Part 17

Ross has shown us how to clear Ismailia of malaria; the Americans have rid Havana, for the first time in a century, of yellow fever; the same could be done with flies, if only the people liked to have it so. The motorcar, with all its destruction of nervous tissue, its prevention of sleep, its danger to life and to limb, has one great merit--it affords no nidus for flies.

CAMBRIDGE

‘Our dear Cambridge.’ COWLEY: ‘On the Death of Mr. William Hervey.’

The grant of a charter to the Victoria University in 1880 marked the beginning of a new era in English education. Not to speak of Scotland and Wales, there are in England to-day six Universities which bring the new learning and the old to the very doors of the vast populations which surround their seats. Birmingham claims the Midlands; Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Sheffield instruct the manufacturing and commercial centres of the North; while the University of London, full of new aspirations, does its best for the huge and somewhat apathetic population of the capital. The calculated prodigality of the State endowments of Germany, the individual generosity of the citizens of the United States, the vigour of the young Universities of Canada, have smitten the national conscience, if not with shame, at least with fear. But, while so powerful a lever as the dread of industrial decay may have been necessary to overcome the intellectual inertia of the country, the consequent impetus given to the study of science and (it may be hoped) of letters is not dying away, but rather taking permanent shape; and it is now impossible to say, as was said in 1903 by one of the members of the Mosely Educational Commission, that ‘in this country ... we seem to be doing nothing for its own sake, and least of all in education.’

The new edition of the ‘Endowments of the University of Cambridge’ suggests other, though kindred, reflections. The book has for its basis a series of documents, beginning with the year 1293, and ending with the year 1904. The learned Registrary has prefaced the account of each bequest with an explanation, and, by his discriminating comment, has invested his material with something of that charm which characterizes all his work. In one aspect his book serves, and is intended to serve, as a history of the progress of education in Cambridge; and the large amount of new matter which has been incorporated since the previous edition of the ‘Endowments’ in 1876 is, in this aspect, highly satisfactory. Yet, though it is a mistake to suppose that the flow of benefactions to the ancient Universities has entirely ceased, the fact remains that Cambridge has twice appealed--once in 1898, and once again in the spring of 1904--for help, without which she cannot meet her national responsibilities. Oxford has at last been constrained to confess that she is in a similar, if not yet so dire, a strait; and it is easy to understand the effort which it has cost her, as well as her sister University, to sue in formâ pauperis.

In truth, the neglect, almost absolute, of Oxford and Cambridge, while the new Universities are finding generous benefactors, either leads to the conclusion that the old Universities are condemned and found wanting, or has its origin in a profound misconception of their efforts and resources. It may be urged that neither alternative is true; that the needs of the new Universities are more urgent, and that the needs of Oxford and Cambridge will in turn receive attention. But a delay of a few years may in these days involve damage which will not be repaired for more than one generation. Of Cambridge, at any rate, it is asserted that she is at the end of her means, that in the last forty years she has, in her efforts at development, strained her resources to the utmost, and that without assistance, which, to be effectual, must be both prompt and generous, no further advance is possible. Science has emptied the University chest, yet, as the late master of Trinity Hall said, ‘Science is still hungry and aggressive.’ As the result of her straitened resources Cambridge can no longer satisfy the just demands either of science or of letters. When we compare this state of things with that in Germany, where the University of Berlin enjoys a State endowment of £170,000 per annum, or in the United States, whose Universities have received from private benefactors alone £42,000,000 sterling in the last thirty years, apart from large funds provided by the State, we are forced to recognize that much yet remains to be done in England.

It is not difficult to suggest some reasons for the comparative neglect of the older Universities in the matter of benefactions. In the first place, neither of them can appeal to local patriotism; and an appeal on the wider ground of national efficiency is not so easily nor so effectively pushed home. Next, it is hard to imagine that a University whose colleges enjoy a corporate income of something like £300,000 a year can be in serious want of funds. Moreover, if this deficiency really exists, it is generally regarded as the result of the squandering of revenue on an extravagant system of ‘prize fellowships’--that is, fellowships given as the reward merely for a high place in examination, and held by barristers, doctors, and civil servants, professors and lecturers in other Universities, and even successful men of business--persons who do not contribute in any way to the efficiency of the University as a teaching or as an investigating body.

