6o6 



NATURE 



[October 15, 1908 



It must not be supposed that Oxford was entirely 

 destitute of scientific collections or of scientific pro- 

 fessors and readers in the earlier part of the nineteenth 

 century. The Ashmolean Museum, housed in the 

 beautiiful building designed by Wren, contained a con- 

 siderable number of natural history specimens as well 

 as objects of antiquarian interest, and though it had 

 suffered neglect in the eighteenth century, it had been 

 largely added to by the indefatigable zeal of J. S. 

 and P. B. Duncan since 1823. There were collections 

 of geology and mineralogy in the Clarendon building. 

 Dr. Kidd and the late Sir H. Acland had formed an 

 important anatomical collection at Christ Church, on 

 the model of the Hunterian Museum. Dr. Daubeny 

 had equipped a private house near Magdalen College 

 as a laboratory. The Botanic Garden at Oxford is one 

 of the oldest of its kind. But university laboratories 

 and lecture rooms can hardly be said to have existed, 

 and if thev had existed they would not have been 

 filled, for there were no inducements to the study of 

 natural science. In the earliest years of the nine- 

 teenth century Oxford had reformed herself. The 

 system of honour examinations was instituted in 

 1801, and the colleges bestirred themselves to improve 

 and systematise their methods of teaching. But the 

 only subjects recognised in the final schools were 

 " Li terse humaniores " and mathematics; for these 

 exclusively college tuition was provided, and to these 

 subjects alone were allotted all the profits and honours 

 that the colleges could give. The advance in efficiency 

 was no doubt considerable, but it took a direction 

 hostile not only to scientific but to every kind of pro- 

 fessorial teaching. Each college undertook to provide 

 for all the intellectual wants of its members, and was 

 jealous of outside interference. As the tutorial in- 

 fluence grew, the professorial influence waned, and 

 the audiences of the scientific professors and readers 

 in particular, if they existed at all, consisted chiefly 

 of graduates who took a dilettante interest in natural 

 phenomena. 



When the exclusive interests of the colleges are 

 considered, it is a remarkable instance of the liberal 

 spirit prevailing in Oxford before the days of Univer- 

 sity Commissions that the Honour School of Natural 

 Science was established by vote of Convocation in 

 1849, and that a large sum of money was shortly 

 afterwards contributed by the University and by private 

 individuals to the building of a museum and labora- 

 tories which would be independent of college influence. 

 It is interesting to note that, among many others, Mr. 

 Gladstone's name stands as a contributor of 100?. 

 towards the museum building fund, and Dr. Pusey's 

 name as a contributor to the internal decorations. 

 Looking over the records, one cannot but be struck 

 with the large amount of sympathy and practical help 

 given by men whose interests in life lay in verj' 

 different directions. Equally striking are the high 

 ideals and noble conceptions of those who guided the 

 course of affairs. The new museum was designed to 

 include all the branches of natural science under a 

 single roof, and thus to symbolise the unity of science. 

 Great care was taken that the site and architectural 

 featiu'es of the new building should be dignified ; that 

 the interior should be enriched with carving; that 

 the history of science should be illustrated by statues 

 of the great men of ancient and modern times. It is 

 well known how Ruskin threw himself into the work 

 and invested it with a poetical fancy which, if detri- 

 ment.il in some respects to the practical requirements 

 of scientific laboratories and exhibitions, is not without 

 value and influence at the present day. Lack of 

 money prevented the completion of the enrichments 

 oritjinallv designed, but in very recent years the ijene- 

 rosity of the Rev. H. T. Morgan has provided for 



NO. 2033, VOL. 78] 



the carving of the capitals of the pillars of the south 

 and east sides of the central court. 



If Oxford was first in the field, it must be con- 

 fessed that science has not made such rapid strides 

 there as in other universites during the half-century 

 that has elapsed since the museum was first opened. 

 But the progress has been great, though retarded by 

 influences the force of which has only gradually abated 

 in the period. There can be little doubt that the highly 

 elaborated system of college tuition, always more con- 

 spicuous at Oxford than at Cambridge, has been a 

 retarding influence, .\dmirable as it is in many ways, 

 this system has the effect of making colleges reluctant 

 to allow their undergraduates to escape from their 

 immediate influence. College tutors said that when 

 their men went to the museum they lost sight of them. 

 Hence, for many years, they discouraged their going' 

 there. As time went on, and it became evident that there 

 was a real demand for scientific teaching, the colleges 

 began to build and equip scientific laboratories of their 

 own ; mostly chemical laboratories, in response to the 

 great demand for chemical instruction. Thus it has 

 come about that a great part, probably the larger 

 part, of the chemical teaching in the university is 

 not conducted at the museum, but elsewhere. If this 

 is theoretically disadvantageous, the college lecturers, 

 by organising their courses in combination with the 

 chemical department at the museum, have con- 

 tributed very largely to the recent rapid progress of 

 chemical science in Oxford, and, further than this, 

 they have been the agents in spreading a real and 

 active interest in scientific studies among all classes 

 in the Lhiiversity. Year by year individual colleges 

 come forward with proposals to endow scientific pro- 

 fessorships in subjects insufficiently represented in the 

 University. It would be invidious to particularise, and 

 it would take too much space to enumerate all that 

 has been done by difl'erent colleges in this direction 

 in recent years, but special mention may be made of 

 St. John's College, which, after re-endowing the Sib- 

 thorpian chair of rural economy, at its own expense 

 has built and equipped laboratories and lecture rooms 

 for the use of the professor. 



But the most fundamental and certainly the most 

 encouraging feature in the changed estimate of the 

 value of scientific training in Oxford is due very 

 largely, as the Vice-Chancellor pointed out, to the 

 example set by science itself. By slow degrees the 

 University has come to recognise the value of research. 

 Xot long since examinations and preparation for 

 examinations absorbed the whole interest of college 

 staffs. Success in examinations was the only road 

 to a fellowship. In the last few years many collesjes 

 have so amended their statutes that they are able 

 to elect a large proportion of research fellows, 

 and have amply availed themselves of their new oppor- 

 tunities. New ideals and new opportunities have 

 arisen, not only in natural science, but in all branches 

 of learning, and the immediate effect, so far as science 

 is concerned, is that emulation has taken the place of 

 opposition. 



Thus the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of 

 the museum marks, not the dawn, but the establish- 

 ment of a new era. The progress of scientific studies 

 depends more upon synii)athy and good will than on 

 laboratories and equipment, indispensable though the 

 latter may be. Those who visited Oxford last week 

 could easily take note of the numerous additions to 

 the departments of the museum and satisfy them- 

 selves that the material for scientific work is not 

 lacking. They could satisfy themselves with equal 

 ease of the energy and enthusiasm of the scientific staff, 

 but the spirit of the whole University is more difficult 

 to discern. It should be noted, therefore, that the 



