July 25, 1907J 



NA TURE 



309 



VKlXERSlTi AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Liverpool. — Mr. J. Mercpr has been appointed assistant 

 lecturer in mathematics and Mr. T. E. Gardner assistant 

 lecturer in organic chemistry. 



A lectureship in plant physiology has been established in 

 Ihe botanical department through the generosity of .Mr. 

 W. P. Hartley (the donor of the laboratories). 



Prof. Ronald Ross has been granted leave of absence for 

 five months to enable him to report on measures for the 

 prevention of malaria in Mauritius for the Colonial Office. 



Prof. .A. \V. Mayo Robson will deliver the Mitchell 

 Hcmks Memorial Lecture during the session 1907-8. 



At the graduation ceremony held in St. George's Hall on 

 July 13, ex officio degrees were conferred on several mem- 

 bers of the staff, including Emeritus Prof. Paul, Dr. E. A. 

 Browne, Prof. Watkinson, Mr. J. VVemyss Anderson, 

 .Associate Profs. Aspinall, Brodie, and Bromley Holmes. 

 The dean of the faculty of science (Prof. Harvey-Gibson) 

 presented the following for the degree of Doctor of .Science, 

 honoris causa, viz. : — Prof. A. R. Forsyth, Prof. F. Gotch, 

 Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir Henrv Roscoe, S'ir William Ramsav, 

 Sir John Murray, Prof. Ostwald, Prof. Osier, and (in 

 (ihsenlia) Dr. C. L. A. Laveran. Sir Alexander Kennedy 

 was presented for the degree of Doctor of Engineering by 

 Prof. Watkinson. 



Mr. Ad.4M Sedgwick, F.R.S., has been elected professor 

 of zoology and comparative anatomy in the University of 

 Cambridge in succession to the late Prof. Newton. 



Sir DoiGL.AS Fox will deliver the inaugural address of 

 a nature-study course for women, to be held at the Horti- 

 cultural College, Swanley, from .Saturday, July 27, to 

 Saturday, .August 10. 



The council of the City and (niilds of t^ondon Institute 

 has conferred the fellowship of the institute upon Mr. 

 .Alfred E. Young, chief surveyor of the Federated Malay 

 States, for his original and valuable work in the trigono- 

 metrical survey of the Malay .States. 



The annual meeting of the Midland Agricultural and 

 Dairy College will be held on Monday, July 20, at 

 3.15 p.m., when the report on the year's work will be 

 presented. Sir John Rolleston will address the meeting 

 and present the certificates gained during last session. 



.At Bedford College for Women (University of London) 

 the following courses, open free to teachers in secondary 

 and elementary schools in the county of London, will be 

 given in the Michaelmas term : — " Geology for Teachers of 

 Physical Geography," by Dr. C. A. Raisin, begin- 

 ning Wednesday, October 9, 6 p.m. ; " The Organisation 

 of Nature-study Courses in London Schools," by Miss 

 M. R. N. Holmer, beginning Saturday, October 5, 

 10.30 a.m. Syllabuses of the lectures can be obtained on 

 application to the principal. 



The East London College, which has gradually been 

 evolved from the educational work connected with the 

 " People's Palace," has been accorded the position of a 

 school of the University of London by the Senate of that 

 body. It has long been felt that there should be a school 

 of the LIniversity in the eastern half of London ; and for 

 this position the East London College is admirably suited. 

 The chemical department, under the charge of Dr. J. T. 

 Hewitt, has done valuable work. Prof. C. H. Lees, 

 F.R.S., was recently appointed head of the physics 

 department, and the laboratories have been re-equipped and 

 extended, while large grants have been made for the 

 mechanical and electrical engineering departments by the 

 Drapers' Company. Much research work has been accom- 

 plished under the professor of electrical engineering. Prof. 

 J. T. Morris, and mathematics is showing signs of con- 

 siderable development at the college. 



