;oS 



NA TURE 



[July 30, 1896 



Lord Ueay said that the main jiurpose of the Bill was to put 

 an end to an anomaly. London had a variety of institutions in 

 which University education was f;iven, but which had not the 

 power of conferring degrees ; and, on the other hand, London 

 had an examining Board unconnected with the teaching institu- 

 tions. The institutions had no crown to their edifice ; the 

 University had no foundation. The object of the scheme of 

 the last Koyal Commission was to constitute a corporate body 

 out of these scattered fragments, and recognition was given on 

 well-defined and broad lines to University teaching wherever it 

 existed. The aim of the Bill was not merely educational. 

 It had a much wider bearing. What was the cause of the in- 

 creased expenditure on higher education on the continent ? 

 It was the con.sciousness that wealth and military power were 

 insufficient ; that higher education must provide the intellectual 

 capital which agriculture, industry, and trade required. If we 

 were to hold our own in this race we must use the same means. 

 A London University would not be a mere local institution ; it 

 would eventually be an Imperial institution, profiting all classes 

 throughout the Empire. The progress of the Bill was anxiously 

 watched by scientific men at home as well as abroad. There 

 was, indeed, practical unanimity among all those who had the 

 higher interests of the country at heart that failure to give 

 London a teaching University would be nothing less than a 

 national disgrace. 



Lord Kelvin felt that the reasons already put before their 

 lordships for accepting the Bill were overwhelmingly strong, and 

 he only wished to intervene because he had been mentioned as 

 one apparently partially opposed to the provisions of the Bill. 

 As a member of Lord Cowper's Commission he joined with Sir 

 George Stokes and Mr. Weldon in a note expressing a pre- 

 ference for a separate teaching University. They had some 

 doubts as to whether or not the functions of a teaching University 

 could practically be added to the duties so well performed by 

 the University of London of examining for degrees and conferring 

 degrees upon students who had not had the benefit of instruction 

 in colleges of universities in any part of the world. They felt 

 the gravity of the objection that might be held to establishing 

 another university — a rival university — beside the University of 

 London ; but when it seemed, as it did then seem to them, 

 hopeless that the University of London could be got to under- 

 take the duty of organising and carrying on a teaching University, 

 they felt that the paramount object of having a teaching 

 University in London should not on that account be given it. 

 On his own behalf, and, he believed, on behalf of his colleagues 

 in the note, he could say they would only have been too glad to 

 hav- accepted what was now proposed by this Bill. Their 

 doubts and hesitation had been completely set aside by what had 

 passed. Personally he thoroughly approved of the Bill. He 

 believed that an immense addition to the usefulness of the 

 existing colleges in London would result from the passing of the 

 measure. It was an anomalous state of things that there was 

 no teaching University in London. It was not only London, 

 but the United Kingdom, and, indeed, the whole world, that 

 would benefit by the passing of the Bill, and therefore his desire 

 was strong and evident, not only that the Bill might pass 

 speedily through their lordships' House, but that it would be 

 taken up by the House of Commons and made an Act of 

 I'arliament before the close of the present Session. 



The Earl of Kimberley said that some years ago he had the 

 honour to be President of University College, and at that time 

 there was put forward a scheme for a separate University such 

 as Lord Kelvin thought might be the only alternative. He then 

 felt it would be a great misfortune if there were set up two rival 

 universities in London, and therefore, he need hardly say, how 

 greatly he rejoiced that they had arrived at last at a point where 

 they seemed to have in view a conjunction of teaching and 

 examining in the University of London. He was glad to see 

 the noble Duke had inserted in the Bill the clause that the 

 Commissioners were to see that provision was made for securing 

 adequately the interests of collegiate and non-collegiate students 

 respectively. That ought to reassure those who had placed 

 themselves in opposition to the Bill, because an impartial 

 Statutory Commission such as the noble Duke intended to appoint 

 would be perfectly able to see that the statutes of the University 

 were so framed that there would be no chance of any portion of 

 the University work being impaired by a wrong administration 

 of its powers. 



