854 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 677 



sparsely populated and the soil still virgin, 

 but it becomes of growing importance with 

 the advent and birth of new citizens and 

 the exhaustion of the soil by repeated crop 

 demands. We all return to mother earth 

 for sustenance and from her bosom we de- 

 rive life itself. 



Each community does wisely if at the 

 very outset it takes stock of its local assets, 

 studies environmental and other conditions 

 which affect operation, and takes immediate 

 steps to utilize its local advantages to the 

 utmost whilst exercising due care for future 

 generations. It is strictly within the func- 

 tion of a university to aid in a practical 

 way. Had the state been developed to its 

 proper point, Edison should have been 

 working in a university and not for his 

 own and others' personal gain; Luther 

 Burbank would have been stimulating col- 

 leagues and students by his observations; 

 some national or state university would 

 have sent Walter Reed and Carroll to Cuba 

 instead of leaving it to the United States 

 Army to solve the cause of and methods 

 of protection in yellow fever; Marconi 

 should have been developed in his practical 

 applications as he had been in his theoret- 

 ical knowledge by a university. In this 

 way the state, that is all the citizens, and 

 not individuals or corporations, would de- 

 rive more directly the benefits which accrue 

 from advancement in knowledge. 



Manitoba can not content herself with 

 teaching the languages, philosophy, mathe- 

 matics and the sciences as known. She 

 must be engaged in finding out new facts, 

 not only those directly applicable to Mjfni- 

 toba, but those which are of world-wide im- 

 portance. She must make provision in 

 money, time and opportunity for the mem- 

 bers of her university staff to engage in 

 research. Fortunately, she has already 

 secured in her university men who find 

 some time for research and publication 

 of results, but at a personal sacrifice of 



which the general public knows little or 

 nothing. 



This province has a fleeting present, 

 practically no past, but a glorious future. 

 If that future is to be well planned, pro- 

 vision must be made for a thorough study 

 of local resources and the training of citi- 

 zens properly to conserve and develop those 

 resources. This can not alone be done by 

 study of books or of methods used and 

 results obtained elsewhere, but by practical 

 and prolonged study at home of the local 

 sitviation ; in other words, research must be 

 liberally provided for. This Manitoba will 

 doubtless undertake, one line at a time, 

 thoroughly equipping and fostering each, 

 thus gradually covering the whole field of 

 human activity. Her university should be 

 used in its various departments as the 

 source of expert advice and ultimate court 

 of appeal in all matters pertaining to pres- 

 ent knowledge and future progress, not as 

 involving alone a question of Greek roots, 

 history or philosophy, but in such concrete 

 considerations as transportation, mines, 

 public health, agriculture, industrial chem- 

 istry, formulation of methods of banking, 

 drafting of new laws and other such prac- 

 tical lines of development, all of which are 

 primarily of public interest, although fre- 

 quently wrongfully used for purely indi- 

 vidual ends. 



The scope of the inquiries which the 

 royal commission is expected to make is 

 broad and perhaps it will not be thought 

 impertinent or without the bounds of good 

 taste if an alumnus of this institution, who 

 has followed its development from the be- 

 ginning until now, should say a few words 

 concerning certain of the provisions given 

 in the appointment of the commission. 



THE SYSTEM OF UNIVEESITT GOVERNMENT 



The instructions given to the commis- 

 sioners would warrant the assumption that 

 the present method of university govern- 



