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
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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.

    34/56 (page 22)
    III.-THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE, NEWCASTLE- UPON-TYNE. See Ap- 76. The University of Durhai!i is provided with Professorships of Mathematics and pendix IV. Astronomy, and with a Readership in Natural Philosophy. It also possesses a Museum of Natural History, and an Astronomical Observatory. It is in intimate connexion with the Medical School at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and is thus in a position to give a com- plete system of instruction in Medicine, and to grant degrees in that Faculty. The University further confers a certain academical status on Mining or Civil Engineers who reside for three Terms, and pass two Public Examinations. But as this University cannot be said to have any complete Scientific Faculty, or to offer any complete System of Instruction, or of Examinations in Science, we have not thought it our duty to take any evidence with regard to tiie older foundations connected with it, but have confined our attention to the efforts which it has recently made to advance Scientific Instruction by assisting in the establishment of a College of Science at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 77- This College was founded in 1871 for t!)e leaching of Physical Science, par- ticularly in its practical application to Engineering, Mining, Manufactures, and Agri- culture. The funds necessary for its endowment were provided in part by the University of Durham, which gave in the first instance 1,000/. a year in perpetuity, which has since been increased ; and, in part, by a subscription raised m the north of England. Qu. 8757. 78. The circumstances which led to the foundation of the College are stated in the evidence of the Dean of Durham. It appears to have been felt that the instruction afforded by the University of Durham did not completely meet the educational wants of the north, and that the chief reason which had originall)' led to the Foundation of that University, namely, the expectation that it would attract a large number of students from among the people of the north country, had almost entirely ceased to exist. Under these circumstances, it was thought that to render the University more generally useful the best step that could be taken would be to establish a School of Physical Science in con- nexion with it. The question then arose, what would be the proper place at which to found this school. Opinions were to a certain degree divided as to whether it should be placed at Durham itself, or at Newcastle ; but it was founci that almost all the eminent employers of labour were strongly in favour of Newcastle upon a variety of grounds. 79. We have also received the following statement from the Dean of Durham as to the amounts contributed from local sources (in addition to the endowment given by the University of Durham), and as to the arrangements which are now in contemplation for amalgamating with the College the other Scientific Institutions in Newcastle:— Appendix 1- Sums equivalent to 30,000/. have been paid or guaranteed to the College of IV. Science. 2. A subscription has lately been raised to found a Memorial to the late Mr. Albany Hancock, and the sum promised amounts to 17,000Z. It is proposed to devote this sum to a building for a Museum to form part of a larger building for a College of Physical Science. The sum thus subscribed would, if added to that already subscribed to the College of Science, amount to about 50,000/. ; and it may be proper also to mention that the value of the Museum itself and of its permanent building amounts to at least 10,000/. In addition to this the Medical College of Newcastle is desirous to join in the erection of a Joint College, and will subscribe the sum of 10,000/. for the purpose. 80. The amount originally subscribed was of course insufficient to provide buildings for the new institution, and the College has at present to pay rent for the premises which it occupies. It is the opinion of the witnesses that it is extremely desirable that the College should be provided with buildings of its own. Mr. Lowthian Bell says, that the Qu. 9193. buildings are very good, but they are deficient in laboratory accommodation. I should greatly prefer a building expressly erected for the purpose of the College. Sir William Armstrong adds : We consider the present accommodation as a makeshift, but without Government assistance it would be scarcely possible to undertake to provide separate buildings appropriated solely to the College. 81. The College is under the government of a Body consisting of 47 members, of whom nine are ex-officio, and the remaining 38 are elected for a term of four years by various representative bodies. These Governors elect oot of their own number a