418 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 457. 



facts were inquired into the suspicion 

 changed into an alarm; men of all parties 

 saw that something must be done. Later, 

 the nation was thoroughly aroused, and 

 with universal agreement the principle 

 was laid down that, cost what it might tc 

 enforce our sea-power, our Navy must be 

 made and maintained of a strength greater 

 than those of any two possibly contending 

 powers. After establishing this principle, 

 the next thing to do was to give effect to 

 it. "What did the nation do after full dis- 

 cussion and inquiry? A bill was brought 

 in in 1888, and a sum of 21,500,000L was 

 voted in order, during the next five years, 

 to inaugurate a large ship-building pro- 

 gram, so that Britain and Britain's com- 

 merce might be guarded on the high seas in 

 any event. 



Since then we have spent 120,000,000L 

 on new ships, and this year we spend still 

 more millions on still more new ships. If 

 these prove insufficient to safeguard our 

 sea-power, there is no doubt that the na- 

 tion will increase them, and I have not 

 heard that anybody has suggested an ap- 

 peal to private effort. 



How, then, do we stand with regard to 

 universities, recognizing them as the chief 

 producei's of brain-power and therefore the 

 equivalents of bkttleships in relation to sea- 

 power? Do their numbers come up to the 

 standard established by the Admiralty 

 principle to which I have referred? Let 

 us attempt to get a rough-and-ready esti- 

 mate of our educational position by count- 

 ing universities as the Admiralty counts 

 battleships. I say rough and ready be- 

 cause we have other helps to greater brain- 

 power to consider besides universities, as 

 the Admiralty has other ships to consider 

 besides ironclads. 



In the first place, let us inquire if they 

 are equal in number to those of any two 

 nations commercially competing with us. 



In the United Kingdom, we had until 

 quite recently thirteen, f Of these, one is 

 only three years old as a teaching univer- 

 sity and another is still merely an examin- 

 ing board. 



In Germany there are twenty-two uni- 

 versities; in France, under recent legisla- 

 tion, fifteen; in Italy twenty-one. It is 

 difficult to give the number in the United 

 States, because it is clear, from the tables 

 given in the Report of the Commissioner 

 of Education, that some colleges are more 

 important than some universities, and both 

 give the degree of Ph.D. But of universi- 

 ties in title we have 134. Among these, 

 there are forty-six with more than fifty 

 professors and instructors, and thirteen 

 with more than 150. I will take that 

 figure. 



Suppose we consider the United States 

 and Germany our chief commercial com- 

 petitors, and apply the Admiralty princi- 

 ple. We should require, allowing for pop- 

 ulation, eight additional universities at the 

 very lowest estimate. 



"We see, then, that instead of having 

 universities equalling in number those of 

 two of our chief competitors together, they 

 are by no means equal to those of either of ' 

 them singly. 



After this statement of the facts, anyone 

 who has belief in the importance of higher 

 education will have no difficulty in under- 

 standing the origin of the present condi- 

 tion of British industry and its constant 

 decline, first in one direction and then in 

 another, since the tremendous efforts made 

 in the United States and Germany began 

 to take eft'ect. 



If, indeed, there be anything wrong 

 about the comparison, the error can only 

 arise from one of two sources; either the 



t These are Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Vic- 

 toria, Wales, Birmingham, London, St. Andrews, 

 Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dublin and Royal 

 University. 