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We propose briefly to examine the University balance-sheet, the college system, and the question of the fellowships, and to endeavour to give the candid inquirer some ground for a judgment on the claims of Cambridge. But we must first discuss what is perhaps the most serious obstacle to the satisfaction of her needs. This obstacle is the belief, apparently ineradicable, that the older Universities teach and care for nothing but the ancient languages, theology, and mathematics. For the persistence of this belief the daily press and public speakers are in a great measure to blame. Scarcely a week passes without an allusion which betrays, if not a culpable levity, a most unfortunate ignorance. Cambridge men have listened with amazement to the covert attacks on Cambridge science, and have wondered how long it may be before Cambridge letters are also disparaged. Of late, too, another note has been heard; and, notwithstanding the just aspiration of the new Universities to a many-sided activity, alike in the literary and scientific fields, an attempt, which must be stigmatized as ungenerous and illiberal, has been made in the press and on the public platform to limit the functions of the ancient Universities, and to drive them back into the grooves of the thirties and forties, from which Cambridge, to say nothing of Oxford, has so completely escaped. Whatever the reason may be, it is at least certain that Cambridge is frequently written and spoken of as if she were still the Cambridge of 1850.

It has been suggested, even in responsible journals, that Oxford and Cambridge would do well to keep to the older lines of education, and to leave newer studies to their younger rivals. The obsession of men’s minds by an ideal which passed away half a century ago can alone account for the impression that the policy of restriction to the ancient learning is in any way possible, or has been possible for these fifty years. Those who know Cambridge may well be astonished that responsible persons should gravely speak of the University of Newton and Charles Darwin, of Maxwell and Rayleigh, as still shrouded in medieval shadow.

It cannot be too often repeated that since the Commission of 1850, or rather since the promulgation of the new statutes in 1856, the University has advanced without pause to claim as her own the whole field of modern knowledge; and that it is the rapidity of her advance which has depleted her treasury. The state of things before 1850 need here be referred to only for purposes of contrast. The only avenue to an honours degree was then the Mathematical Tripos, or, for students of classics, the Mathematical combined with the Classical Tripos. Science formed no part of the regular course of instruction. Adam Sedgwick himself, pre-eminent geologist as he afterwards became, knew nothing of geology when admitted to his professorship. When he was appointed to his chair, classics, mathematics, and, in a less degree, theology and law, were well endowed; but effective provision for modern studies or for science there was none. In 1851 was founded the Disney professorship of archæology, and the creation of this chair may fairly be considered to be the first step towards the recognition of the sciences of ethnology and anthropology. The imperial value of ethnological and anthropological research is incontestable, and to this research no more important contribution has been made than by the bands of Cambridge travellers and students.

Mention has been made in the first place of the studies more closely related to the ‘humanities,’ because it does not seem generally to be realized how thoroughly even the ancient learning is to-day imbued by the scientific spirit. But, so early as the year 1851, new avenues to an honours degree were opened by way of the Moral Sciences Tripos (embracing at present psychology, logic and methodology, political economy, ethics, metaphysical and moral philosophy and psychophysics), and the Natural Sciences Tripos (embracing chemistry, physics, mineralogy, geology, botany, zoology, human anatomy, and physiology). In 1857 the Sadlerian professorship of pure mathematics was founded by the consolidation of an old endowment; and Cayley was the first occupant of the chair. In 1863 the block of buildings known as ‘The Museums’ was commenced, with a view to providing accommodation for the professors of the natural sciences; additions were made to the original buildings in 1877, 1880, 1882, 1884, and 1890, as new branches of science became important. In 1858 the ‘Civil Law Classes’ were replaced by the Law Tripos; the professor of civil law and the Downing professor of the laws of England were given a colleague by the creation of the Whewell professorship of international law in 1867; and the Law School has since 1904 possessed a worthy habitation, built partly at the expense of the University, partly by the help of eminent Cambridge lawyers, and completed by the generous donation of the law library by Miss Squire. In 1866 the professorship of zoology was founded.

