THE £1,350,000 GIFT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 307, 29 December 1936, Page 3

THE £1,350,000 GIFT

LORD NT FFDILD EXPLAINS. Lord Nuffield, who has given fl 350,000 to Oxford University, in at interview recently further “ explainet his scheme for medical research. He wanted, he said, to go back to the point of view of the clever student al Oxford who showed signs of skill al medicine or surgery in early study In ordinary cases such a man wouic go to Guy’s or some similar institution and might become a specialist, but would be lost to teaching That man is so busy going from one case to another," said Lord Nuffield, ‘that in many instances he cannot even stop to see the result of his work, and certainly he gets no chance, apart from his own practice, of furthering his learning. My object in establishing this-institution at Oxford is to take that man from that point and ensure that he shall no longer work outside the institution but shall continue his studies ana at tne same time teach other brilliant men." Lord Nuffield added that his scheme would be instituted by the selection of a number of professors, each of whom would be the best man obtainable in the country. These professors would no longer be concerned with earning their own living outside. “But all these men are dropping a big income to come and work at Oxford at a smaller remuneration. They are so keen on their jobs that they would prefer to come to the quietude of Oxford, where they can study and teach without being worried to death by a practice as they are at the present time. They would be, so to speak super-specialists.” ' Lord Nuffield disclosed that his first ambition in life had been to be a surgeon; ‘but there was no money to be a surgeon, and so I had to take on the next best thing—mechanics." The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (Mr. A. D. Lindsay, Master ot Balliol), in an interview, pointed out that the new school would be a research institute which would give special training, and he did not think it would admit more than 10 or 20 people each year. It would be entirely for post-graduate workers, who would not so much specialise as adapt

the special work of others to everyday needs. It would provide an alliance between the theoretical and the practical side of medicine. “I have been told,” he said, "and I have no doubt, that this is the most important thing that has happened in English medicine for very many years.”