CHAPTER XI

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON—ETON COLLEGE—UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF DUNDEE—SCOTTISH UNIVERSITIES COMMISSION—ROYAL COMMISSION OF THE 1851 EXHIBITION—CARNEGIE TRUST: SCOTTISH UNIVERSITIES—SCIENCE AND ART DEPARTMENT: SCIENCE MUSEUMS—LISTER INSTITUTE OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

Roscoe was long and honourably connected with the University of London. A graduate in 1853, he acted as examiner in chemistry from 1874 to 1878. It was largely through his action that practical laboratory work was included in the curriculum in chemistry for science degrees. This not only greatly enhanced their status, but reacted beneficially upon the general character of laboratory instruction throughout the country. On relinquishing parliamentary work he became a member of the Senate, and took part in the movement for the reform of the University which led incidentally to the formation of an association of teachers and others for the promotion of a so-called Professorial University, of which Huxley was President. The following letter refers to this circumstance:

MANCHESTER, _June 26, 1892_.

I am delighted to hear that Huxley has joined and is to be President of the Association. It will give me pleasure to act as a Vice-President with Jebb.

Things look very well, and our views must greatly influence the Royal Commission.

I will try to secure names here. My wife sends a list per parcel post.

He made proposals with the idea of uniting what have come to be called the Internal and External sides of the University, and in his evidence before Lord Cowper’s Commission he suggested a machinery of a less cumbrous and, as he hoped, of a more satisfactory character than that which became law in 1898. In 1896 he succeeded Sir Julian Goldsmid as Vice-Chancellor. It was during his term of office that the Act of 1898, which reconstituted the University as the result of Earl Cowper’s Commission, was passed. As Vice-Chancellor it became his duty to watch the progress of the measure, and to use his influence in promoting its passage through Parliament.

Unfortunately the University was as a house divided against itself. One section of its Senate, numerically not very strong, was avowedly hostile to its reconstitution as a teaching body. Some members of Convocation acted as if their conception of the sole purpose of a University was the holding of examinations and the giving of degrees. Their object, apparently, was to strengthen by all possible means the influence of Convocation; to make it, in fact, the main controlling power. Accordingly, they used such parliamentary support as they could command to wreck the Bill, or failing that, so to modify its provisions as to preserve as far as possible the existing constitution of the institution, and to perpetuate its restricted functions. Thanks, however, to the action and alertness of Lord Bryce, Lord Haldane, Sir W. Priestley, and Sir John Gorst, and the firmness of the Government, the measure was steered safely through Parliament and received the Royal Assent.

The statutory commission which followed the University of London Act of 1898 reported in 1900; its provisions were approved by Parliament in June of that year, and the new Senate held its first meeting in the following October. Roscoe took an active share in the rearrangements consequent on the reconstitution of the University, and in the changes necessitated by its removal from Burlington Gardens to the buildings of the Imperial Institute at South Kensington.

This last step was a somewhat delicate matter. As housed in Burlington Gardens the University was only moderately well provided for as regards examination-rooms and administrative offices, but such laboratories and store-rooms as it possessed were wholly inadequate for the practical work required in the examinations for science and medical degrees. The pressure on the limited space grew more severe each session, and for some time previous to 1898 the necessity of making fresh provision had forced itself upon the notice of the authorities. The wants of the University in this respect had been freely ventilated in the course of the discussion on the Bill. Accordingly, overtures were made to the Senate to take over some portion of the building of the Imperial Institute as a home for the reconstituted University. The offer was not received with any great enthusiasm. The Imperial Institute had not fulfilled the anticipations of its projectors; its associations, to say the least, were not altogether academic, and this circumstance naturally created a prejudice against it. Moreover, the building itself, although grandiose in design, and possessing an admirable façade, was rather like the geometrical definition of a line—length without breadth; and when that portion of it intended to be assigned to the University was measured up, it was actually not much, if any, larger in superficial area than was available in Burlington Gardens. There was, however, more space in the neighbourhood, and a certain amount of rearrangement and new construction was possible. Moreover, the authorities of the Science and Art Department were projecting new laboratories for chemistry and physics, and it was hoped that facilities might be granted to the University to enable them, under certain conditions, to use them, or some portion of them, for their practical examinations in those sciences. But objections were raised in regard to the geographical position of the building, its distance from the main-line stations, etc. Its possible association with what was styled “the South Kensington clique” was another rock of offence.