The School of Medicine has grown continuously; and its progress is associated with the great names, to mention no others, of Sir George Humphry, Sir George Paget, and Sir Michael Foster. In 1883 were founded the professorships of surgery, physiology, and pathology. The diploma of public health was instituted in 1875, and the diploma in tropical medicine--the first of its kind in the kingdom--in 1904. The latter diploma is destined to a brilliant future in Cambridge; and the University, together with the schools of tropical medicine in London and Liverpool, is doing much to raise the scientific standard of research in a study so vitally important to the teeming populations of our tropical possessions. The students attending the School of Medicine in Cambridge number nearly four hundred, despite the high standard of the attainments necessary for qualification. In 1904 important new buildings, with provision for bacteriology, pathology, and public health, were opened by the King.

The year 1869 was marked by the foundation of the Slade professorship of fine art, and the professorship of Latin. The endowment of the latter chair is but £300 a year, half provided by the University and half by the friends of the late Dr. Kennedy, the famous headmaster of Shrewsbury School. That the University should have had to wait till 1869 for the foundation of a chair of Latin, and that the parsimonious contribution of £150 a year was all that could be spared towards the stipend of the professor, scarcely lends colour to the prevailing belief that the University, kindly and naturally as she may be disposed towards the old learning, squanders on the teaching of ancient languages resources which ought to be otherwise employed. In 1875 the Historical Tripos was founded; and the School of History, starting under the influence of Seeley, has become one of the most popular avenues to an honours degree. A professorship of ancient history was founded in 1898.

The Historical Tripos already provided in some measure for the study of political science and political economy as component parts of a liberal education. But latterly the need for a more thorough study of economic conditions has been felt to be imperative for those who look forward to a career in the higher branches of business or in public life; while, as regards the professional economist, it has been realized that his work as a student must be carried much farther than has hitherto been customary, if he is to attack with success those problems which bring his science close to reality and to the needs of the practical man. A Tripos in Economics has therefore been established, the first examination for which was held in 1905. The advanced portion of it includes such subjects as modern methods of production, transport and marketing, trusts, the recent development of joint-stock companies, railway and shipping organization and rates, banking systems, stock exchanges, investment markets, international aspects of credit and currency, tariffs and bounties; and it is expected that, as in the second parts of most other triposes, a mass of new work, the result of current research, not yet available in text-books, will be placed before the students.

The Medieval and Modern Languages Tripos dates from 1886. It provides for the study of English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. A colloquial test has recently been added. The Semitic Languages Tripos was established in 1878; the Indian Languages Tripos was founded in 1879, and merged in the Oriental Languages Tripos in 1895. The University founded a professorship of Sanskrit in 1867; and a chair of Chinese has existed since 1888. The University possesses the finest Chinese library in the world outside of China, the gift of Sir Thomas Wade. Provision is made for the teaching of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hausa, Burmese, and the Indian vernaculars of Bengali, Hindustani, Marathi, and Tamil. The teaching of living Oriental languages for the benefit of practical students is carefully co-ordinated under a recently appointed director of studies; and not only are the most necessary languages taught in their living forms by competent scholars, but these latter are assisted by a staff of carefully selected native répétiteurs. Towards the expenses of this work the University contributes about £2,800 a year. A professorship of Anglo-Saxon was founded in 1878.

In 1871 the chair of experimental physics was founded, a chair held in succession by Clerk Maxwell, Lord Rayleigh, and J. J. Thomson; and in 1874 the famous Cavendish laboratory, the munificent gift of its late chancellor to the University, was opened. The laboratory was designed by Maxwell; and the chancellor himself, soon after its completion, provided all the instruments which were immediately required. In 1894 the area of the laboratory was increased, the cost being defrayed, in part, by a sum of £2,000 saved by Professor Thomson out of fees received from students; but the constant pressure on the available space by research students coming from all quarters of the globe rendered further extension urgently necessary, an extension which Lord Rayleigh’s generous gift of the Nobel Prize has now enabled the University to undertake. Astronomy has a traditional home in Cambridge; and the observatory, which in 1706 found a strange temporary site over the gateway of Trinity College, began to be built on its present site in 1822. The observatory, which takes its regular share of the work mapped out for the observatories of Europe, has received important additions in the shape of both building and equipment in recent years.

