OOOBKB 2, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



419 



Admiralty is thoughtlessly and wastefully 

 speudintr money, or. there is no eounection 

 whatever between the higher intelligence 

 and the prosperity of a nation. I have al- 

 ready referred to the views of 'Sir. Cham- 

 berlain and Lord Rosebery on this point; 

 we know what Mr. Chamberlain has done 

 at Birmingham; we know the strenuous 

 efforts made by the commercial leaders of 

 Manchester and Livei-pool; we know, also, 

 the opinion of men of science. 



If while we spend so freely to maintain 

 our sea-power our export of manufaetureit 

 articles is relatively reduced because our 

 competitors beat us in the markets of the 

 world, M'hat is the end of the vista thus 

 opened up to us? A Na\^ growing 

 stronger every year and requiring larger 

 votes to guard our commerce and communi- 

 cations, and a vanishing quantity of com- 

 merce to guard— a reduced national income 

 to meet an increasing taxation! 



The pity is that our government has con- 

 sidered sea-power alone ; that while so com- 

 pletely guarding our commerce, it has given 

 no thought to one of the main conditions 

 on which its production and increase de- 

 pend: a glance could have shown that 

 other countries were building universities 

 even faster than they were building battle- 

 ships; were, in fact, considering brain- 

 power first and sea-power afterwards. 



Surely it is my duty as your President to 

 point out the danger ahead if such ignor- 

 ing of the true situation should be allowed 

 to continue. May I express a hope that at 

 last, in Mr. Chamberlain's words, 'the 

 time is coming when Governments will 

 give more attention to this matter'? 



WH.VT WILL THEY COST? 



The compai-i.son shows that we want 

 eight new universities, some of which, of 

 course, will be colleges promoted to univer- 

 sitv rank and fitted to carry on univer- 



sity work. Three of them are already 

 named: ^lanehester, Liverpool, Leeds. 



Let us take this number and deal with it 

 on the battleship condition, although a 

 modern university on American or Ger- 

 nuui models will cost more to build than 

 a l)attleship. 



It our present university shortage be 

 dealt with on battleship conditions, to cor- 

 ivct it we should expend at least 8,000,000/. 

 for new construction, and for the pay-sheet 

 we shoidd have to provide (8 X 50,000Z.) 

 400.000L yearly for personnel and up-keep, 

 for it is of no use to build either ships or 

 universities without nuinniug them. Let 

 us say, roughly, capitalizing the yearly pay- 

 ment at 21 per cent., 24,000,000?. 



At this stage, it is important to inquire 

 whether this sum, arrived at by analogy, 

 merely, has any relation to our real uni- 

 versity needs. 



I have spent a year in making inquiries, 

 as full as I could make them, of friends 

 ecmversant with the real present needs of 

 each of the universities old and new; I 

 have obtained statistics which would fill a 

 volume, and personally I believe that this 

 sum at least is required to bi-ing our uni- 

 versity system up to anything like the level 

 which is jn.sisted upon both in the United 

 States and in Germany. Even Oxford, 

 our oldest university, will still continue to 

 be a mere bundle of colleges, unless three 

 millions are provided to enable the uni- 

 versity properly so-called to take her place 

 among her sisters of the modern world; 

 and Sir Oliver Lodge, the principal of our 

 very youngest university, Birmingham, has 

 shown in detail how five millions can be 

 usefully and properly applied in that one 

 locality, to utilize for the good of the nation 

 the enthusiasm and .scientific capacity 

 which are only waiting for adequate oppor- 

 tunity of development. 



How is this money to be raised ? I reply 



