NATURE 



331 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 1874 



FIFTH REPORT OF THE SCIENCE 

 COMMISSION 



THE Fifth Report of the Royal Commission on 

 Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of 

 Science, just issued, is a comparatively short one ; but to 

 many it will possess an unusual amount of interest, as 

 showing how far private effort may be relied upon to 

 supply the vast deficiency which at present exists in the 

 means for affording a higher education accessible to all 

 classes. 



The Report is concerned with five institutions, each the 

 result of private effort, and each having done much 

 in its own way to raise the standard of the higher edu- 

 cation, to place it within the reach of a wider circle, and 

 to bring the physical and natural sciences to the front as 

 indispensable branches of knowledge and an invaluable 

 means of culture, without which all education must be 

 radically incomplete. These institutions are — the two 

 metropolitan Colleges (viz., University and King's Col- 

 leges), the Owens College, the Newcastle College of 

 Physical Science, and the Catholic University of Ireland. 



The Report gives an account of the origin and growth 

 of each of these Colleges, founded on abundant data 

 supplied by the authorities of the various institutions. 

 Ample details are given as to the amount and sources 

 of income of each of the five Colleges, the number and 

 kinds of professorships, the income of each Chair, the 

 number of students in each class during the last two 

 years — in short, all information needed to form an opinion 

 as to the kind and comprehensiveness of education which 

 the Colleges aim to give, the means at their command to 

 carry out their ideal aims, and the extent to which they 

 have been successful. 



The expenditure of University College, London, on 

 capital account, for all purposes, up to the year 1S70, 

 amounted to 202,287/., the whole having been defrayed 

 out of the original share capital of the College, and out 

 of the sums that have been either given or bequeathed 

 to it for general purposes from time to time. In addition 

 to the capital sum thus expended there are endowments 

 arising out of various bequests which produced, in 1870, 

 an annual income of 2,978/. Of this income, 2,276/. is 

 appropriated to special purposes ; no assistance has ever 

 been received from any Government grant. 



The School established in connection with the College 

 is of unquestionable advantage to it, as a large and in- 

 creasing proportion of well-prepared pupils pass from the 

 former to the latter ; and during the last few years the 

 College has been slightly a gainer, in a pecuniary point of 

 view, by the maintenance of the School. The scientific 

 Chairs of the College are eleven in number. Of these 

 eleven professorships, one only is endowed, Mr. T. 

 J. Phillips JodrcU having lately presented to the College 

 the sum of 7,500/. for a permanent endowment of the 

 Chair of Physiology. With the exception of this recent 

 benefaction, the College can hardly be said to possess 

 any endowment whatever the revenue of which is pro- 

 perly apphcable to the support of its Scientific Faculty. 

 The Professor of Geology, however, receives 31/. per 

 annum from the Goldsmid Fund. 

 Vol. X. — No. 252 



The courses of study, as indicated in the programmes 

 of the professorial lectures, appear to be carefully 

 arranged with a view to the requirements both of elemen- 

 tary and of advanced students. Great importance is 

 attached to the laboratory instruction in Physics, Chemis- 

 try, and Physiology. The College has but few scholar- 

 ships or exhibitions, and of these, none are appropriated 

 exclusively to scientific subjects. 



The Report of the Council states that during the session 

 1873-74 the number of pupils was 1,542; of these, 893 

 were students in the College, and 649 pupils in the 

 School. Of the students, 332 belonged to the Faculty of 

 Medicine. In the Faculties of Arts and Laws and of 

 Science there were 571. The fees received, exclusive of 

 those for clinical instruction, amounted to 24,266/. loj. dd. 

 The total payments out of these fees to the professors, 

 teachers, and masters, amounted to 16,904/. 8j-. dd., leav- 

 ing 7,362/. 2j. for the College share of fees. 



The evidence which has been laid before the Commis- 

 sion clearly shows that the usefulness of the College is 

 greatly restricted by the insufficiency of funds. The 

 difficulty is felt in two respects : first, in providing ade- 

 quate payment for the professors and their assistants ; and 

 secondly, in providing laboratory accommodation upon a 

 sufficient scale, together with the proper apphances for 

 instruction and research. The Report gives a schedule of 

 payments to the various scientific professors, followed by 

 a schedule of the lectures given by each ; and looked at 

 merely from this point of view alone, the disproportion 

 between the payment and the work done is very striking. 



In the opinion of the secretary of the College, " the large 

 deductions from the fees which the College is obliged to 

 nrake in order to provide for the current expenses of the 

 institution, have a twofold injurious effect. They materially 

 diminish the remuneration of the professors, and so far 

 tend to deprive the College of the services of able men, 

 and by rendering it necessary to charge fees higher than 

 might otherwise be requisite, they must have the indirect 

 effect of keeping down the number of our students. 

 The result is that our professors as a rule are very 

 inadequately paid." The natural consequence of the 

 inadequacy of the professorial stipends is, that in many 

 cases the College has found it impossible to retain the 

 services of some of its most distinguished professors. 

 Some striking instances of very recent occurrence, which 

 show the disadvantage at which the College is placed in 

 this respect, are mentioned in the evidence. 



The resources of the College have, moreover, been 

 quite inadequate to provide suitable and sufficient labora- 

 tories, apparatus, and assistance for the practical depart- 

 ments of experimental science. The Council have done 

 what they could with the means at their disposal, but 

 these are so inadequate as seriously to cripple the 

 efficiency of the scientific instruction given by the Col- 

 lege. Proposals for the extension of the College buildings 

 appear at various times to have come under the consi- 

 deration of the Council, but no definite action has been 

 taken with regard to them. One of the most important 

 uses to which the additions would be put, were they made, 

 would be laboratories for practical study and original 

 research in connection with the various Science Chairs. 



The history and constitution of King's College is in 

 some respects similar to that of University College ; by 



