434 



NATURE 



[September 28, 191 1 



is he retains his complete fn edom i 

 on. That theological recognition should be accorded 

 to none but persons of particular views upon theology is 

 onflict with the highest interests oi theological learn- 

 ing. At present the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge 

 art- the close preserves of the Church ol England; the 

 natural result is that the modern universities tend to become 

 the preserves of Nonconformity, and neither class of uni- 

 versity is benefited by the consequent one-sidedness of 

 theological study. 



The co-education of men and women in the universities, 

 whether ancient or modern, is already an established 

 reality. The only difference is that co-education is i 



.1 in the modern, and is not recognised in the • , 



universities as necessarily hading to an equality in the 

 matter of degrei rhe real objection to placing women 



on an equality with men in their relation to a residential 

 university is the difficulty of finding room for a number 

 of female as well as male students within the precincts ol 

 the same university. On that ground alone there is some 

 advantage in universities or colleges for women only, such 

 as the Royal Holloway College: bul experience lias shown 

 that colleges for women do not flourish except in close 

 relation to a university in which the education of mi n 



ied on, and I feel no doubt that the granting ol 

 academic degrees at Oxford and Cambridge to women as 

 well as to men is merely a question of time. 



\o critic of the ancient universities, and certainly no 

 one who has spent some happy years there as an under- 

 graduate and a Fellow, can forget Hint the social as well 

 as the intellectual side of the life is a part of its privilege 

 and benefit. But that social intercourse would lose some- 

 thing of its value- if students of different classes and 

 different creeds did no1 mix freely. It is too often forgotten, 

 in the zeal for ecclesiastical propaganda, that one element 

 of education lies in teaching people who do not agree to 

 work together. To make the least, and not the most, of 

 personal differences is a factor in the life of universities. 

 It is for this reason that I do not look with any great 

 favour upon the institution of special colleges set apart for 

 Churchmen or for Nonconformists or for men of poor and 

 humble circumstances. It is better that such students 

 should, as far as possible, associate with other students ; 

 for in such proportion as undergraduates of religious feel- 

 ing ur of strenuous self-denying character are educated by 

 themselves, there is a diminution of their valuable influence 

 mi the mass of the undergraduate body. There might as 

 will be Conservative Colleges and Liberal Colleges as 

 colleges of a special and exclusive theological character. 



Colleges are expensive features of academic life, and 

 they tend to become more expensive; but the expense is 

 justified by the benefit which the students may receive 

 from the influence of their teachers upon their lives. But 

 if coll i \ist as integral parts of the university, 



then Im .11I.] bi a ufficienl number of Fellows and tutors 

 living within their walls. No feature of modern lite ,-m 

 i'i nl or Cambridge is more pitiable than the spectacli 

 of a married don corning into his college at a late hour of 

 the evening, with his carpet-bag in his hand, to fulfil the 

 statutory obligation of sleeping within the walls. No deep 

 or influence of a tutor in the lives of his 

 pupils is possible in such circumstances as these. If only 

 it were- possible to defer the opportunity of marriage until 



a man has rendei ed - yeai i -i 31 1 \ ice bj n 



within the walls of his college, and then to grant it onlj 

 to men whose service tin- college wishes to retain, thi 



Collegiate life of the ancient universities would lie less 



likely to lose its effective value. 



But when all is said, how great is the charm of the 

 ancient English universities! They are unique; they 

 exercise a lifelong spell upon pupils who have spent three 

 or four years within their ancient walls; they foster, even 

 if unconsciously, a noble sense of patriotic duty; they 

 haunt the memory; they are fruitful in high and generous 

 and sacred inspirations. 



What is the spirit of a university? How is it born? 

 How does it operate? Why is Cambridge in a special 

 sense the home of mathematics, and Oxford of letters? 

 Why is it that Oxford finds so manv, and Camhridge so 

 few, representatives upon the public Press? Cambridge, it 

 seems, has played the greater part in the thought, and 



NO. 2187, VOL. 87] 



Oxford in the life, of the nation. But why is it that 

 Cambridge has given to the world sons more famous, it 

 may be, than any whose names belong to the sister uni- 

 versity — Bacon, Newton, Cromwell, Milton, and Darwin? 

 Why, above all, is Cambridge in so pre-eminent a di 

 the university of the poets? Such names as Milton, B 

 Jonson, Herrick, Cowley, Byron, Gray, Wordswi 

 Tennyson, belong to Cambridge alone. Nothing can re- 

 place, nothing perhaps can greatly affect, the relatioi 

 the ancient universities to the country the ornament 

 which they are. What is needed, and will be more and 

 more needed as democracy extends its power, is to enhance 

 the strength of the influence which the universities exi 

 upon the national life at large. 



So I bring this imperfect review of the educational 

 problem in its present aspects to a close by insisting in 

 two or three final sentences upon the supreme dignity 

 the teacher's profession. The man or woman who elects 

 to become a teacher chooses a great responsibility. It is 

 well that teachers should be disciplined for their calling by 

 a system of training in the educational art. The thi 

 of education as set forth in the writings of great educators 

 like Comenius, Froebel, Pestalozzi, Arnold, Thring, Fitch, 

 and many others, should be well known to them, even it 

 the practical side of education is best learnt, or can only 

 be learnt, by practice. Education needs the best men and 

 the best women. It must, therefore, be set free from such 

 bonds as have tied it to the clerical profession ; nor can I 

 think it is ever well to exact religious tests of teachers, 

 for tests are apt to affect tender consciences alone. If 

 only teachers are asked whether they wish to give di 

 religious instruction or not, and are subjected to no draw- 

 back or disadvantage if they choose not to give it, I think 

 the teachers in all grades of schools may be trusted not to 

 abuse their sacred opportunity. They must teach their 

 pupils to love learning and virtue, and to love them for 

 their own sakes. They must remember that it is the 

 personality of the teacher which is the chief source of his 

 or her influence on the pupils. They must ever be trying 

 to make themselves more and more worthy of thi 

 sponsibility. " Thou that teachest another, teachest thou 

 not thyself? " must be the motto of their daily lives. But 

 where the educational profession is one in all its bra 

 where it is actuated by a due sense of responsibility, where 

 it aims in season and out of season at cultivating habits 

 of self-respect, self-sacrifice, patriotism, and religion in 

 the children who will be the citizens of the future, where 

 it remembers that tin- supreme triumphs of educational 

 skill are good men and women, good fathers and mothers, 

 good servants of the State and of the Church, there is no 

 ground of fear for the country or the Empire. 



CHEMISTRY AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 

 '"THE meetings of the Chemistry Section were of unushal 

 interest and briskness, .ill the speakers copying the 

 example combined with admirably 



set by Prof. Walker in hi address. The 



section had organised its programme carefully beforehand 

 and the arrangements made were strictly adhered to: as» 

 was to be expected, the subjects discuss, d wen- largely of 



1 the attendance 



was the prese ol a numl I members From the Fhysical 



and othi 1 sections : it was 1 \ idi n1 thai papers ■ 

 likely to bring ectiohs togethei and to provoke discussion 



he sei tionS 

 ol lie- association, 

 till remains much to be do 

 for tin organisation of the Association in the way of 

 preventir exampM 



thai several chemical papers were read in othi 



have been brought before Section B. 

 ! 3 taking part in 



a joint discussion to arrange lot .1 



section at the same time, as this proi - peciafisH 



1 ng tit-- joint meeting. Thi y tints 



alising how din- renth n ma* 



. ei- 1 pi - ti -I bj 1- II' 



ft .null I 'I SI il 