There were possible difficulties also with the Council of the Institute as to the partition of the structure, use of the main entrance, etc. But all these matters were adjusted eventually by the skill, tact, and firmness of the Vice-Chancellor, with the concurrence of the Treasury and of the Office of Works; and the University entered into the possession of the eastern half of the building.

Not the least of the services which Roscoe rendered to the University was his action with regard to the selection of the late Sir Arthur Rücker as its first Principal. It was entirely through his efforts that the appointment was made. Its success, he says in his “Life and Experiences,” more than justified those efforts, and he always spoke of it as the best day’s work he ever did for the University.

Roscoe resigned the Vice-Chancellorship in 1902, when he presented to the University the handsome mace which now lies on the table during the meetings of the Senate, and which is used on ceremonial occasions. It was so employed, draped in crape, at the memorial service held in Rosslyn Hill Chapel at his death.

He remained a member of the Senate until 1910, when age and increasing deafness necessitated his retirement. In the resolution of condolence which the Senate passed at its first meeting after his death, they recalled with gratitude and admiration the great services he had rendered to the University during the twenty-one years of his membership of the Senate, at first as Fellow and later as one of the representatives of His Majesty in Council; and especially the wisdom, born of long experience in academic administration, with which he guided the University during the six years of his Vice-Chancellorship, which witnessed its reconstitution under the Act of 1898.

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Roscoe was a Fellow of Eton College, as a representative of the Royal Society, from 1889 to 1912, and did what he could during the twenty-three years he served on the Governing Body to overcome what he terms “the enormous inertia of this ancient machine.” He sought to further the teaching of physical science in the School by himself giving lectures, and through his efforts it is the richer by no less than one large and one small physical laboratory, a physics lecture-room, a workshop, and two more chemical laboratories, with store-rooms, etc. He also reorganized the system of teaching, and introduced graduated courses, which have resulted in an all-round improvement. Nevertheless, the results have not been commensurate with all the hard work and enthusiasm he put into his efforts. They have been largely discounted by factors over which he had no control. No one realized this more clearly than himself, and he felt keenly the disappointment of his hopes, so much so that more than once he considered the advisability of resigning his Fellowship as a protest. He earned the gratitude of the science staff by his uniform kindness and sympathy, and by the readiness with which he would discuss their difficulties with them and help them with advice and encouragement.

As the representative of the Royal Society, his chief interests lay with the teaching of physical science, but they did not rest there. No Fellow worked harder for the general welfare of the School. In order to make himself acquainted first-hand with facts connected with the subjects to be discussed at the meetings of the Provost and Fellows, he constantly visited Eton. His opinion and advice on all sorts of questions were sought and respected, and he has left behind him a record of whole-hearted service to the School that will long be remembered with appreciation and gratitude.

Roscoe’s experience as an educationist, and his success in furthering the development of Owens College, naturally caused him to be consulted when institutions of a similar type were projected, and he was occasionally induced to take part in their foundation and government. Thus he had a large share in the arrangement of the curriculum of the University College of Dundee in 1881, and he was afterwards concerned, as a member of the Scottish Universities Commission, in establishing the connection of that College with the University of St. Andrews. He was appointed by the Duke of Devonshire to a governorship of University College, Liverpool, a position particularly gratifying to him as a member of a distinguished Liverpool family. He represented the University of London on the Council of Firth College, Sheffield, which has since risen to the dignity of a university, and was of service with respect to its science curriculum.

In 1888 Roscoe acted as a member of an Executive Commission appointed to carry out the provisions of the Scottish Universities Act. The Commission succeeded in devising ordinances which in many respects revolutionized the systems of the Scottish Universities, and by providing new avenues to degrees are destined, it may be hoped, to have an important effect upon the character of scientific education in Scotland.

