NATURE 



457 



THURSDAY, APRIL i6, 1874 



THE ADAPTATION OF OUR UNIVERSITIES 

 TO THE IV ANTS OF THE AGE 



IT has given us special pleasure during the last few 

 years to record the efforts made in several of our 

 British Universities and Colleges to adapt their teaching 

 and their appliances for teaching to the present state of 

 knowledge. We have seen what has been done by means 

 of a fraction of the splendid revenues of Oxford, what the 

 princely munificence of her Chancellor is providing for 

 Cambridge, and what public subscriptions aided by judi- 

 cious Uberality on the part of Government have enabled 

 Glasgow to achieve. Let us see what is now being 

 attempted by a University which, though for its years 

 rich in usefuhiess and fame, even relatively to those just 

 mentioned, is, so far as funds are concerned, in a state 

 approaching to indigence. 



A short paragraph in our last number called the atten- 

 tion of our readers to the important step which has just 

 been taken by the University of Edinburgh, with the view 

 of thoroughly adapting its lecture-rooms and laboratories 

 at once to the enormously increased numbers of its 

 teachers and students, and to the ever-growing demands 

 of physical and biological science. 



Increase of numbers of teachers and taught would of 

 itself demand a proportionate increase of space, which in 

 Edinburgh must be considerably more than two to one 

 as regards lecture-rooms alone. But when we consider 

 the improvements which have been introduced into the 

 modes of teaching, the imperative necessity for practkal 

 instruction in addition to lectures and demonstrations ; 

 nay more, the desirability of enabling professors not 

 merely to teach what is known, but also, by original 

 research conducted by themselves and their more pro- 

 mising students, to endeavour to extend the boundaries 

 of Science : we see how immense are the issues involved 

 in the step which Edinburgh has just taken. 



That it will be successful, no one who knows Scotland 

 and Scotsmen can for a moment doubt. But Scotland is 

 a comparatively poor country — receiving back from the 

 Treasury a much smaller fraction of her taxation than 

 more favoured portions of the empire — and Edinburgh 

 University is, relatively to the number of her students, by 

 far the poorest of even the poor Scottish Universities. It 

 is to be hoped, therefore, that Government aid will be 

 forthcoming, as in the recent case of Glasgow, to eke out 

 the efforts of those who, with as good a cause as could be 

 wished for, and hearty desire to advance it, yet cannot 

 entirely rely on the results of their unaided exertions. All 

 former Edinburgh aliiiiiiii, scattered as they are broad- 

 cast over the world, especially in England and in India, 

 must be prepared to acknowledge, by such contributions 

 as they can afford to make, the value of the instruction 

 they have received. Let no one abstain from giving 

 because of the smallness of the sum he can afford ; every 

 mite is of importance — let him rather rejoice that he has 

 the opportunity, which appears to occur but once m a 

 century, of contributing to so noble an object. 



The story of her last successful endeavour to meet 

 wants to a certain extent akin to those now felt is well 

 Vol. IX. — No. 233 



told in the following extract from the Programme of the 

 Acting Committee : — 



" One hundred years ago, an Appeal was made to the 

 public on behalf of the University of Edinburgh. The 

 number of students was then stated as ' betwixt six and 

 seven hundred,' the inadequacy of the collegiate buildings 

 to the size and importance of the University was pointed 

 out, and it was declared that while in Edinburgh great 

 improvements were going forward on all hands, ' the 

 University fabric alone ' remained ' in such a neglected 

 state, as to be generally counted a dishonour to the City 

 of Edinburgh, and to this part of the kingdom.' 



" The result of that Appeal was a liberal public subscrip- 

 tion, opened in March 1 76S, which, with the aid of Govern- 

 ment, provided the handsome edifice now existing. That 

 building for a long period amply sufficed for all the 

 teaching purposes of the University. But the lapse of a 

 century has produced great changes. During that period 

 the population of the metropohs has been more than 

 trebled ; increased facilities for travelling have brought 

 the University within easy reach of all parts of the 

 country ; the advantages of a University education have 

 become much more appreciated ; the advancement of 

 Science has widely extended ihe field of academic teaching ; 

 and the renown alike of teachers and graduates, whose 

 names will ever be associated with the University of 

 Edinburgh, has increased its fame and reputation through- 

 out the world. 



" Thus, the buildings of the University again prove to 

 be wholly inadequate to its necessities. This inadequacy 

 is felt in various ways. 



" The number of students attending the University in 

 176S was 'betwixt six and seven hundred,' and the 

 number of Professors was 21. In the present Session 

 (1873-4) the number of students is between 1,900 

 and 2,000, and that of the Professors is 35. The Class- 

 room accommodation has thusbecome wholly insufficient. 

 The students at present attending the Chemistry, 

 Anatomy, and Natural History Classes number about 

 300 in each case. The Lecture-rooms are consequently 

 much overcrowded, and great personal discomfort is thus 

 occasioned to both the teachers and the taught. 



" But apart from the present buildings being insuffi- 

 cient as regards the students in attendance, the nature of 

 the modern system of teaching in several branches has 

 rendered the e,xisting accommodation altogether unsuit- 

 able. 



" Since the present University buildings were erected, 

 the whole subject of Practical Chemistry has been added 

 to the course of study. Within the last ten years large 

 and commodious laboratories have been provided in con- 

 nection with many of the European Universities, and it 

 would be most unfortunate if the LIniversity of Edin- 

 burgh, which was the first British school to introduce 

 practical instruction in Chemistry into the medical curri- 

 culum, were not enabled to carry on satisfactorily this 

 important branch of medical and scientific training. 



"Again, the instruction formerly given in Anatomy con- 

 sisted almost entirely of lectures and demonstrations de- 

 livered in the class-room. The changes in Medical edu- 

 cation during the last thirty years render it necessary that 

 each student should now pursue for himself the study of 

 Practical Anatomy. The rooms at present in use were 

 not constructed for that purpose, and are lamentably in- 

 adequate for the work to be done in them. 



" But besides the departments of Chemistry and Ana- 

 tomy, increased accommodation, in the form of Laborato- 

 ries, and rooms suited for microscopic and other practical 

 investigation and instruction, is required for the Chairs of 

 Materia Medica, the Institutes of Medicine, Natural His- 

 tory, and Pathology. Nor is it less urgent that much 

 additional accommodation for the apparatus and the Phy- 

 sical Laboratory of the Chair of Natural Philosophy 

 should be provided." 



