October 12, 188:?.] 



SCIENCE. 



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Lei us now see how many and what kintl of insli- 

 tutions there are in England devised so as to promot»'. 

 the making of new knowledge in biological science. 

 Most persons are apt to be deceived in this matter 

 by the fact that the terms ' university,' ' professor- 

 ship,' and ' college ' are used very freely in England 

 in reference to institutions which have no pecuniary 

 resources whatever, and which, instead of corre- 

 sponding to the German arrangements which go by 

 these names, are empty titles, neither backed by 

 adequate subsidy of the state nor by endowment 

 from private sources. 



In England, with its 25,000,000 inhabitants, there 

 are only four universities which possess endowments 

 and professoriates: viz., Oxford, Cambridge, Dur- 

 ham, and the Victoria (Owens college). Besides 

 these, which are variously and specially organized 

 eacli in its own way, tliere are the London colleges 

 (University and King's), the Xornial school of 

 science at South Kensington, and various provincial 

 colleges, which are, to a small and varying extent, in 

 possession of funds which could be or are used to 

 promote scientific research. Amongst all these 

 variously arranged institutions, there is an e.\traor- 

 dinarily small amount of provision for biological 

 research. In Loudon tliere is one professorship only, 

 that at the Kornial school of science, which is main- 

 taine<l by a stipeml paid by the state, and has a 

 laboratory and salaried assistants similarly main- 

 tained, in connection with it. The only other posts 

 in London which are provided with stipends intended 

 to enable their holders to pursue researches in the 

 domain of biological science, are the two chairs of 

 pliysiology and of zoology at University college, 

 which, through the munificence of a private indi- 

 vidual,' have been endowed to the extent of .£300 a 

 year each. To these should be added, in our calcu- 

 lation, certain posts in connection with the British 

 museum of natural history and the Royal gardens 

 at Kew, maintained by the state; though it must be 

 remembered that a large part of the expenditure 

 in those institutions is necessarily taken up in the 

 preservation of great national collections, and is not 

 applicable to the subvention of investigators. We 

 may, however, reckon about six posts, great and 

 small, in the British museum, and four at Kew, as 

 coming into the category which we have in view. 

 In London, then, we may reckon approximately some 

 fourteen or fifteen subsidized posts for biological 

 research. In Oxford there fall under this category 

 the professorship of anatomy and his iussistant, that 

 of physiology, that of zoology, that of botany. The 

 Oxford professorships are well supported by endow- 

 ment, averaging t'TOO or £800 a year; but they are 

 inadequately provided with assistants, as compared 

 with corresponding German positions. Whilst Ox- 

 ford has thus five posts, Cambridge has at present 

 the same number, though the stipends are of less 

 average value. lu regard to Durham, it does not 

 appear that the biological professorships (which have 

 their seat in the Newcastle college of science) are 



supported by stipends derived from endowment: 

 they fall under another category, to which allusion 

 will be made below, of purely teaching positions, 

 supported by the fees paid for such teaching by 

 pupils. The Victoria university (Owens college, 

 Manchester) supports its professors of physiology, 

 anatomy, zoiWogy, botany, and pathology, by means 

 partly of endowment, partly of pupils' fees. By the 

 provision of adequate laboratories, and of salaries 

 forassistants to each professor, aiul of sliulent-fellow- 

 ships, Owens college gives direct support to orginal 

 investigation. We may reckon five major and eight 

 minor posts as dedicated to biological research in 

 this college. Altogether, then, we have fifteen posi- 

 tions in London and twenty-three in the provinces 

 ( taking assistantships and professorships and curator- 

 ships together), — a total of thirty-eight in all Eng- 

 land, with its 2.'),000,000 inhabitants, as against the 

 three hundred in Germany, with 45,000,000 inhabit- 

 ants. In proportion to its population (leaving aside 

 the consideration of its greater wealth), England 

 has only about one-fourth of the provision for the 

 advancement of biological research which exists in 

 Germany. 



It would not be fair to reckon in this comparison 

 the various biological professorships in small col- 

 leges recently created, and paid to a small extent by 

 stipends derived from endowments in the provincial 

 towns of England: for the holders of these chairs 

 are called ujton to teach a variety of subjects; for 

 instance, zoology, botany, and geology combined. 

 And not only is the devotion of the energies of their 

 teaching-staff to scientific discovery not contem- 

 plated in the arrangement of these institutions, but, 

 as a matter of fact, the large demands made on the 

 professors in the way of teaching must deprive them 

 of the time necessary for any serious investigation. 

 Such posts, in the fact that neither time, assistants, 

 nor proper laboratories are provided to enable their 

 holders to engage in scientific research, are school- 

 masterships rather than professorships, as the word 

 is used in German universities. 



One resuh of the exceedingly small provision of 

 positions in England, similar to those furnished by 

 the German university system, aiul of the irregular, 

 uncertain character of many of those which do exist, 

 is, that there is an insufficient supply of young men 

 willing to enter upon the career of zoologist, botan- 

 ist, physiologist, or pathologist, as a profession. The 

 number of posts is too small to cieate a profession, 

 i.e., an avenue of success; and consequently, whereas 

 in Germany there is always a large body of new men 

 reaily to fill up the vacancies as they occur in the 

 professorial organization, in England it very natu- 

 rally does not appear to our university students as 

 a reasonable thing to enter upon research as aprofes- 

 sion, when the chances of employment are so few, 

 and far between. 



Before stating, as I propose to do, what appears 

 to me a reasonable and proper method of removing, 

 to some extent, the defect in our national life due to 

 the want of provision for scientific research, I will 

 endeavor to meet some of the objections which are 



