LOOK OUT!

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 276, 14 August 1908, Page 8

LOOK OUT!

ADVICE TO OXFORD UNIVERSITY. NEED FOR REFORM. The "Westminster Gazette," in a leader entitled "Wanted. A Time-Limit," practically says to tho University of Oxford —Look out or you trill bo reformed from without if you don't reform from within. ,

"Wo remain of opinion," it snys, "that tho reformers from within will be greatly aided in their work if it is understood as soon as possible that there is a time-limit, after which the reformers from without must como on the scene, if iii tho meantime the necessary steps in organic reform have not been taken by tho University itself.

A Limpins Rcfrrm. "The reform movement encounters that instinctive self-protectivencss of corporate institutions which has hardly ever been broken down except by assistance from without. Tho present movemmt has now been going forward for several years,' but so-far it has not touched this organic question-. Surely it is time for the Government to say that, if tho University has not produced a scheme for itsslf, say, within a year from now, and if the scheme does not fairly .meet tho necessities of tho case, it will then proceed without fail to the appointment of another "University Commission.

"For consider," continues tho "Westminster," " what tho caso is which 'the Tutors''make in their communication to the ' Times ' on,' Oxford and tho Nation.' Tho ■University is in urgent need of money, jet ' all tho while colleges are spending large sums on building for themselves, with very little regard to the interests of the University as a whole.-' The separateness of tho colleges and their lack of organisation in relation eithor to the University or to eachother is, meanwhile, a mnstant cpus" of waste and inefficiency. There are nineteen or twenty separate estate offices, aii- managed in a manner which must bo called antiquated,' for the-control'of property which might much better bo in the hands of a single body- of -Academical Commissioners, cn tho model of tho Ecclesiastical Commission. Ovorworked Tutors. "On tho teaching side the complaint is general and just that tho tutor is overworked and that he has little time for original research. But this is largely because, owing to the _ desire of tho colleges to keep ; their own men under their own supervision and within their own walls, lectures are unnecessarily duplicated. So many as five lectures are given on the same subject in the same term, where one or . two would be amplo. Again, though it is generally agreed that scholarships of £80 should not bo given to men who do not need the money, tho competition between the colleges prevents them from coming to any agreement on that subject, and even from co-operating so as to group the examinations in an orderly way, and to mako the dates fixed and certain.

Professors Handicapped. "Finally, the Professoriate is fatally handicapped by the absence of any system of superannuation for holders of University posts. A faculty cannot retain its prestigo or be kept abreast of modern research if . the man who occupies the Chair is past his work and firmly .wedded to tho thought and practico of a previous generation. His lectures will be deserted, tho younger men under him cannot bo expected to work with zeal, and, in the absenco of good University teaching, the student is thrown back on tho college tutor. Men 6f learning are popularly considered to be old and grey, yet there is no field, of activity in which retirement on honourable conditions at an age-limit is a inqro essential condition if the springs of learning aro to be kept fresh and running. > To Maintain College Life. . Such' is"the%^st , ii&6iij v 'of'tho : tutors, and, if .we look at it'carefully,-we shall see that it' si'escifts :? a ! 'very''diffi'dult°problem. It is tlie problem of maintaining tho collcge life, which is tho uniquo feature of Oxford and Cambridge, without prejudice to the life of the University. No one wishes,to diminish tho glory of the colleges, or even to prevent a vigorous competition between college and collego. But the college system must be justified by orderly arran'goment of their functions as .distinguished from tho funcli&ns of the University, and by such supervision as will ensure that their endowments are .being used to tho best advantage for the promotion 'of learning and tho aiding of poor scholars who go to a University for the serious object of gotting education.

Dilemmas of Poor Soholars. ' " When we look.at University lifo as it is wo Beo a groat many well-ondowed young men enjoying tho advantages of these foundations and treating the University as a school of manners, while undoubtedly a groat many poor scholars find .the cost of a University education utterly beyond their means. And we also see tho .Univorsity itself pleading poverty and appealing to tho public for . aid, whilo somo of tho colleges havo more funds than they ;aro able to apply in a serious way to\ educational purposes. Undoubtedly, rs it seems to some of us, thero is here a caso of waste, overlapping, and inefficiency which is no necessary part of tho college system, and which, if it . cannot be cured, may ono day lead to a much more drastic unheayal of that'system than anyone contemplates' at the present moment." . ' •

Dr. Grosz has just shown at a meeting of the Vienna Medical Society a man who possesses a peculiar leonino appearance. He is a young Russian, said to bo 17 years old, covered: over tho whole body with fine, yellow-blonde, soft, long, silk-liko hair, oxcept on the head where the natural hair is present. Lionel, as tho youth is styled, has only two teeth, corresponding to incisors, in tho lower alveolus. Cases of this kind aro said by tho " Lancet" to be very rare. . Ono of tho oldest is tho family, described and paintod in 1553 by Plater, consisting of father, mother, two boys, and one girl, all of whom were covercd with an ample cloak of hair.

Instinct, according to Dr. P. R. Cole, speaking at tho Royal Society's house, Sydney, on "the instincts of children," is like tho tide in the affairs of men. It means much when taken at the full. -To illustrate this ho furnished an instance from the poultry-yard, which was, indeed, a scientifi-cally-observed ease. Somo chickens were hatched in an incubator. When a couple' of days old these evinced a strong impulso to follow any moving object, such as a dog or a man, just as determinedly as if they were following a hen. Chickens allowed to do this for two days would not recognise a hen. If, however, they were blindfolded for four days, they manifested the utmost fear of human beings. The moment of instinct of following had been confined to two days. This was in part parallel in tho cases of children. Tho responsibility of', correctly treating that period of transitoriness was ono which parents and teachers could not afford to overlook in a child.

■ At the last meeting of the Royal Society, of Medicine, Mr. W. Hern opposed tho views previously expressed that dental 1 decay (caries) occurred in inverse ratio to tho amount of caro exercised in cleansing the teeth. Uso of tho brush, ho stated, was more important than thorough mastication for preserving teeth, and extraction of temporary teeth should bo avoided. Mr. Rushton also advocated the uso of a toothbrush, but did not bolieyo decayed teeth occurred in invorso proportion to its uso fio agreed that tho cause of carios (decay) of tho teeth was not thoroughly known. Mr. Sims Wallace asked why, if tho toothbrush was efficient, thero had not been in recent years a great decrease in caries. It was qnit.o possiblo to bring up children freo from caries who had never usod a toothbrush. Thorough mastication was most important. Pap-foed-ing was responsible for tho craving for sweets, for tho lack of proper mastication, and for a groat deal or caries. Mouthbreathing was' another cause. Mr. Stanley Mummery thought that tho influence of civilisation, with the laws of survival of tho fittest, was ono factor in the prevalonco of caries. ,