Fifth report of the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science / presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty.

Great Britain. Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science.

Date:: 1874

Credit: Fifth report of the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science / presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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$APPENDIX TO FIFTH REPORT. APPENDIX I. University College, London. G, Old Palace Yard, London, Sir, May 29, 1874. I AM directed by the Duke of Devonshire, the Chair- man of this Commission, to ask you to be so good as to furnish the Commissioners with a statement of the salaries paid to the Scientific Professors at University College. I have, &c. J. NOKMAN LOCKYER, John Robson, Esq. Secretary. University College, London. Dear Sir, May 30, 18/4. Having been informed that the Commissioners on Scientific Instruction wish to have information on several matters in reference to this College, I beg leave to request you to submit to them the following statements : — (L) The projected Extension of the College Buildings. I must premise that what I am about to say on this sub- ject is founded upon inferences from various sources of information of an informal and unofficial kind, since the Council has not yet had the subject before them in any definite shape, nor adopted any resolutions upon it. I believe, however, that if the Council had the necessary funds at their disposal, they would take steps to complete the two wings, already partly erected, and thus carry out the original design of the College, so far as its extent is concerred. Judging from estimates made at various times by our architect, I conclude that the cost of the work in question would be upwards of 40,000Z. Among the uses to which the additional buildings could advantageously be put, I may mention, in the first place, laboratories for Practical Physics, and for original physical research; next workshops attached to the Class of Engi- neering ; accommodation of this kind has been greatly needed for several years past, and the want of it, there is good reason to believe, has been a serious obstacle to the full development of both the departments of the College affected by it. Greater space could be beneficially devoted to providing more extensive and complete accommodation for the teachers and the students engaged in the classes of Chemistry and of Practical Physiology. As an illustration of the shifts to which we are at present driven to resort, I may mention that when Professor Sanderson recently represented to the Council his need of an additional laboratory for purposes of original research, the required accommodation could be obtained only by dislodging the museum of Materia Me- dica, which, at considerable expense, had to be removed into an upper and less convenient room. Laboratories for original chemical research, and for the practical applications of chemistry, would also require much space as well as expensive fittings and apparatus. The whole of the south wing, when completed, would probably be required for the use of the school, if, as there is every reason to expect, the number of its pupils should go on increasing for the next few years, as it has con- tinuously for the past six or seven years. A large portion of this wing last built, which was finished in September 1873, having been assigned to the classes of Pl-actical Chemistry and of Physics, to which subjects great attention is paid in the school, it is found that less accommodation than had been anticipated is available for ordinary classes, so that the school is already again cramped for space. (IL) The Financial Relations between the School and the College. This subject has recently been carefully investigated by the School Committee of the Council, and it has thus been ascertained that for the last five years—the most prosperous in the history of the school—the net amount received from the school by the College for its general purposes has been D only an average of 9821, 6s. 8d. per annum. But even this is subject to a large deduction for rent, which may be moderately estimated at 750^. a year for the south wing, and of \50l. for the portion of the main building still occupied by the school. Thus the actual profit derived from the school is reduced to about lOOZ. a year, or less than 1 per cent, of the gross income of the school. (in.) The Financial and other Relations existing between the College and the Hospital. For information on this subject, I beg leave first to refer the Commissioners to the preamble of the College Act of Incorporation, in pp. 4, 5 of the copy herewith sent to you. As to finance, I may state that the College discharges gratuitously all the duties of Trustee for the Hospital; it manages the investments of the hospital funds, conducts the correspondence connected therewith ; acts as the guar- dian of the legal rights of the charity, and in various other ways carries on what may be called its external affairs, defraying out of its own funds the expenses incidental to its connexion with the hospital. Besides this, it pays each of the two Holme Professors, one of Clinical Medicine, the other of Clinical Surgery, a stipend of lOOZ. per annum, out of the income of the Holme Fund, which was bequeathed to the College for the purposes of its Medical Depart- ment. The duties of these Professors are discharged wholly within the hospital, which derives an important part of its income from the fees paid by the students for hospital practice and clinical instruction. Should the Commissioners desire me to attend them personallj'-, I shall be happy to do so. I remain, &c. (Signed) John Robson, J. N. Lockyer, Esq., F.R.S. Secretary. P.S.—Since the above v/as written, I have received your letter of the 29th inst. I will obtain and send to you the desired information in a day or two. The accompanying table, showing the proportion of U. C. Students who have obtained the degrees of the Uni- versity of London, may be of some interest in connexion with the investigation conducted by the Commissioners.* Total No. of No. gained University of Degrees by Students Per-centage Loudon conferred of Uni- of U. C. Degrees. to end of versity Degrees. 1873. College. LL.D. - 27 11 40-74 M.D. 281 108 38-43 M.S. 9 33-33 D.Sc. 20 6 30 D.Lit. 1 1 100 M.A., Branch I. - 53 19 35-85 IL - 3.5 22 62-85 „ III. 13G 4G 33-82 LL.B. 191 64 33-5 M.B. 274 74 27 B.S. 23 14 60-87 B.Sc. 118 29 24-58 B.A. 1,497 435 29-06 Totals 2,665 832 32-03 * N.B. This table is based upon the Lists of Graduates pub- lished iu the University Calendar for 1874, audit differs, there- fore, in some respects from the general table printed in p. 154 of that Calendar, especially in omitting to take account of deceased Graduates, or of the lower degrees in the case of Graduates who have subsequently taken the higher degrees. 3$