July 22, 1909] 



NATURE 



rolling of the ship, and the successive elongations may be 

 read off. 



In a balloon, owing to the extreme quiet, I believe 

 useful observations could be taken, more especially at 

 those times at which it is not turning. I do not think 

 it would be of any use on a flying machine in motion. 



C. V. Bovs. 



THE POSITION OF HIGHER EDUCATION. 



"T^HE higher education subcommittee of the education 

 committee of the London County Council has had 

 under consideration the relations which it is desirable 

 should subsist between the University of London and 

 other institutions of university rank in the metropolitan 

 area and the London County Council. The subcommittee's 

 report was presented to the education committee towards 

 the end of May, and contains, not only a valuable rt'sum^ 

 of the various steps taken by the late London Technical 

 Education Board and by the Council itself to improve the 

 supply of higher education in London, but also an 

 important collection of statistics concerning the financial 

 aid given by municipal and other authorities in the great 

 provincial centres of population. 



The subcommittee's report includes tables of grants made 

 by other local education authorities to university educa- 

 tion, the grants made by the Treasury in London and 

 the provinces, and those provided by the London County 

 Council. In London the grant from the Council is 48-6 

 per cent, of the Treasury grant, and in other towns the 

 grant from the local authorities is 75 per cent, of the 

 Treasury grant. 



Grants made by Provincial Local Authorities to 

 Universities and University Colleges. 



Grants from 



I.oral 



Authority 



7,010 



14.456 

 14,650 



5-950 

 11,744 



532 

 2,890 



4,340 

 i,Soo 

 2,113 



4,712 

 80 



Total 



-^93-450 



Ci^an 



London County Council Grants to University Education. 



Bedford College 

 King's College 

 University College ... 

 London School of Economics 

 East London College 

 Imperial College of Science 



and Technology 

 University of London 

 Extra Grants ... 



Total 



-^51,850 



^25,220 



It is pointed out in the report that the various universi- 

 ties and university colleges have been successful in obtain- 

 ing great assistance from generous donors, and that in 

 such cases the receipt of State aid and financial help from 

 the local authority does not seem to affect the flow of 

 private benevolence. Thus Birmingham has received 



NO. 2073, VOL. 81] 



more than 256,000/. in this way ; Leeds 380,000/. ; Liver- 

 pool more than 188,000/.; Manchester more than 

 192,000/. ; and Sheffield more than 229,000/. ; while, in 

 London, University College had received up to the date of 

 the latest Government report 453,000/. ; King's College 

 206,000/. ; and Bedford College more than 29,000/. from 

 private benefactions. 



The subcommittee has given careful and sympathetic 

 consideration to the applicatiojis received from certain 

 London institutions of university rank for grants during 

 the present year, and has come to the conclusion that more 

 might be done in London for university education in con- 

 sideration of the amount of the grant received from the 

 Treasury, and having regard to the rateable value of the 

 county of London. In this connection the following table, 

 abbreviated from one included in the report, is instruc- 

 tive : — 



Birmingham 

 Leeds 



Liverpool ... 

 Manchester 



Sheffield 



Brisinl' 



Newcastle-upon-Tyne 



Nottingham 



Reading 



Southampton 



Aberystwyth 



Bangor 



Cardiff 



Dundee 

 London 



The table shows very clearly that if London made the 

 same proportional provision for higher education that 

 ('ardiff does, the annual grant would be 181,840/. instead 

 of 25,220/. ; or 158,360/. if it applied the same fraction of 

 the rate as Nottingham docs for higher education. 



It is of interest to pass from the comparison of rate-aid 

 and State-aid for higher education in England and Wales 

 made in this and the preceding tables to some facts re- 

 lating to the position of the subject in other countries. 

 By a fortunate circumstance, an exhaustive article by 

 Prof. Guido H. Marx in the issue of Science for May 14 

 ,hows remarkable growth and spread of interest in higher 

 education, and the consequent great increase in the number 

 )f young men and women pursuing advanced studies, and 

 receiving higher scientific and other training, in various 

 :ountries. 



It is natural to look to Germany for significant educa- 

 tional movements, and Prof. Marx, dealing with the com- 

 bined attendance at the twenty-two German universities, 

 shows that prior to 1870 this attendance was fairly 

 uniform, keeping regular pace with the population. 

 Immediately after 1870 the increase of attendance grew 

 much more rapidly than the population, and there is not 

 the slightest tendency for the increase to fall off. At 

 the beginning of the period of rapid development in 1870 

 there was in Germany one student in the institutions of 

 higher education for every two thousand inhabitants, while 

 in 1907 there was one such student to every thousand 

 inhabitants. 



In the case of the United States of America, the com- 

 bined a'ttendance at all the colleges, universities, scientific, 

 technical, and professional schools — omitting preparatory 

 departments — up to the year 1885 showed a condition 

 of practical stability, but beginning with that year the 

 ratio of these students to the population increased year 

 by year, and at present indicates no signs of falling off. 

 In 1885 there was one such student for every seven hundred 

 inhabitants, and twenty years later one for every four 

 hundred of population. 



Several important deductions can be made from the 

 following table, drawn up by Prof. Marx : — ■ 



1 The Bristol Town Courcil has dpc'd^d to devote the produce of k/. rate 

 (about 7 coo/, a year) to university education. 



