NATURE 



57 



THURSDAY, MAY 23, 1S72 



THE OXFORD SCHEME OF NATURAL 

 SCIENCE * 



ALL true lovers of English science, we might say all 

 discerning lovers of their country, must have 

 watched with anxious interest the efforts which in these 

 latter times a few able and energetic men at each of our 

 ancient universities have been making to strengthen and 

 widen the study of Natural Science in thoie so-called 

 seats of learning ; and must have admired the zeal and 

 wisdom with which they have fought against the stub- 

 born resistance of the powers that be. To all such the 

 recently-issued programme of the Board of Natural 

 Science Studies at Oxford will have particular interest ; 

 for upon the wisdom of the regulations introduced by 

 that Board will depend in great measure the future of 

 Natural Science at Oxford. 



In calling attention to this programme we shall so far 

 rely on our well-known admiration of the talents and 

 energy of the members of the Board as to take leave to 

 say nothing of its good points. These will be read and 

 known of all men who love science ; and the results of 

 the scheme, as far as its good features are concerned, will 

 be the reward of its framers, whether, as we hope, they 

 succeed in establishing Natural Science at Oxford in its 

 proper dignity and power, or whether, as we fear, they 

 eventu.ally succumb to all those many influences which 

 seem slowly but surely to be pressing the life out of both 

 Oxford and Cambridge. 



We think we shall be best furthering the interests of 

 Science if we content ourselves with pointing out the blots 

 of the scheme, blots which stand out in the stronger re- 

 lief the more one dwells on what ought to be its im- 

 mediate results, viz., the destruction of mere cram-work 

 and the encouragement of the spirit of original research. 



We learn that the student who wishes to take honours 

 in Natural Science, must undergo a previous examination 

 in the elements of Mechanics, Physics, and Chemistry. 

 We have no remark to make on this, except to suggest 

 that if the elements of Biology had been added, matters 

 would have been vastly simplified, and much of the con- 

 fusion to which we shall have presently to refer entirely 

 done away with. 



Having passed this previous examination, the student 

 may elect to be examined in either Physics, Chemistry, or 

 Biology, with or without certain special subjects, such as 

 Geology, Zoology, or Botany. 



Touching the examination in Physics we will simply 

 express our regret that there is no definite statement 

 that the examination in this branch will be partly of a 

 practical kind. This is of course intended, but it is not 

 specially stated. If the distinguished Oxford Professor 

 of Experimental Physics knew what hard work his friends 

 had to persuade the world that his superb laboratory is 

 a real honest workshop, and not a gorgeous palace and 

 magnificent show-room, he would have had the instructions 

 touching the practical part of the examination in Physics 

 printed in capitals or italics rather than omitted altogether. 



* Notice of the Board of Studies for the Natural Science School of the 

 University of Oxford, 1872. 



With regard to the Chemistry we will only remark that 

 the restriction of the practical part of the exxmination to 

 the old-fashioned inorganic analysis seems to us to mark 

 an opportunity lost. Is the detection and estimation of a 

 base and an acid for ever to remain the be-all and end-all 

 of practical chemistry ? We trust not. A change in this 

 respect must soon take place in our examining bodies, and 

 Oxford might have led the way. 



It is to the biological part of the scheme that we desire 

 more particularly to call the attention of our readers. The 

 student who wishes to go out in Biology may take the 

 general subject of Biology either alone or together with 

 certain restricted special subjects, such as Comparative 

 Osteology, Ethnology, &c., or together with either of the 

 larger special subjects, Zoology, Botany, and Geology. The 

 general subject of Biology comprises General and Compa- 

 rative Anatomy and Histology, both animal and vegetable, 

 Hiirnan and Comparative Physiology, with Physiological 

 Chemistry, and " the general philosophy of the subject." 

 Our readers will naturally wonder what is meant by this 

 last heading. They probably have been accustomed to 

 consider that science is philosophy, and that the philosophy, 

 for example, of comparative anatomy, grows out of the 

 facts organically, is borne by the subject as plants bear 

 flowers and fruits, and cannot be pinned on, like an arti- 

 ficial blossom on a garland, either in an examination or 

 elsewhere. The mystery disappears when we turn to the 

 list of books recommended (about which we shall have a 

 word to say), where we find under the head of Genera 

 Philosophy Agassiz' " Classification " and Whewell's '■ In- 

 ductive Sciences." Evidently the Board desires to try the 

 students as the saints of old were tried in order to be 

 made perfect ; they tempt them with courses of evil read- 

 ings to see whether the truth be in them or no. But to re- 

 turn : the scheme, as it stands at present, does very well 

 for a man who goes in for the general subject of Biology 

 on the strength of his acquaintance with the contents of the 

 Oxford Museum, and his knowledge of that Physiology 

 falsely so called which is built up on a comparison of the 

 organs of one animal with those of another. The practical 

 examination in dissections and histological preparations 

 will most likely fairly test his proficiency in these matters, 

 and if he takes up one of the minor special subjects he 

 will probably have a good but limited idea of one par- 

 ticular series of facts, e.g:, the various forms of stomach 

 presented by the animal kingdom. We doubt very much 

 if the examination and preparatory course of study will 

 have helped to make him a fruitful man of science, work- 

 ing in and for ideas. Probably the reverse. 



But how much better off is he than the poor botanist 

 who goes to seek at Oxford the means and help to make 

 a working man of science of himself. He must first go 

 through the general examination in Biology, must cram 

 up text-books on Human Physiology, must read up all the 

 futilities of the modern animal histologists, and dabble in 

 the speculations of physiological chemists, to say nothing 

 of his knowledge of the exoskeleton of the Arthropoda and 

 other bits of special animal morphology, before he can 

 turn to his heart's desire, the classification of Phanerogams. 

 And he will cram ; that will be the inevitable result.* 



* The prolixity of some members of the Board seems to have driven the 

 frjmer of the section of Botany into the opposite extremi-. We cannot think 

 it intended tliat the examination in Botany should be so feeble as the pro- 

 gramme seems to intimate. 



