266 
NAIURE 
[Fuly 23, 1885 
provision we see in it for continuous development. The 
Faculties, the Boards of Studies, the Senate, are all under 
the scheme subject to provisions for renewing their com- 
position. There will be therefore, we hope, a properly 
controlled flow of new life through every branch of the 
governing authority of the University. The present 
condition of crystalline rigidity will dissolve. As new 
objects of University enterprise come to the surface and 
assume definite shape, the men who advocate them will 
find their way to the Faculties and succeed in making 
their voices heard. At the same time there is sufficient 
opportunity for discussion to prevent the University being 
launched unadvisedly in any rash development. 
We do not conceal our own hope that the most im- 
portant outcome of the new scheme will be the ultimate 
provision of appliances for the prosecution of the higher 
studies in London. These never can be self-supporting, 
and never can, therefore, be properly undertaken by the 
constituent colleges. Ths voice of the faculties must be 
in the long run the voice of the men who compose them. 
That they will, therefore, if constituted, take some action 
in the matter, can scarcely be doubted. But instead of 
individual voices crying in the wilderness, there will be 
the mature utterances of a responsible body carefully 
guarding the interests of the constituent colleges on the 
one hand, and looking to the distinction and influence of 
the University on the other. Properly considered schemes 
will be put forward, and whether their execution devolves 
on the State, or is undertaken by private munificence, the 
public will for the first time have in the Faculties an 
authority competent to advise it in such matters, and 
whom it can listen to with confidence. The ultimate 
expansion of the University into all that can be desired, 
appears to us the inevitable outcome of Lord Justice 
Fry’s scheme, if it is carried into effect. 
THE WOOL FIBRE 
The Structure of the Wool Fibre in its Relation to the 
Use of Wool for Technical Purposes. By F. H. Bow- 
man, D.Sc., F.R.S.E., F.L.S., &c. (Manchester : 
Palmer and Howe; London: Simpkin Marshall and 
Co., 1885.) 
Seabee is a series of lectures delivered by Dr. Bowman 
to the students of the Bradford Technical College 
and the members of the Dyers’ and Colourists’ Society, 
and is in continuation of a similar series on the “ Cotton 
Fibre.” 
The subject is one of so great importance that Dr. 
Bowman is amply justified in concluding that the informa- 
tion contained in his lectures ought to be accessible to 
others than students; for, if there is anything to learn 
with respect to a great national industry like the woollen 
trade, it is highly desirable that no time should be lost in 
communicating it to those who are now engaged in the 
trade, rather than that we should wait half a generation 
for the knowledge to become available in the hands of 
the students. ; 
It is no doubt very difficult to introduce new methods 
and to banish old ones, except by the introduction of 
young blood ; but even so, something may be done’in:the 
way of preparing the minds of the older workers to re- 
ceive the new ideas of the young ones, and this at least 
Dr. Bowman’s work is likely to do. ; 
Whether Dr. Bowman has been wise in preserving the 
lectures in their original form in his book we take leave 
to doubt. It makes the book very much larger than it 
would otherwise have been, owing to the unnecessary 
recapitulation at the commencement of each lecture, and 
not only so, but the labour and attention which would 
have been required to remodel the lectures would have 
prevented some glaring errors and defects of style which 
are by no means creditable to a writer of Dr. Bowman’s 
attainments. A careful perusal of the proof-sheets would — 
surely have removed such errors as “the appearance of 
the bulbous parts are very similar ;” “the Exmoor sheep 
are the smallest of the two ;” and the vulgarism, “ some 
of the sheep in the northern districts have four and even 
six horns, ¢e same as the Iceland sheep.” 
These literary defects notwithstanding, the book is most 
opportune and valuable. The key-note of the whole is 
perhaps to be found in the following sentence :—* All our 
machines and processes are only a means to an end, and 
the correct method of proceeding is ever to have the end 
in view from the beginning. Strange as this may appear, 
such is not always the case in our manufactures, and 
especially in those where the materials pass through many 
hands in different works before reaching the final stage. 
How often do we find the farmer, for example, quite care- 
less in regard to the nature of the dips, and washes, and 
smears which he uses for his sheep, in utter forgetfulness 
of the fact that, although he may gain a temporary ad- 
vantage, he is spoiling the wool for future use in spinning 
and dyeing.” : 
Dr. Bowman puts forcibly before his readers the fact 
that wool is a part of the skin of the animal on which it 
grows, and is capable of being modified to a very great 
extent indeed—much more than most people are aware— 
by change of climate, food, and other surroundings, and 
especially by judicious breeding. One-sixth of the book 
is devoted to an enumeration of the various breeds of 
sheep to be found in the world, for the purpose of illus- 
trating this. Perhaps, if we may be permitted to say so, 
this division of the work might have been judiciously 
shortened by the omission of details respecting numerous 
breeds of sheep which are now of little more than his- 
torical importance, especially as Dr. Bowman appears to 
be of opinion that the course which has been followed is 
the right one, and that we are now in possession of prac- 
tically the best breeds of sheep which we could have for 
wool-producing purposes. 
The lectures are five in number, of which the first is 
chiefly introductory. In it the author discusses the differ- 
ence in composition and structure of animal and vegetable 
fibres and minutely describes the structure of cotton, silk, 
and wool as disclosed by the microscope. He points out 
the distinction between hair and wool so far as any real 
difference exists, and describes the constitution of the 
skin and the mode of production and growth of hair or 
wool. 
The second lecture is chiefly devoted to a description 
of the various breeds of sheep and of the results of cross- 
breeding. 
In the third lecture the author describes the typical 
structure of wool fibre under the two heads: (@) in regard 
ee A 