In 1875 the professorship of mechanism and applied science was established; and in 1878 the first engineering workshops were built in the University, and fitted with machine tools and other necessary equipment. In 1894 the new engineering laboratories were opened during the tenure of the professorship by Dr. Ewing, now director of naval education. In 1894, also, the first examination for the Mechanical Sciences Tripos, which gives a degree in honours to students of engineering, was held. In 1899 the generosity of Mrs. Hopkinson and her family made possible the addition of a much needed new wing to the laboratory. The buildings of the department now contain lecture-room accommodation which seats about 360 students simultaneously, a drawing-office for a class of ninety, two rooms for elementary heat and mechanics, a boiler-room, an engine-room with ten heat-engines of different types, arranged so that the measurement of all quantities concerned may be systematically made by the students, a large room for dealing with strength of materials and with hydraulics, a dynamo-room fitted with various kinds of dynamos, a motor-room fitted with motors of all the usual types, and several other rooms for special purposes. The greater part of the staff have had practical engineering experience of some kind; and it is usual during the long vacation for one or two members of the staff, as well as a number of the students, to go into a drawing-office or into works in order to keep in touch with practice. The school numbers at present more than 250 students, and supplies young engineers with a scientific training to various public services, as well as to mechanical and electrical firms.

The University chemical laboratory was built in 1887; and, while planning it, the professor of chemistry spent some months in visiting the newest laboratories on the Continent and in America. The importance of botany has of late years so greatly increased that its study is represented in Cambridge by a professor, a reader, and two University lecturers, besides demonstrators, assistant demonstrators, and attendants. In 1904 botany was housed in a separate building of its own, the finest devoted to that science in the United Kingdom, and one of the finest in Europe. The physiology of plants, bacteriological research, and the cultivation of hybrids and seedlings, are completely provided for. The extensive botanic garden belonging to the Senate is at the disposal of the staff and the students, the more distinguished of whom, after completing their degree course in Cambridge, start on a course of research in this country or abroad. The importance of the department as touching agriculture on its scientific side can hardly be overestimated.

The professorship of agriculture was founded in 1899, and endowed for a term of years by the munificence of the Worshipful Company of Drapers, a body which, with commendable breadth of view, recognizes alike the importance of applied scientific instruction for the artisan and of scientific investigation in all forms of the national activity. The department of agriculture is conducted on the most practical and progressive lines. It provides instruction in the principles of agriculture for the sons of landowners, farmers, and others. It conducts experiments on crops and live stock, making every effort to secure the intelligent co-operation of farmers. The University experimental farm, for the use of which the department is indebted to the generosity of a member of Clare College, has an area of 140 acres. The County Councils of Cambridgeshire and nine neighbouring counties co-operate in the work and assist it by subsidies. The field experiments of the department extend over ten counties. Parties of farmers visit the experimental plots every season in order to see the results of the experiments and to discuss them with members of the staff; and reports which summarize these results are widely distributed in the districts concerned. Of the suitability of Cambridge as a site for a school of agriculture, and of the importance of the work undertaken by the school, it may be well to leave the late professor to speak for himself.

‘I have but recently become a member of the University, and, like a good many others, I at one time doubted the possibility of founding a thoroughly satisfactory school of agriculture in one of the old English Universities. But I no longer doubt; and as one who, before coming to Cambridge, was a teacher or student in five British Universities, I will venture to say that nowhere else do such opportunities exist. Apart altogether from the exceptional facilities for the study of science possessed by the University, and apart, too, from the exceptional practical skill of the farmers in the surrounding counties, the old University appears to me to be more disposed to extend a helping hand to agriculture than many of her younger sisters; and nowhere has a more friendly reception been given than at Cambridge to the new organization fostered by the activity of the Board of Agriculture....

