NA TURE 



65 



SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1922, 

 CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Specialisation in Universities ..... 65 



More Light on the Bantu Languages. By Miss A. 



Werner ......... 67 



Chemistry and Medicine. By Prof. George Barger, 



F.R.S 69 



The Hegelian Method and Modern Science. By 



H. W. C 70 



Soaps and Proteins ....... 70 



Commercial Metallurgy. By H. C H. C. . 71 

 Scientific Activities in the United States: A Bio- 

 logist's View 72 



Our Bookshelf -73 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Interspecific Sterility.— Dr. W. Bateson, F.R.S. 76 

 Geology and the Nebular Theory. — Prof. J. Joly, 



F.R.S. ; W. B. Wright . . . .76 



Wegener's Displacement Theory. — Philip Lake . 77 

 Opalescence Phenomena in Liquid Mixtures. — Prof. 



C. V. Raman 77 



Transcription of Russian Names. — Maj.-Gen. Lord 



Edward Geichen, K.C.V.0 78 



The Influence of Science.— Sir G. Greenhill. F.R.S.. 



The Editor 7S 



Science and Education at South Kensington. (Illus- 



By T. LI. Humberstone .... 79 



Dark Nebulae. By Prof. H. N. Russell . . 81 



The Corrosion of Ferrous Metals. By J. N. F. . 83 

 Obituary : — 



Ernest Solvay. By John I Watts . . . S4 



The Hon. V. A. H. H. Onslow ... 85 



Dr. A. R. Willis. By A. R. R. and G. W. C. K. S3 



Current Topics and Events 87 



Our Astronomical Column 89 



Research Items 90 



Annual Visitation of the National Physical Labora- 

 tory ....... . . 92 



Agricultural Research in Great Britain • • • 93 

 The Magnetic Work of the Carnegie Institution. 



By Dr. C. Chree, F.R.S 94 



New Social Coleoptera. By Dr. A. D. Imms . 95 

 Spectroscopic Studies of Stellar Velocities. By Dr. 



William J. S. Lockyer ...... 95 



Geology of Antarctic Lands. By G. A. J. C. . • 96 

 Durability of Optical Glass. By Dr. James Weir 



French . 97 



Volcanic Activity in Nigeria 97 



University and Educational Intelligence ... 98 



Calendar of Industrial Pioneers 99 



Societies and Academies 99 



Official Publications Received 100 



Diary of Societies 100 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



MACMILLAN &• CO.. LTD., 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, W.C.2. 



Advertisements and business letters should be 



addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address : PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number : GERRARD 8830. 



Specialisation in Universities. 



IT is not the function of a university to make 

 provision for teaching all the sciences ; still 

 less is it the function to confine its work to one narrow 

 branch of specialised study. In one case, apart 

 from the difficulties inherent in such an aggregation, 

 the financial cost would be prohibitive ; in the other, 

 a limitation of such a nature would be wholly alien 

 to the modern conception of a university, where, in 

 place of the breadth and proportion of view which 

 comes from the attrition of minds engaged in diverse 

 studies and pursuits, would be found the narrowness 

 and exclusiveness of intellectual segregation. We may 

 therefore dismiss one extreme as impracticable and the 

 other as undesirable. 



The universities of to-day have many subjects of 

 study in common. Happily the freedom to develop 

 according to their own individualities, which has 

 hitherto been their lot, has resulted in certain character- 

 istic differences. It is devoutly to be hoped they may 

 not lose these distinctions. The studies common to 

 all universities form a broad humanistic and scientific 

 foundation which is the basis of the intellectual life 

 of the university. Superimposed upon this are the 

 more highly specialised studies, which may in some 

 cases cover a very narrow field, but not seldom form a 

 department in the university linked up in innumerable 

 ways with one or more branches of industrial or com- 

 mercial life outside. This development has been 

 gradual and, in general, continuous, and it is due to 

 a variety of causes of which probably the two most 

 effective may be defined as historical and regional or 

 environmental. As matters now stand,, some studies 

 have already been specialised in certain of the uni- 

 versities and, until quite recently, largely by a process 

 of natural development. To overlook or to under- 

 estimate the importance and bearing of this fact would 

 be a mistake. 



If the universities were self-supporting or mainly 

 so, it is unlikely that the present system, which on 

 the whole has worked well, would be challenged — it 

 may yet prove to be the best in any circumstances 

 — but since they are not self-supporting, and since 

 they are coming to rely more and more upon assistance 

 from State funds and local rates, they need not be 

 surprised if a time comes when a critical eye is turned 

 upon their activities. Such a time is with us now. 

 The cry for economy, the reduction in the Government 

 grant, the threat of lean years ahead, apart from other 

 considerations, have brought to the forefront the ques- 

 tion of the overlapping of university studies, and the 

 possibility of better co-ordination and co-operation of 

 the universities in the future, especially with regard to 



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