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In 1890 he was appointed a member of a Committee along with Lord Playfair, Lord Kelvin, Professor Huxley, Mr. Mundella, Sir Norman Lockyer, and Dr. William Garnett, to advise the Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition on the question of establishing scholarships to aid the development of scientific education in the manufacturing districts of the country.

Roscoe remained a member of that body after it had presented its Report and had been entrusted with the duty of putting into operation the scheme which had been devised for the distribution and regulation of the scholarships. The character of these scholarships cannot be better described than in his own words:—

It was decided that these should be of a higher order than most of those existing; in fact, that their functions should begin where the ordinary educational curriculum ends, this system having been adopted with excellent effect in the French _École Pratique des Hautes Études_. In other words, the scholarships were to be entirely confined to research, and strict conditions were laid down as to the capability of the candidate to carry out original investigation. The scholarships were to be £150 a year in value, tenable for two years, and to be limited to those branches of science the knowledge of which is specially important for our national industries. The Commissioners from time to time were to select a number of institutions throughout the Empire in which high scientific instruction is given. Each university or college was to have the power of nominating a student to a scholarship on the condition that he exhibited a capacity for advancing science or its applications; these scholarships, when awarded, were to be tenable in any university, either at home or abroad, or other approved institutions.…

The fact that a large number of the nominating institutions are situated in the colonies, and that the scholars from these institutions come to the mother-country to carry out their scientific work, must exert an important influence in strengthening the relations between different parts of the Empire. The value of this system is fully appreciated by the authorities at home and abroad, and many are the instances in which men of ability, who would otherwise have been unable to follow a scientific career, or to assist the progress of our national industries, are now coming to the front in both respects. It has been well remarked that if, in the course of a century, even one Faraday should have been discovered, the sum spent would have been amply repaid.

The policy laid down by the original committee has since been pursued without essential variation, and what was at first regarded as an educational experiment has proved itself by the test of time an entirely successful undertaking, and one which has served as a model for the institution of similar foundations, both in this country and abroad.

In recognition of the services rendered on this committee, Roscoe was elected, in 1891, a member of the Royal Commission, and five years afterwards, in 1896, he became a member of the Board of Management, and at the same time succeeded Lord Playfair as Chairman of the Scholarships’ Committee.

As Chairman, the control and direction of the Committee’s work was very largely in his hands, and the care he devoted to every detail of the scholarship work undoubtedly contributed to the successful operation of the scheme.

But there was something more to value (says Mr. Evelyn Shaw, who contributes the above particulars) than the part he played in the proceedings of the Committee. The charm and sympathy of his personality were felt by so many scholars who had occasion to consult him upon their work, and who often afterwards remembered and were grateful for some kind and helpful advice. He never failed to watch with interest the careers of past scholars, as he regarded their record as the most convincing proof of the value of the Commissioners’ Endowment.

In 1901 he consented, on the invitation of Lord Elgin, the Chairman, to join the executive committee of the trustees appointed to carry out the administration of Mr. Andrew Carnegie’s munificent gift to the Scottish Universities for the benefit of scientific education; and he assisted in the inauguration of a system of Carnegie Scholarships and Fellowships for the encouragement of original investigation, resembling that of the Royal Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition.

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Roscoe acted as chief examiner in chemistry of the Science and Art Department in succession to the late Sir Edward Frankland, but resigned the appointment on his election to Parliament. He took a great interest in the aims of the department, and worked cordially with its administrative officers, especially in the abolition of the old system of “payment on results” for the elementary stage of science subjects, and in remodelling organized science schools.

