March lo, 1887] 



NA TURE 



441 



largely developed, as in the dog, cat, and rabbit, strongly 

 bears out this view." 



(6) The lower part of the temporo-sphcnoidal lobe, close 

 to the subiculum, is probably to be regarded as the centre 

 of taste. 



Eziidcncc. — Electrical excitation of this region produces 

 movements of the lips, tongue, and cheek-pouches, which 

 " may be taken as reflex inovements consequent on the 

 excitation of gustatory sensation." And the abolition of 

 taste coincides with (bilateral) destruction of this region. 



(7) The pre-frontal region is probably related to the 

 reflective and intellectual faculties. 



(S) The occipital lobe is related to the visceral sensa- 

 tions, such as hunger and thirst. The evidence in favour 

 of this opinion was regarded even by its author at the 

 time as very inconclusive, and since the subject is entirely 

 ignored in the later edition we need not further con- 

 •iider it. E. A. Sch.afer 



(To be continued!) 



THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGES 

 T^HE other day (March 3) the Times printed a letter 

 ^ from Prof. Jowett containing a powerful appeal to 

 the State on behalf of the University Colleges which 

 have recently been established in large towns by the 

 exertions of private individuals. On Monday evening 

 last, Mr. Mundella, having asked the Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer whether his attention had been called to this 

 letter, proceeded to inquire whether the Government 

 " would introduce or facilitate the passing of a measure 

 authorising local authorities to contribute towards the 

 establishment and maintenance of schools and colleges 

 adapted to the wants of their several localities, and 

 would recommend to Parliament annual grants in aid of 

 the same.'' That Mr. Goschen, so far as his personal 

 sympathies are concerned, would have liked to give an 

 affirmative answer to this question there can be no doubt ; 

 but, speaking as a member of the Government, he 

 adopted a very discouraging tone. He was not in a 

 position, he said, to recommend to Parliament annual 

 grants in aid of local colleges. He admitted that it was 

 an open question whether local authorities should not be 

 empowered to aid such institutions, but the Government 

 could not undertake to introduce or facilitate the passing 

 of a measure dealing with the matter. 



This decision is greatly to be regretted, and we must 

 hope that the Government will soon be compelled by the 

 pressure of public opinion to reconsider the subject. No 

 one disputes that the University Colleges have done, and 

 are doing, most valuable service to the communities in 

 the midst of which they are placed. Until they were 

 established, what is called a University education was 

 accessible only to very well-off persons. The University 

 Colleges have brought a high intellectual training within 

 reach not only of the middle classes, but of working men, 

 and large numbers of eager and intelligent students ha\e 

 taken advantage of the opportunities provided for them. 

 Even, therefore, if no material benefit were derived 

 by the nation directly from the University Colleges, 

 it would be the clear duty of the State to afford 

 them the help they need. But from the point of view 

 of industry and commerce, as well as from the 

 purely intellectual point of view, it is hardly possible 

 to overrate the importance of these colleges. That 

 our traders are being driven by German and other 

 competitors from important markets is, unfortunately, 

 only too certain ; and it is not less certain that they will 

 never recover the ground they have lost until English 

 industry in all its branches is carried on in accordance 

 with strictly scientific methods. This is beginning to be 

 pretty generally understood, and it will be strange if the 

 country does not insist that justice shall be done to 

 institutions in which a serious attempt is being made to 



impart the kind of knowledge without which it is im- 

 possible for manufacturers to adapt their work to the rigid 

 conditions of the present age. 



No doubt it would be very satisfactory if the University 

 Colleges could be made self-supporting, but this they 

 cannot be. If those of them which do not possess any 

 considerable endowment receive no aid from the Govern- 

 ment, they will soon be placed in a position of grave 

 difficulty ; and the question will have to be faced, whether 

 it is worth while to maintain them at all unless they can 

 be maintained in a state of high efficiency. After all, it is 

 no very great sacrifice that the State is asked to make for 

 their benefit. What is claimed is simply that not less 

 shall be done for the English colleges than is done for 

 like institutions in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. 



An aspect of the question which does not always receive 

 adequate attention was well brought out in Prof. Jowett's 

 admirable letter. " Among other benefits," he wrote, 

 " the influence which is exercised by these institutions on 

 the society of a place is not to be forgotten. The residence 

 in a large manufacturing town of a number of highly 

 educated persons, having a variety of literary and 

 scientific interests, is a social element of great value. 

 They raise the tone of conversation ; they create ideas 

 and aspirations which would not ordinarily have arisen 

 in a mercantile community They break in on the dull 

 monotony of wealth. The posts which they occupy, 

 though poorly paid, afford leisure for study and oppor- 

 tunities for research. Among the holders of them are to 

 be found some of the most promising young men of the 

 country. Many of them are known by their writings, and 

 a large proportion of the papers published in English 

 scientific periodicals is a record of the work done in 

 University Colleges." 



The Times, we are glad to say, cordially supports 

 the cause advocated by the Master of Balliol. " The 

 good," it says (March 3), " which the local colleges do is 

 not exaggerated by Prof. Jowett. They form centres of 

 instruction for all the young men and young women of a 

 town who desire to improve themselves. They foster the 

 love of study, and teach the art of making use of time. 

 ' They may have even kindled in the minds of one or two 

 the spark of genius.' To put the matter on a lower but 

 not less practical level, they have done much, by means 

 of their technical schools, to provide that very instruction 

 of which, as everyone admits, our artisans are so much 

 in need to enable them to carry on the struggle for exist- 

 ence against foreign rivals. Nor does the Master over- 

 state the advantages which the town indirectly derives 

 from the presence of these colleges, whose teaching staff 

 do much to raise the tone of social life throughout the 

 district. It is a sound argument of the defenders of the 

 Church Establishment that it is a great gain to English 

 society to have at least one educated gentleman settled 

 in every parish. The argument may be extended in 

 favour of the University Colleges, and we may say that in 

 a large town, where the pursuit of wealth through com- 

 merce is the characteristic of the whole society, it is a 

 great advantage to have four or five men of high intel- 

 lectual training, whose aims are dift'erent, whose standard 

 is different, and who represent science and literature 

 sometimes with great distinction. It would on many 

 grounds be matter for extreme regret if the excellent 

 institutions which foster such men should disappear. 

 Yet there is too much reason to fear that such will be the 

 fate of most of them, unless help more permanent and 

 certain than any that can be derived from voluntary 

 sources is at once forthcoming. Neither Leeds, New 

 castle, Sheffield, Nottingham, nor Bristol is in a satis- 

 factory financial condition. The fees cannot pay even 

 the very modest stipends of the professors, and the 

 annual subscriptions are showing a lamentable tendency 

 to diminish. It seems as though there was nothing for 

 it but an appeal to the Exchequer, sorely tried as it now 



