious, inspiring, versatile, beneficent, who pro- 

 moted, as none had done before, .systematic studies of the 

 civil, ecclesiastical and educational resources of this country ; 

 and Rowland, cut down like Adams in his prime, honoured in 

 every land, peer of the greatest physicists ol our day, never to 

 be forgotten in the history of physical science. I remind you 

 also ol the early student of mathematics, Thomas Craig, and of 

 George Huntington Williams, the geologist, whose memory is 

 cherished with admiration and love. Nor do I forget those who 

 have here been trained to become leaders in their various de- 

 partments throughout the country. One must be named, who 

 has gone from their number, Keeler, the gifted astronomer, 

 who died as the chief of the Lick Observatory in California, 

 whose contributions to astronomical science place him among 

 the foremost investigators of our day ; and another, the martyr 

 Lazear, who, in order that the pestilence of yellow fever might 

 be subdued, gave up his life for humanity. 



Prof. Remsen chiefly dealt in his address with the 

 development of the university idea in America, and 

 showed that the noteworthy characteristic of educational 

 work in recent years is the philosophical faculty in the 

 universities and the surprisingly rapid increase in the 

 attendance upon the courses in such faculties. He re- 

 marked : — 



In 1850 there were 8 graduate students in all the colleges of 

 America. Of the.se, 3 were enrolled at Harvard, 3 at Vale, I at 

 the University of Virginia and I at Trinity College. In 1875 

 the number had incn'ased to 399. In 1900 the number was 

 566S. At present the number cannot be far from 6000. 



In order that these facts may be properly interpreted, we 

 should know how many Americans are studying in foreign 



