August 21, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



227 



service to be reudered in the establishment of a 

 school of medicine, the chief work of which 

 shall be investigation." 



The company then adjourned to the site 

 chosen for the Laboratories, where the corner 

 stones of the buildings were successively laid 

 with appropriate ceremonial and addresses. 

 Head Professor John M. Coulter gave the ad- 

 dress at the foundation of the Botanical Labo- 

 ratory; Associate Professor Jacques Loeb, at the 

 site of the Physiological Laboratory ; the ad- 

 dress written by Head Professor Henry H. 

 Donaldson was read by Assistant Professor E. 

 O. Jordan at the site of the Anatomical Labo- 

 ratory, and Head Professor Charles O. Whitman 

 spoke at the Zoological foundation. 



In the evening the University gave a dinner 

 to Miss Helen Culver and the men of sci- 

 enge present from other universities. Short 

 speeches were made by Profs. Goodale, Barnes, 

 Forbes, Burrill, McMurrich, MacBride and 

 Holmes representing their respective institu- 

 tions. Profs. Whitman, Loeb, Jordan and 

 Coulter spoke in behalf of the biological facul- 

 ties and Profs. Chamberlin and Judson on 

 behalf of other departments. Finally Presi- 

 dent Harper told very simple the story of the 

 gift, of its unexpectedness, of its coming en- 

 tirely unsolicited and the manner in which it 

 relieved the pressing wants and satisfied the 

 most sanguine hopes of the departments con- 

 cerned. At last late in the evening he an- 

 nounced that Miss Culver would say a few 

 words. Then with the guests standing in their 

 places at the tables. Miss Culver expressed very 

 quietly her pleasure and satisfaction in being 

 able to do what she could for the cause of higher 

 education, and modestly claimed for herself only 

 the credit of being an agent in carrying out 

 what she felt would have been the desires of 

 the man whose name the laboratories are to 

 bear, Mr. C. J. Hull. 



SCIENCE AT OXFORD. 



We called attention in a recent number of 

 this Journal to an important article in Nature 

 on the position of science at Oxford. Prof. E. 

 Ray Lankester, Linacre professor of zoology at 

 Oxford, has addressed the following letter on 

 the subject to Nature : 



' ' Will you allow me a few lines in which to ex- 

 press my entire agreement with your recent ar- 

 ticle on this subject, if only to emphasize the 

 fact that I am not the author of the article, and 

 that the opinions there expressed are not those 

 of an isolated individual. The reason for the 

 comparative neglect of natural science at Ox- 

 ford is that, however well-disposed some in- 

 dividuals may be, the college tutors and lectur- 

 ers as a rule dislike it. They dislike it for two 

 reasons : First, because it cannot be taught in 

 the college parlors called lecture rooms ; and 

 second, because they are, as a rule, ignorant — 

 owing to their own defective education — of the 

 nature and scope of the immense field of study 

 comprised under the head 'natural science.' 

 They do not know either the enormous educa- 

 tional value of natural science, or its vital im- 

 portance to our national life and development. 



' 'And lastly, if they did know, there is no con- 

 ceivable motive which could operate so as to 

 induce them to sacrifice some of the rewards 

 and educational domination, which are at pres- 

 ent enjoyed by the long-established classical 

 and historical studies, to newer lines of work 

 in which the present beneficiaries and their 

 academic offspring can have no share. 



" The situation is a ' dead-lock,' and only an 

 intelligent Parliamentary Commission (if such 

 is possible) can put matters on to a fair and 

 healthy basis. Probably the scandal of the 

 present paralysis of our beloved Oxford will 

 have to become even greater and more out- 

 rageous than it is at this moment, before the 

 necessary remedy is applied. 



' ' But happily the vitality of Oxford is inde- 

 structible. The misused and monopolized re- 

 sources of Oxford will assuredly some day be 

 devoted to the true purposes of a great univer- 

 sity." 



general. 



The authorities of Princeton University have 

 issued a circular of information regarding the 

 sesqui- centennial celebration which takes place 

 on October 20th, 21st and 22d. The most im- 

 portant ceremonies will be held on October 22d, 

 when degrees will be conferred and announce- 

 ments will be made of the endowments secured. 

 During the week preceding these exercises lec- 

 tures will be given by some of the foreign 