‘American experience leaves no room for doubt that modern scientific methods are capable of greatly increasing the prosperity of agriculture, and that the farmer has no better ally than the laboratory worker. But, if we wish to make these benefits ours, we must cease to be satisfied with imported information; ... we must aim at securing for agriculture the services of British specialists, men who will give their whole time to the study of one subject under the conditions which prevail in our own country. To the extent of our resources this has been the policy of our agricultural department in Cambridge.

‘We are in the centre of the finest land in England; we already have an organization by which we reach the farmer; we know his wants; and the University has supplied us with well-qualified teachers of applied science. If we were in possession of suitable laboratories, properly equipped for research, we should find competent investigators and willing assistants among the younger members of the University who are always ready to engage in original work, either with the view of gaining knowledge or in order to qualify themselves for appointments.’

In considering the development of all these departments, and the foundation of the chairs and other teaching posts made necessary by them, it must be remembered that the professorships already existing before 1850 included, among others, those of chemistry, anatomy, botany, geology, mineralogy, medicine, physic, political economy, moral philosophy, modern history, Arabic, and music; that these chairs had, before the Commission of 1850, no very important duties attached to them; and that in the last fifty years each has been adapted to its place in the University system, and each has in turn become a new centre of activity round which, to use a convenient term unfamiliar in Cambridge, a ‘faculty’ has crystallized. To many important developments it has been possible to allude only in the most cursory manner. The merest mention must suffice for the diploma in geography; the diploma in mining engineering, with its provision for practical experience in mines in this country or abroad; the diploma in forestry, which is a logical outcome of the development of the botanical and agricultural schools; the provision for military studies, and the Day Training College for teachers. The latter has both a primary and a secondary department, and the certificate given by the University in the theory, history, and practice of education, and for practical efficiency, attracts teachers in great numbers from all parts of the country.

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Development so wide and so rapid as that which we have sketched has been of necessity costly. The expenditure since 1862 on buildings devoted to science alone must have considerably exceeded £300,000, the greater part having taken place in the latter years of the period; and it must be remembered that the University has had also to equip and maintain the observatory, the cost of which is not included in the amount just mentioned, and to spend large sums on the University library. Except in one or two cases, in which a special benefaction fund had been appropriated to adornment by the desire of the benefactor, these buildings have been erected with the strictest regard to economy. The amount expended cannot be said to be an inordinate sum for a modern University to have spent on scientific buildings and equipment. Yet even this expenditure would have been impossible without external help.

The cost of the maintenance of the buildings erected and of the very inadequately paid staffs, now presses on the limits of the available income; and it is contended that but little more can be attempted for many years, if ever, without external aid. We will proceed, then, to a rough analysis of the resources of the University and colleges, and of the allotment of these resources. Before doing so, however, it may be well to state that the colleges provide adequately, but not extravagantly, for the teaching of classics and mathematics, for elementary teaching in many other subjects, and for individual assistance to the student and supervision of his work in the subjects taught in the University. The collegiate system also ensures a close contact and intercourse between teacher and student not otherwise or elsewhere attainable. The University, in its teaching aspect, may be regarded as an organization for providing instruction in all those branches of knowledge the teaching of which cannot be economically undertaken by the colleges. Thus, for the teaching of science, and for the provision of costly laboratories, the University is responsible; and the higher and more specialized teaching in most other departments is also provided by the University. The ancient endowments are, in the main, college endowments; but the history of the development of modern subjects is also the history of the development of the University; and it is the University rather than the colleges which is at present in need of substantial financial help. But to suppose that the colleges do not heartily co-operate in the University teaching would be erroneous; at the present time one college may be better organized than another for this particular purpose, but the colleges may safely be trusted soon to come into line.

The corporate income of the seventeen colleges is, roughly, £310,000 per annum. This, with a sum of about £52,000 (called the Tuition Fund), received annually from the lecture and laboratory fees of the 3,200 students, and £30,000 received annually by the University for degree and other fees, constitutes the whole available income for college as well as University purposes, if we except certain Trust Funds for the endowment of some professorships, and those funds of the nature of charities of which the colleges are merely administrators.