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Science at Cambridge

In an article on Public Schools Commission published in NATURE (vol. x. p. 219), the following passage occurs:- "Now it is acknowledged on all hands that the teaching of a subject at school and its recognition at the universities are inseparably connected, and especially with regard to science. The Colleges say, We cannot give more scholarships, because a sufficient number of men of good attainments do not present themselves; and the Schools reply, We cannot spend our time on subjects for which there are so few rewards. Both profess willingness, but each calls on the other to take the initiative." It is implied by this that the schools and universities each shelter themselves in their conservatism by throwing the blame on the other. With respect to the University of Cambridge, at least, I think this is unfair. King's College offered scholarships (of 80l. a year for three years) for natural or physical science in the years 1872 and 1873; on both occasions the examiners (who were in no way connected with the college) reported that no candidates of sufficient merit had presented themselves. At length, in the present year, they have awarded a scholarship in these subjects.

Everyone who is conversant with Cambridge knows that the colleges are anxious to reward proficiency in science, and that the tendency is distinctly to award scholarships therein on easier terms than in other subjects, but that there is a dearth of candidates. Although the valuable science scholarships at Trinity have always been open to members of all colleges of either university, the number of those who have tried has always been very small.

I maintain, then, that Cambridge has taken the initiative as far as it is desirable to do so. It would be a lamentable thing to award prizes too profusely, as we should thereby be stocking the University with an inferior staff of teachers, who would transmit their inferiority to the succeeding generation.

GEORGE DARWIN

Trinity College, Cambridge, July 30