The need of reform at Oxford is urged in a letter signed 

 by leading advocates of progressive learning in Wednesday's 

 Times. It is pointed out that many members of the 

 Iniversity are of the opinion : — (i) That the constitution 

 and machinery of Oxford, both legislative and executive, 

 need revision ; (2) that the relations between the University 

 and its colleges, both constitutional and financial, require 



modification ; (3) that a central direction of our studies is 

 required enabling the faculties to have the authority 

 assigned to them in other seats of learning ; (4) that the 

 studies of the University are themselves too narrow in 

 scope and that fresh endowments of various branches of 

 study are necessary, and especially that a greater 

 encouragement should be given to research, which at 

 Oxford is probably to a larger extent divorced from teach- 

 ing than in any other great university. .As attempts at 

 reform have again and again proved abortive, the 

 signatories consider that either a fresh commission, or, if 

 that suffices, legislation by the King in Council, as con- 

 templated by the last commission, are the only practical 

 ways cf carrying out the necessary changes. 



" The influence of a body of thoroughly competent, 

 zealous, and conscientious teachers in our public elementary 

 schools may plainly be an important factor in our national 

 life," says Sir Robert Morant in his prefatory memorandum 

 to the new regulations (Cd. 3597) for the training of 

 teachers and for the examination of students in training 

 colleges. The general spirit of the regulations is likely to 

 encourage work which will produce teachers of the right 

 kind. The time for training is at best short, and it is 

 important that the essential needs of the future teacher 

 should receive primary consideration ; the Board rightlv 

 warns college authorities against undertaking any too 

 ambitious scheme. Where a university course of work is 

 permitted to a student training to become an elementarv- 

 school teacher, the regulations insist that it shall not be 

 at the sacrifice of some fundamental study or of facilities 

 for obtaining practice in the art of teaching. Following 

 the regulations of previous years, the necessity for incul- 

 cating the scientific method in the teaching of all subjects, 

 and not confining such attempts to the instruction in 

 science, is insisted upon. The memorandum admirably 

 urges also that : — " The study of natural objects . . ". 

 should be so conducted as to encourage accurate observ- 

 ation and the careful recording of what is seen, with a 

 view to the growth of an independent habit of thought, 

 and the furnishing of a well-defined field of knowledge 

 derived from immediate observation by the scholar." The 

 necessity for lessons in elementary schools designed to 

 familiarise children with the chief laws of health is now 

 recognised by everyone, and great importance is to be 

 attached by the Board to the education in this subject 

 received by the student in training. The regulations as a 

 whole will be read with satisfaction by all who have at 

 heart the educational welfare of elementary-school children. 



I.v the third of the annual Harvard lectures, delivered at 

 A'ale University last April, Prof. A. Lawrence Lowell, the 

 lecturer for the year, dealt with the subject of .American 

 universities. These lectures are the outcome of a fund pro- 

 vided by an anonymous Harvard graduate. In his lecture, 

 which is published in Science for June 28, Prof. Lowell 

 raises many points of wide interest. After directing atten- 

 tion to the value to civilisation of the great European 

 universities at the close of the Middle .Ages, he said that 

 American universities are not only growing larger, but 

 their influence is extending more widely through the body 

 politic. In addition to being training pliices for young 

 men, the universities in the States aim at diffusing learning 

 directly or indirectly through all strata of society, helping 

 to bring light to anyone who wants it. It is being more 

 fully understood, too, that a university should not be 

 merely a local institution, but one bringing together 

 students from all parts of the country. As Prof. Lowell 

 remarked, " should a general custom arise for everv man 

 to attend exclusively the university in his own neighbour- 

 hood, it would be a great misfortune to education in 

 America." Referring to the two classes of universities in 

 th" United States, Prof. Lowell instituted an interesting 

 comparison between -State universities and those not sup- 

 ported by taxation. He comes to a similar conclusion to 

 that arrived at by President Pritchett in the first bulletin of 

 th^ Carnegie Foundation, that the most vigorous of the 

 State universities have been, as a rule, those which have 

 thrown themselves most completely upon the State and 

 obtained the smallest fraction of their support from 

 private benefaction. We commend this experience to 

 British statesmen in the hope that .American experience of 



NO. T969, VOL. 76J 