The second reading was then agreed to. 



NO. 1396, VOL. 54] 



SCIENCE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 

 "T^HE Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education 

 are known to be the most valuable publications on educa- 

 tional statistics and methods in the English language. The 

 Report (1S92-93), just distributed, may appear to be somewhat 

 belated, but the contents are so instructive and exhibit so many 

 special features, that the delay of publication may be forgiven. 

 There are two volumes, running altogether into 2153 pages, and 

 the amount of information contained in them is marvellous. 

 Taking the volumes in order, we find in the first elaborate 

 tables of .statistics referring to the schools of the United 

 States, and statistics of illiteracy for each of the States and 

 for Europe. Then follow surveys of the educational system of 

 Belgium, the elementary .schools of Great Britain, the .systems 

 of education developed in the British Colonies, the French 

 educational system, and a most instructive chapter on develop- 

 ments in the teaching of geography in Central Europe. The 

 chapter on child-study, which practically concludes Part I. of 

 the first volume, contains a number of interesting contributions 

 from leading American representatives of this modern movement. 



The second part of the first volume is devoted entirely to 

 reports which were called forth on the occasion of the World's 

 Columbian Exposition. Among these rejiorts are detailed 

 criticisms of American educational methods, by eminent French 

 and German educationists. There is a survey of medical in- 

 struction in the United States, as presented in the reports of two 

 French Commissioners appointed to make a special study of the 

 subject, and an English version of a report on American 

 technological schools, prepared by Prof. Ricdler, of the Royal 

 Polytechnicum at Charlottenberg. The remainder of the first 

 volume is taken up with papers read at the Library Congress 

 held during the Columbian Exposition, and notes on the 

 educational exhibits. 



The second volume contains the third and fourth parts of the 

 Report. Prof. Hinsdale contributes to it a series of rare docu- 

 ments illustrative of American educational history, and there is 

 incorporated in it the report of the Committee of Ten, appointed 

 to take up the important subject of courses of instruction in 

 secondary schools, and papers relating thereto. The chief 

 interest for us in the volume lies in this valuable educational 

 document. 



The Committee, which was appointed by the National Council 

 of Education, organised conferences of leading teachers of the 

 principal subjects which enter into the programmes of secondary 

 schools in the United States. Each of nine subjects was con- 

 sidered and reported upon by a conference consisting of ten 

 members, who were selected on account of their scholarship and 

 experience. Among the subjects di.scussed were four concerned 

 with groups of sciences ; viz. (l) mathematics ; {2) physics, astro- 

 nomy, and chemistry ; (3) natural history (biology, including 

 botany, zoology, and physiology) ; (4) geography (physical geo- 

 graphy, geology, and meteorology). As a result of the con- 

 ferences, a great number and variety of important changes in the 

 sco]3e and method of science teaching were recommended. All 

 the conferences on scientific subjects agreed that laboratory 

 work by the pupils was the best means of instruction, and 

 dwelt upon the great utility of the genuine laboratory note-book ; 

 and they all declared that teachers of science in schools need at 

 least as thorough a special training as teachers of languages or 

 mathematics receive. 



The most important recommendations made by the scientific 

 conferences are summarised in the following pages. But 

 all who are interested in scientific education should read the 

 entire reports, for each is so full of suggestions and recommenda- 

 tions, that it is impossible to present adequate abstracts of them. 



On one very important question of general policy, which 

 aftects the preparation of all school progranmies, the Committee 

 of ten, and all the conferences organised by it, were absolutely 

 unanimous. Among the questions suggested for discussion in 

 each conference was — " Should the subject be treated differently 

 for pupils who are going to college, for those who are going to a 

 scientific school, and for those who, presumably, are going to 

 neither ? " This question was answered unanimously in the 

 negative by all the conferences ; so that we have the fact that 

 nearly one hundred eminent teachers agree that every subject 

 which is taught at all in a secondary school should be taught in 

 the same way and to the same extent to every pupil so long as he 

 pursues it, no matter what the probable destination of the pupil 

 may be, or at what point his education is to cease. 



