May i, 1913] 



NATURE 



15 



I used to take advantage of the fact and sweep so that 

 the stars should enter from the favourable direction. 

 E. E. Barnard. 

 Yerkes Observatory, Williams Raw Wisconsin, 

 U.S.A., April 15. 



A Brilliant Meteor on April 23. 



A magnificent meteor was seen here by me at 

 <)h. 8m. this evening. Starting' from near /3 Leonis, 

 the body travelled, nearly overhead, to near i) Draconis. 

 The head was yellowish and distinctly pear-shaped, 

 pouring out behind it a shimmering tail of reddish 

 material. The flight occupied some 5 sec. or more, 

 for I had time to direct the attention of the Misses 

 Baxandall — with whom I was talking — to it, and they 

 then saw quite half the flight. The matter left 

 behind was quite bright, tapering off for some 3 , 

 and then quickly fading away. There was no sound 

 and no violent disruption. The meteor, in flight, 

 reminded me strongly of the photographs of Borrelly's 

 comi't published by the Lick observers in 1903. A 

 marked feature was the leisurely flight and the 

 appearance of matter being poured out from the 

 receding head. William E. Rolston. 



" Broadwater," Fulbrooke Road, Cambridge, 

 April 23. 



Spectacles for Use with Observing Instruments. 



I do not remember ever reading or seeing any 

 article on how people who wear spectacles should 

 look correctly through capped lenses of scientific in- 

 struments, such as telescopes, spectroscopes, micro- 

 scopes, &c, nor what sort of spectacles weak-sighted 

 people should use for that purpose, whether their 

 long-sighted or reading spectacles, or whether special 

 lenses should be obtained for that purpose. If the 

 latter, a special form of lens cap might be made for 

 the correct spectacle glass to fit into at the proper 

 distance from the lens cap — when it is known what 

 is the proper distance. At present this subject seems 

 to be ignored, and it may be worth the attention of 

 opticians to make rules and give hints or advice on 

 the subject, so that people with deficient eyesight, 

 especially the aged, may have more pleasure in their 

 observations. Perhaps some of your readers may be 

 able to give some useful hints as to what they find 

 it best to do in the circumstances gained by many 

 years of practical experience. J. W. Scholes. 



Grimscar, Huddersfield, April 21. 



THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON 

 UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN LONDON. 



WHATEVER may be the ultimate result of 

 the report of the Royal Commission on 

 University Education in London, there can be no 

 doubt that the Commissioners have performed, 

 and performed admirably, a much-needed task. 

 For success in any great enterprise it is essential 

 that those who are engaged in it should have a 

 clear mental vision of what they want. It need 

 not be precise in detail, but it must be definite 

 in outline. 



The Commissioners have produced for the first 

 time a faithful sketch of what the University of 

 London may and should be. It is the conception 

 of statesmen, and not merely of educationists inter- 

 ested chiefly in their own subjects, their own 

 institutions or their own degrees. It is courage- 

 ous, for the Commissioners do not hesitate to 

 NO. 22/0, VOL. 91] 



express their opinions even when they know that 

 they must be opposed to sectional views and 

 sectional interests. It is far-sighted, for it is 

 linked with impending reforms in secondary edu- 

 cation, and contemplates changes which are ad- 

 mitted to be temporary and preparatory only to 

 further developments, such as the establishment of 

 a south-eastern university outside the London area. 

 It faces for the first time the question of the cost of 

 a great metropolitan university. Whatever other 

 purpose it may serve, it will for long be regarded as 

 a self-consistent and well-conceived scheme which ■ 

 will serve as a standard with which other pro- 

 posals must be compared. Those who object may 

 at least be expected to state their objections in 

 a specific form; to indicate whether those objec- 

 tions are to some general principle or to particular 

 details ; to make it clear what alternatives they 

 suggest, and whether those alternatives would 

 directly or indirectly modify the whole scheme, 

 and, if not, how they can be incorporated into it. 



In discussing the report in these pages it may 

 be assumed that the readers of Nature are gener- 

 ally acquainted with the past history of the Uni- 

 versity of London, and know that the development 

 of the internal University under the constitution 

 established thirteen years ago has been very great, 

 but has been hampered by disunion in the Senate. 

 Nor was that constitution framed so as to enable 

 the Senate to deal with the difficult problems 

 caused by the establishment of so strong and 

 efficient an institution as the Imperial College. 



Indeed, the whole question was raised, not only 

 as to whether a new technological university should 

 be established in London, but whether the Imperial 

 College should not be regarded as a super-university 

 institution to which other universities should be 

 expected to send their best technical students, and 

 which should gradually eliminate all teaching of 

 undergraduates from its curriculum. With both 

 these proposals the Commissioners deal very 

 faithfully. For their arguments we must refer 

 our readers to the report itself (sections 194-198). 

 Suffice it to say that they sum up in the statement 

 "that the analogy of the German Hochschule fails 

 to support the claim for a technological university 

 in England, and that the policy of establishing 

 a super-university is neither a possible one nor 

 to be desired on its merits." 



But while thus decisively deciding on the main 

 questions, the Commissioners have done much, 

 indeed, it may be said, all that is possible, to secure 

 both to the technical colleges and to the teachers 

 of technology in general that freedom in educa- 

 tional matters the securing or retention of which 

 was the main motive of those who feared the 

 too complete absorption of the Imperial College 

 in the University. The safeguards provided are 

 described below. Turning from this point, which 

 was largely the cause of the appointment of the 

 Commission, we come to what logically precedes 

 it, namely, the constitution proposed by the Com- 

 missioners for the University. It is chiefly on 

 this point that the arrangements under which it 

 has been working since 1900 have broken down. 