The importance of properly housing the valuable science collections at South Kensington was constantly being pressed by him upon the Government. In 1909 he accompanied a strong deputation, and presented an influentially signed memorial to the Board of Education, pleading for larger and better accommodation for the unique and almost priceless exhibits of historically important objects which the museum possesses, some of which are absolutely irreplaceable. He pointed out how valuable such a collection was as an adjunct to the systematic teaching of science and technology. Each model, or piece of apparatus, or specimen of historic interest, was selected to bring into prominence underlying principles, or to illustrate various stages of industrial progress. In the temporary buildings in which the collections were placed, there was not only no room for the necessary expansion, but the objects were so crowded together that proper arrangement and inspection were impossible. What was needed was a building adequate to the proper exhibition of the present collection, and one worthy of British Science. He pointed out that one consequence of storing the collections in so haphazard and unsatisfactory a manner was that persons possessing objects of interest naturally felt indisposed to present them to the nation, and some of these when offered had to be refused through want of space. Land sufficient for the purpose was in the hands of the Government, and the Royal Commissioners for the 1851 Exhibition, so long ago as 1878, offered to contribute £100,000 towards a building for the Science Museum. Roscoe’s arguments were strongly supported by other members of the deputation, and Mr. Runciman, who was then at the Board of Education, expressed himself as convinced by their weight, and as wholly in sympathy with the object of the speakers. A gratifying result of this action is to be seen in the new buildings now in course of erection.

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Roscoe’s high appreciation of Pasteur’s work as a chemist was, we may presume, the immediate cause of the great interest with which he had followed his remarkable discoveries concerning the causes and cure of chicken cholera, anthrax, and the silkworm disease—an interest quickened, no doubt, by the fact that he had made the personal acquaintance of that distinguished man as far back as the early ’sixties. He had specially informed himself of the working of the Institut Pasteur in Paris, and of the anti-rabic treatment, and had borne his share in combating the mischievous prejudices of those in this country who sought to misrepresent the character and objects of Pasteur’s work. In 1886 he had used his parliamentary influence to induce Mr. Chamberlain, who was then President of the Local Government Board, to appoint a Government Commission, consisting of the late Lord Lister, Sir James Paget, Professor Ray Lankester, and himself, with Sir Victor Horsley as secretary, to inquire and report on the efficacy of Pasteur’s treatment of hydrophobia. The Commission came to the conclusion, based upon irrefragable proof, that this treatment had been the means of saving a large number of lives that otherwise would have been sacrificed to a dreadful and torturing death. Their report induced Sir James Whitehead, when Lord Mayor of London, to call a Mansion House meeting for the purpose of raising a fund partly to defray the cost of sending poor persons, who may need treatment, to the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and partly to repay some of our indebtedness to Pasteur and his co-workers for having treated some two hundred of our countrymen gratuitously. The Royal Society requested Roscoe, with Sir James Paget and Professor Lankester, to represent them at the Lord Mayor’s meeting, and they supported the action by a formal letter from the President. Roscoe seized the opportunity of having to respond for “Science” at a Royal Academy banquet to direct further attention to the subject, and he subsequently spoke in the House of Commons of the great value of experiments on living animals in opposition to an amendment designed to impede the working of the Vivisection Acts. By memorials, popular lectures, and articles in the periodical press, he kept the subject continually before the public eye. Nor were his colleagues less active in instructing and forming public opinion. Their efforts eventually resulted in the establishment of an institute in London with aims similar to those of that in Paris. Thanks to the munificent action of Lord Iveagh, it has been housed and equipped not less worthily than its sister foundation. The London Institute of Preventive Medicine now bears the honoured name of Lord Lister, its first President.

Roscoe was its Treasurer from 1891 to 1904 and Chairman from 1904 to 1912, and again from 1914 to the time of his death. The building has now been completed at a cost of £28,000, entirely paid out of income, and there has been a gradual and considerable increase in the scientific staff and in the volume of work done. The formation of the Medical Research Committee was thought by Roscoe to affect the interests of the Institute, and he considered that it might be better to bring about a working arrangement between the two bodies. He felt that the independent existence of two such schemes of research might lead to rivalry rather than to co-operation, and that the superior resources of the Government Committee might operate to the disadvantage of the Institute. It was also thought that the addition of the resources of the Institute to those at the disposal of the Committee together with the union of the two scientific staffs would prove a great advantage to each and contribute largely to the success of both. Another more practical point was that the amalgamation scheme would remove from the Institute the burdensome necessity of having to earn money by routine diagnosis work in order to provide a sufficient income to support the scientific work, and to permit of its increase. This contemplated action gave rise to a considerable difference of opinion. As a question of policy it obviously admitted of two sides, and when the matter came up for decision the preponderating feeling was to let well alone and to allow the Institute to continue to develop along independent lines.