September 15, 1910] 



NATURE 



545 



wave-lengths vary between 411 and 470 /i/i, the employ- 

 ment of the same coeflicient of refraction for all stars is 

 inadmissible. 



"Mock Suns." — From Mr. James F. Ronca we have 

 received an account of the appearance of the phenomenon 

 usually known as "mock suns," or "parhelia," which 

 was observed by him at Eastbourne between 12.55 ''"'^ 

 1.55 p.m. on September 10. 



Mr. Ronca did not see the commencement of the appari- 

 tion, but states that at 12.55 p.m. there was a slight haze, 

 and some very thin clouds, distributed fairly uniformly 

 over the sky, and, symmetrically described about the 

 zenith, there was a brilliant circle of white light on the 

 circumference of which lay the actual sun ; two other 

 points on this circle stood out as exceptionally brilliant 

 spots. Then, with the sun as its centre, there was a much 

 fainter, small circle, tangential to which there appeared 

 a brilliantly coloured band intersecting the large circle at 

 two points equidistant from the sun. This coloured curve 

 could be traced only with difficulty beyond the confines 

 of the large circle, but at the points of intersection with 

 the latter the colours were of extraordinary brilliancy, the 

 red in all cases being nearest the sun. 



Mr. Ronca 's account shows the phenomenon to have 

 been of an extraordinary brilliancy, which was maintained 

 for twenty minutes after he first saw it, and did not 

 disappear finally until 1.55 p.m. 



THE RELATION OF SC/E/\CE TO LXDUSTRY 



AND COMMERCE} 

 'PHE subject of this paper is so comprehensive that there 

 will be no difficulty in understanding that attention 

 has been restricted to one or two aspects of it only, 

 and chiefly (since the paper is written by one engaged in 

 educational administration) to that' relation which exists 

 between the scientific and technical education provided at 

 higher institutions in this country, and the after careers of 

 students. Even that relation cannot be treated in anything 

 like an exhaustive manner within the limits assigned to mc. 

 My attention was specially directed to this matter some 

 eighteen months ago by an opportunity which presented 

 itself of reading some 150 letters written by past students 

 of universities or of institutions of university rank. The 

 letters were representative of an entire body of students 

 whose education had been assisted. They came from 

 students, men and women, who had .taken degrees or 

 diplomas in varying numbers during each of the last 

 fifteen years. Four months ago, when, at the invitation of 

 the committee of this section, I undertook to read this 

 paper, steps were taken to extend the field of information. 

 Some five hundred letters of inquiry were addressed to 

 teachers of repute at home, in France, Germany, and 

 America ; to representative firms of employers, mostly at 

 home, some abroad ; and to thirty of His Majesty's consuls 

 in Europe, Asia, and the two .'\mericas. There have been 

 before me also the written views of the presidents of vast 

 industrial and commercial concerns in the United States, 

 views collected in 1003 when 1 visited America as a 

 member of the Mosely Commission. On the whole, my 

 letters of inquiries have been treated with much sympathy. 

 and I have had to examine a very considerable body of 

 evidence of all kinds. I owe a great debt of thanks to the 

 many distinguished men of science, and to many well- 

 known leaders of industry and commerce, who have so 

 generously given attention to my inquiry and have been 

 kind enough to give me their views, some of them at great 

 length. 



I have endeavoured in what follows to reflect as faith- 

 fully as I can the different sets of views, and to add to 

 them some views and suggestions, the result of my own 

 experience. 



Evidence from 150 Graduates. 



First, as to the views of the 150 past students. These 

 students all belong' to the class for w-hom the earning of a 

 living is imperative, and in the main they represent Oxford 

 and Cambridge, and the fcondon institutions of university 

 rank. 



' A paper read before the Educational Science Section of the British 

 Association al the Sheffield meeling, by Mr. R. Blair. 



.Among minor points made by them are these : — The 

 engineers emphasise the need of workshop practice under 

 commercial conditions, finding that their future is in danger 

 of being marred by lack of " works " experience, and some 

 of those who have become industrial chemists express the 

 need for five years' training : three for degree and two for 

 research. The view of the engineer students needs no 

 elaboration, for nowadays there is almost universal agree- 

 ment that some form of the " sandwich " system affords 

 the best possible method of training. The views of the 

 chemists will be referred to later. 



The students also complain that posts are obtained not 

 on merit, but through influence. This contention is 

 pointedly illustrated by a university college professor, who 

 states that he knows one man who holds a most important 

 berth, and is undoubtedly a first-class man in every sense 

 of the word. This man took his university training as a 

 mechanical engineer, and graduated with first-class honoiirs, 

 and did this after having had works' training extending 

 over some eight years. On leaving college the man ap- 

 proached everv mechanical firm of importance in Scotland 

 in the hopes of getting a start. He found it impossible to 

 do so. Finally, through influence, he did manage to 

 obtain a junior berth, aiid is now the head of an important 

 concern. 



The most striking feature of the present occupations of 

 the students is that only 10 per cent, have found their way 

 into industry or commerce ; another 10 per cent, have 

 entered the 'higher ranks of the Civil Service, including 

 technical posts. Some half-dozen are in the Church ; 

 another half-dozen are practising medicine ; the remainder 

 have taken to teaching, and it is clear in a fair number of 

 instances that selection of a profession was not a matter 

 of choice, but one of necessity. Many a man, towards the 

 end of his university career, discovers for the first time 

 that he has nothing to offer in the industrial or com- 

 mercial market in return for a salary. If he has no 

 technical knowledge or skill, he is, so far as his education 

 helps him, in the same position as a secondary schoolboy, 

 even if he is not handicapped on account of his greater age. 

 Of those, also, who possess technical knowledge or skill, 

 such as students of engineering or chemistry, a good many 

 find themselves offered terms which pride, or poverty, or 

 both, forbid them to accept. With pride I have no concern 

 and no sympathv. Poverty is a different affair. When a 

 man has '.spent his last penny in completing his university 

 career, and when there is also pressure from home, there 

 is no real choice between teaching, which is obtainable at 

 2I. or 3!. a week, however inadequately equipped the man 

 may be for this purpose, and an office or a workshop at 

 anything from, say, los. to 305. per week. Sometimes the 

 factory, shop, or business-house offers nothing, and occa- 

 sionaliv a premium is required. It will easily be under- 

 stood that in such circumstances an appeal is made by the 

 students for more help in finding posts for university 

 honours men, who are not eligible for the Civil Service, 

 and who do not care to turn schoolmasters, and it will not 

 be difficult to appreciate that at the critical point in his 

 career — the selection of a means of earning a livelihood — a 

 man is apt to write harshly of some of the slackness of 

 university life, and to complain, as one of the most suc- 

 cessful of them has done, that he wanted to be made a 

 chemist, but his university insisted on his wasting his time 

 on Divinity and did not even ask for German ! 

 Evidence from the Staffs of Universities and of Technical 

 Institutions. 



A great change in the relations of the university and the 

 market has occurred during the last quarter of a century. 

 The general advance in the standard of education has pro- 

 duced a larger sympathy on the part of the market for 

 educational institiitions a'nd their products ; and the move- 

 ment in favour of technical education has widened the range 

 of objects of university education and the social classes 

 from which university students are drawn, and has per- 

 iaps compelled the universities to have regard to the diversi- 

 ties in' the world's work and to the functions they_ should 

 discharge in preparing their students to live. During the 

 period referred to a large number of technical institutions 

 have sprung up all over the United Kingdom, and within 

 quite recent years there have been strong influences at 

 work to bring about coordination, if not incorporation of 



NO. 2133, VOL. 84] 



