September 25, in03.] 



SCIENCE. 



395 



universities and university colleges iu Eng- 

 land, Ireland, Scotland, and "Wales put to- 

 gether. These are the conditions which 

 regulate the production of brain-power in 

 the United States, Germany, and Britain 

 respectively, and the excuse of the Gov- 

 ernment is that this is a matter for private 

 etforf. Do not our ^Ministers of State know 

 that other civilized countries grant etficient 

 State aid, and fm-ther, that private effort 

 has provided in Great Britain less than 10 

 per cent, of the sum thus furnished in the 

 United States in addition to State aid ? Are 

 they content that we should go iinder in the 

 great struggle of the modern world because 

 the ilinisters of other States are wiser, and 

 because the individual citizens of another 

 country are more generous, than our own? 



If we grant that there was some excuse 

 for the State's neglect so long as the higher 

 teaching dealt only with words, and books 

 alone had to be provided (for the streets 

 of London and Paris have been used as 

 class rooms at a pinch), it must not be for- 

 gotten that during the last hundred years 

 not only has knowledge been enormously 

 increased, but things have replaced words, 

 and fully equipped laboratories nuist take 

 the place of books and class rooms if uni- 

 versity training worthy of the name is to 

 he provided. There is much more differ- 

 ence in size and kind between an old and 

 new university than there is between the 

 old caravel and a modern battleship, and 

 the endowments must follow suit. 



"What are the facts relating to private en- 

 dowment in this country? In spite of the 

 nuinificence displayed by a small number 

 of individuals in .some localities, the truth 

 must be spoken. In depending in our 

 country upon this fiirm of endowment, we 

 are trusting to a broken reed. If we take 

 the twelve English university colleges, the 

 forerunners of tmiversities unless we are to 

 perish from lack of knowledge, we find that 

 private efToi-t d\iring sixty years has found 



less than 4,000,000?., that is, 2,000,000f. 

 for buildings and 40,000?. a year income. 

 This gives us an average of 166,000?. for 

 Iniildings and 3,300?. for yearly income. 



What is the scale of private effort we 

 have to compete with in regard to the 

 American universities? 



In the United States, during the la.st few 

 years, universities and colleges have re- 

 ceived more than 40,000,000?. from this 

 source alone ; private effort supplied nearly 

 7,000,000?. in the years 1898-1900. 



Next consider the amount of State aid 

 to universities afforded in Germany. The 

 buildings of the new University of Strass- 

 burg have already cost nearly a million ; 

 that is, about as much as has yet been found 

 by private effort for buildings in Jlanches- 

 ter, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, New- 

 castle and Sheffield. The Government an- 

 nual endowment of the same German uni- 

 versity is more than 49,000?. 



This is what private endowment does for 

 us in England, against State endowment in 

 Germany. 



But the State does really concede the 

 principle ; its present contribution to our 

 ^uiiversities and colleges amounts to 155,- 

 600?. a year; no capital sum, however, is 

 taken for buildings. The State endow- 

 ment of the L^niversity of Berlin in 1891-2 

 amounted to 168,777?. 



When, then, we consider the large endow- 

 ments of university education both in the 

 United States and Germany, it is obvious 

 that State aid only can make any valid 

 competition possible with either. The 

 more we study the facts, the more statistics 

 are gone into, the more do we find that we, 

 to a large extent, lack both of the sources 

 of endowment upon one or other or both of 

 which other nations depend. We are be- 

 tween two stools, and the prospect is hope- 

 h*ss without some drastic changes. And 

 first among these, if we intend to get out 

 (pf the present slough of despond, nnist be 



