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Annotations.UNIVERSITY GRANTS.

"Ne aaict nimis."

THE Universities Grants Committee have just issuedtheir report, which they describe as a preliminarysurvey of some of the outstanding difficulties of financeand organisation which confront the universities at thepresent time. The Committee consist of Sir WilliamM’Cormick (Chairman), Dr. W. Bateson, Sir DugaldClerk, Sir J. J. Dobbie, Miss S. M. Fry, Sir F. G.Kenyon, Sir Stanley Leathes, Sir Wilmot Herringham(who was appointed in place of the late Sir WilliamOsler), and Sir J. J. Thomson. The report opens withan expression of the Committee’s sense of the efficiencymaintained in the universities and colleges generally inthe face of serious difficulties; the members wereconvinced at an early stage in their investigationsthat the present resources of the universities areinadequate. Since the armistice the Treasury grantsas a whole have been increased by 83 per cent., andsupport has been obtained through increased tuitionfees, and, in some instances, assistance from localeducation authorities; but all expenditure has increasedenormously, and even if pre-war incomes had beendoubled it is doubtful whether the universities would beas well off as they were before the war. The Committeeare satisfied that the efficiency of university educationwill be seriously endangered unless further substantialimprovement is made in the salaries of teaching staffs.It was clear from evidence received that some membersof university staffs were living in circumstances quiteincompatible with continued efficiency; material re-adjustments of salaries were long overdue in 1914, andpresent economic conditions emphasise the urgency ofthe question. The Committee doubt whether universalflat rates and automatic increments are possible ordesirable, but they consider that it would be an

advantage if all grant-aided institutions could agreeupon basic minimum salaries within grades andfaculties. Hardly less important is the provision ofa suitable system of superannuation, with maintenanceof the autonomy of the universities, and facility forfree transference of teachers into other professions.The insufficient numbers of teachers are also

causing anxiety to university authorities; membersof the staffs are, as a rule, not only under-

paid but also overworked, and sufficient leisureto pursue research is as essential as adequateremuneration. With reference to tenure of appoint-ments the Committee are of opinion that greater fixityis in many cases desirable; and as regards status,lecturers below the rank of professor should be givenan effective voice in internal administration and theregulation of study and discipline. Passing on to thesubjects of equipment and accommodation, the Com-mittee refer to the necessity of adequate provision forincrease and upkeep of university libraries, and to thewider recognition of the importance of the librarian’sposition. The needs of the Faculty of Arts are mainlyfor personnel; the Faculty of Pure Science requires,in addition, accommodation and material equipment,particularly in view of the large numbers of ex-Servicestudents who have recently entered the latter depart-ment of study.Turning to applied science, the Committee take the

Faculty of Medicine as the best example of the theoreticaland practical in combination, as the requisite thorough I

grounding in the basic sciences of physics, chemistry,and biology, and in the intermediate anatomy and 1

physiology, illustrate the essential condition of a uni- fversity education in any applied subject. The Com-mittee are of opinion that no education can be called iliberal which leaves a student at 18 ignorant of ]the fundamental laws of nature; but there are i

too few secondary schools in which these subjectsare at present properly taught to permit the uni- i

versities to dispense with elementary instruction ’-in them. Within the past 25 years the teaching J

of students of medicine has been very widely extended,and is now passing into the hands of teachers devotingtheir entire time to the work, each subject of whichrequires much space and great expense for laboratorypurposes. It has not in England been considered anecessary qualification for teaching medicine that aman should have practised laboratory methods of

advancing the science; the Royal Commission of

University Education in London, reporting in 1913,recommended the setting up of a system which wouldprovide teachers and assistant staffs willing to devotethemselves to scientific investigation. This system isnow in operation by means of the clinical units estab-lished, with the assistance of grant aid from the Treasury,at the medical schools of four London hospitals, andthe Committee state that everywhere throughoutEngland and Scotland the principle has been seized uponand the need realised; they have issued a statementfor the guidance of university bodies contemplating theestablishment of new arrangements to this end.In considering general needs, the Committee recom-

mend throughout the provision of grant aid in the formof block grants. Reference is made in the report to theserious shortage of residential accommodation forstudents in most of the great cities, and to the wideextension of extra-mural work. In consultation withthe authorities of universities and colleges theCommittee have drawn up for annual presentation toParliament schedules displaying the essential items ofincome and expenditure, together with statistics ofstudents. They express the opinion that it is notperhaps an impossible ideal to look forward to a generalscheme whereby the areas served by different uni-versities should be defined, and all rating authoritiesshould contribute to their local university the proceedsof a penny rate. In conclusion, the Committeeemphasise the possibility of local support in futuregrant allocations, and urge upon university authoritiesthe importance of regarding their endowment funds astheir central source of revenue.

ACUTE PERITONITIS SIMULATING ENTERITIS.

CONSTIPATION is the rule in acute peritonitis and inthe cases in which diarrhoea occurs the peritonealsymptoms-abdominal pain and tenderness and repeatedvomiting-generally render the diagnosis clear. At ameeting of the Societe Medicale des H6pitaux of Paris,MM. A. Berge and J. Roberti reported a case in whichthe diarrhoea was so prominent a symptom and thesigns of peritonitis so slight that the diagnosis fromacute enteritis remained doubtful for a long time andprevented operation at the most favourable time. Adressmaker, aged 21 years, was admitted into hospitalon July 23rd, 1920. The history was that after dancingall night on the 17th and taking six or seven ices shehad slight rigors on the evening of the 18th. However,she was able to work on the 19th. That night she was.attacked with diarrhoea and pain in the abdomen, whichfrom the first was generalised. On the morningof the 20th she vomited her coffee. The diarrhaea,accompanied by colic, continued. Fifteen to 20 greenishglairy stools were passed daily. For five months shehad suffered from leucorrhoea. Menstruation was veryirregular. On examination she was prostrate, and theeyes were sunken. More than 10 greenish glairy foetidstools had been passed in 12 hours and one contained alittle blood. There was no nausea. In the hospital shevomited three-quarters of a litre of greenish fluid; fthis was the second time she vomited in four days.The abdomen was a little distended, tender allover, and especially in’the left iliac fossa. But thetenderness was neither exquisite nor superficial;strong pressure was necessary to provoke it. Therewas no cutaneous hyperaesthesia and no pain on

sudden depression of the abdominal wall. Thepatient could sit up without pain. The tongue wasmoist, the temperature 102’80 F., the pulse 116 andgood, and the respiration 35. There was oliguria andno albuminuria. Attempts at inducing abortion weredenied. Menstruation last took place at the end ofJune. Vaginal examination showed the cervix a little