386 



NA TURE 



[Fed. 24, 1S87 



whether a Professorship of Physics was in itself a desir- 

 able thing. Professors De Morgan and Stokes were asked 

 for formal written opinions on this knotty point. The 

 new Chair was only established when it was held to ha\e 

 been proved that the field of mathematics and natural 

 philosophy was wide enough for the employment of two 

 labourers in different parts. There can be no doubt that 

 the College was remarkably fortunate in the members 

 both of its Council and of its Senate. The Neilds — father 

 and son Mr. Ashton, Mr. Oliver Heywood, and many 

 others, worked as though their personal interests were all 

 bound up in the success of John Owens' bequest. They 

 succeeded in filling the Chairs with men of the most 

 brilliant abilities. To mention only some of those whose 

 connection with the College has now ceased, it is evident 

 that an institution which has within a few years com- 

 manded the services of men like Sir Henry Roscoe and 

 Professors Frankland, Clifton, Jevons. Jack, and Gamgee, 

 must have deserved the success it has won. 



Nor is it uninstructive, regarding the Owens College 

 as the pioneer in a great movement, to observe 

 how largely that movement has been and is being 

 directed by men who themselves owe much to the Man- 

 chester institution. By glancing only at the list of those 

 who have held the office of demonstrator in the physical 

 or chemical laboratories, or of lecturer on mathematics, 

 we observe that the Professorships of Physics in the 

 Mason College, Birmingham ; of Chemistry in Ander- 

 son's College, Glasgow, the Yorkshire College, Leeds, the 

 College of Physical Science at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 

 and the Firth College, Sheffield ; and the Professorships 

 both of Chemistry and Physics in the Normal School of 

 Science, South Kensington, and in University College, 

 Dundee, are or have been held by alumni of the Owens 

 College. 



When once the College began to grow, it grew rapidly. 

 The change wrought in fifteen years was remarkable. 

 Besides the establishment of numerous new professor- 

 ships, the Manchester Natural History and Geological 

 Societies handed over their collections to the College as 

 the recognised centre of scientific learning in Manchester. 

 The College and the Medical School were fused into one 

 institution. The handsome buildings in O.xford Road were 

 erected upon land, and partly also with funds, furnished 

 by an Extension Committee, which numbered among its 

 members many of the best-known men in the town, and 

 of which Dr. Watts, whose death Manchester has recently 

 had to deplore, was secretary. 



When this was accomplished, the College proceeded to 

 claim the status and powers, as it had already proved its 

 capacity for doing the work, of a University. This ques- 

 tion affected interests other than thos; of Manchester 

 itself. The Yorkshire College, Leeds, then very recently 

 founded, and immature, had sufficient faith in its own 

 future to claim a share in determining the conditions on 

 which a new University was to be established in the 

 North of England. This claim was at first enforced by a 

 formal opposition to the Owens College scheme, on cer- 

 tain specified grounds. Whether a Leeds historian would 

 agree with Mr. Thompson that the opposition " was not 

 based upon accurate knowledge " may be open to ques- 

 tion. It may be that the mistake was on the other side, 

 and that the Owens College authorities had not as yet \ 



fully recognised the magnitude of the movement to which 

 they themselves had given so great an impulse. However 

 this may be, the controversy seems to have been con- 

 ducted with fairness and good temper, and to ha\e 

 resulted in an agreement which left none but kindly feel- 

 ings behind. The Council of the Owens College received 

 satisfactory assurances that their Leeds friends did not 

 desire to share the advantages to be conferred by the 

 Charter of the University till they had made their College 

 worthy of representing it in Yorkshire. On the other 

 hand, they conceded the demand of Yorkshire that the 

 name of the University should not be that " of a town 

 or of any person whose claims to such distinction are 

 merely local." A compromise was arrived at on the other 

 point to which importance was attached. Leeds desired 

 that the Governing Body of the University should be 

 separate and distinct from that of the Owens College, and 

 that it should have power "to incorporate the Owens 

 College and such other institutions as may now or here- 

 after be able to fulfil the conditions of incorporation laid 

 down in the Charter." This condition was agreed to, with 

 the modification that the Owens College should be named 

 in the Charter as the first College of the University, and 

 that thus its incorporation should be simultaneous with 

 and not posterior to the foundation of the University 

 itself. Finally, a joint deputation from Lancashire 

 and Yorkshire petitioned the Crown in favour of the 

 establishment of the new University. The Charter was 

 granted in 18S0. The Owens College wa; constituted 

 the first College of the University, and though the York- 

 shire College has not yet joined it, University College, 

 Liverpool, has recently been admitted as the second 

 member of the federation. 



Mr. Thompson's work appropriately ends with the 

 flattering tribute paid by his fellow-citizens to Sir Henry 

 Roscoe by his election as Member of Parliament for one 

 of the divisions of Manchester, and with the expression 

 of the regret of the Council at the severance of his con- 

 nection with the College. The success of the Owens 

 College is due to no one man, but to no one man more 

 than to Sir Henry Roscoe. His withdrawal may fitly 

 mark the termination of the period of struggle with 

 initial difficulties. The main work of organisation is 

 over. The chief outlines of the scheme for bringing 

 industry into contact with culture and with technical 

 education are drawn. It remains for the Owens and her 

 sister Colleges to fulfil the task on which they are now 

 fairly embarked. 



We believe it is not unlikely that in carrying on their 

 work the authorities of the Victoria University may find 

 it necessary to appeal to the Government for a contribu- 

 tion towards the University funds. It will of course be 

 easy to say that as Manchester and Liverpool have done 

 so much they maybe left unaided to do more. In forming 

 an opinion upon this question it will be well for the public 

 to remember that, whereas the Universities or Colleges in 

 Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, St. Andrews, Aberyst- 

 with, Bangor, Cardiff, and the Queen's Colleges in Ireland, 

 receive subventions from the State which amount in all 

 to between 40,000/. and 50,000/. per annum, English 

 higher education in provincial towns has been entirely 

 provided by unselfish private enterprise, with some assist- 

 ance in Newcastle from the University of Durham, and 



