344 EEPORTS ON THE STATE OP SCIENCE. — 1916. 



in 1878 there were 41 lectui'es and 29 lecturers. Though the popularity 

 of the single lecture was established, the Committee were evidently 

 reluctant to discontinue courses of lectures, as in 1878 they divided 

 the programme into two sessions, allocating coui'ses of lectures to the 

 autumn and single lectures to the winter months. 



Neither labour nor money was spared to make the autumn courses 

 of lectures popular, useful, and successful. As this policy was continued 

 from 1878 until 1892 it must have met with encouraging success. But 

 with the growth of the University and the development of other educa- 

 tional agencies in the city, the needs of those people who wanted the 

 more detailed study of literary and scientific subjects that courses of 

 lectures afford were supplied. Statistics show that the attendances at 

 the lectures were not maintained. Courses which had four or five 

 hundred people at the first lecture ended with an attendance of sixty 

 or seventy. On the other hand, the winter series of single lectures 

 maintained their popularity. Consequently in 1893 the Committee dis- 

 continued the courses of lectures and made the autumn series consist of 

 single lectures. In 1896 the Lectures Sub-Committee abolished the 

 division of autumn and winter series and substituted the present series 

 extending from November to March. 



In the year 1906 special lectures for children were introduced. At 

 first six lectures were provided, but that number was increased to 

 sixteen the following year, and in 1913 twenty-one were given. The 

 Sub-Committee exercise a care in the selection of both lectures and 

 lecturers whicli fully justifies tlie popularity of tliese lectm-es — a 

 jiopularity which taxes the seating capacity of all the lialls they are 

 delivered in. 



The policy of the Lectures Sub-Committee may be defined as an 

 endeavour to present in popular foi'm the results of the latest develop- 

 ments and discoveries in literature, art, and science — including travel, 

 sport, and geographical exploration. As far as possible the lectures 

 have always been illustrated by diagrams, specimens, and objects from 

 the museum, exhibitions of books, and scientific experiments. The 

 nxyhydrogen light was first used in connection with these lectures in 

 1876: electric light has long since been substituted for lime-light, and 

 now the bioscope film is superseding the lantern-slide. 



But while endeavouring to make the lectures entertaining, instruc- 

 tive, and popular, the Sub-Committee never lose sight of the fact that 

 they are an important part of the library work. A list of books obtain- 

 able at the Eeference and Branch Libraries on the subject of each lec- 

 ture is printed under the title of the lecture in the programmes, and 

 when possible ihe list is written on a lantern-slide and projected on to 

 the screen just before the commencement of the lecture. 



In the year 1865 there was a total attendance of 2,666 people at the 

 40 lectures then delivered — an average of 66 per lecture. Last Session 

 (1913-14) 72,613 people attended 169 lectures— an average of 430 per 

 lecture. In 1865 the amount expended on lectures was 1001., and in 

 1913 it was 1,100L Since the inauguration of these lectures 3,801 

 have been delivered to a total number of 2,324,090 people. 



