Oration on the building of the University / by Ernest H. Starling.

  • Ernest Starling
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Oration on the building of the University / by Ernest H. Starling. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the man for the pursuit of medicine, law, commerce, administration, etc. Among such institutions would be the twelve Medical Schools attached to the great Hospitals of London, the School of Economics and Commerce, the various Training Schools, and, it is to be hoped, the great legal Corporations, which have so far failed to grasp the extent of their responsibilities in the formation of a legal Faculty of the University. The relation of the Polytechnics to the University will require careful consideration. In any policy decided upon, it must be remembered that the whole object of our endeavours is the improvement of the mental training of our fellow citizens and not the distribution of degrees. We desire that the possession of a London Degree by any man shall be a sign that he has received a thorough training and is an expert in the subject of his Degree, and is not a mere bundle of second-hand facts. It makes no difference to the country whether one or ten per cent, of its inhabitants are labelled B.A. or 13.Sc. It is vital to the welfare of the country that as many as possible of its inhabitants should have received a thorough University training, and be competent to use their brains in solution of the new problems which must continually meet them, whatever their trade or profession. The whole progress of the nation depends on the mental equipment of its members. At no time more than the present have the words of Bacon on this subject been so full of counsel:—“If any man thinks philosophy and universality to be idle studies, he doth not consider that all professions are from thence served and supplied . . . . For if you will have a tree bear more fruit than it used to do, it is not anything you can do to the boughs, but it is the stirring of the earth and putting new mould about the roots that must work it.’> The University is the root of the State; we, as trustees for the men whom we commemorate to-day, are but continuing their work in stirring the earth round it, and in attempting to get from all sources the mould for its nourishment and growth. /
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