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 U N I VERSITY 
 
 Of ILLl NOIS
 
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 5- ^^/- A LETTER ^'"^■^^ 
 
 Rt. Hon. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P., 
 
 CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER. 
 
 FORMATION OF THE INITIATIVE BOAUD IN 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. 
 
 HENRY W. ACLAND, M.D., F.R.S. 
 
 fkllow of the royal coll. of physicians, late fellow of all souls coll. 
 lee's reader in anatomy, and radcliffe librarian. 
 
 OXFORD AND LONDON : 
 JOHN HENRY PARKER. 
 
 M DCCC LIV.
 
 A LETTEE, 
 
 My dear Mr. Gladstone, 
 
 It has been with me a principle, which the anxious 
 nature and engrossing occupation of my profession 
 have made both advisable and necessary, to abstain 
 from discussing, as far as in me lay, all subjects of 
 ' University Reform' except those that are intimately 
 connected either with Medicine, or with the Natural 
 Sciences related to it, or with the Readership in 
 Anatomy which I hold in Christ Church. I saw 
 that there were many persons of more competence 
 and with more leisure engaged in this useful work. 
 
 In the same manner it has been a principle with 
 me, which the long declining health of the late Re- 
 gius Professor of Medicine made a moral duty, that, 
 though holding no, strictly speaking. University 
 office, I should assist my friends in the University 
 in the departments above alluded to ; and although 
 by the arrangements consequent on the death of 
 that excellent man, I have been exonerated from 
 such virtual responsibility as I formerly had, I can-
 
 not but still take the warmest interest in the suc- 
 cess of the departments over which he had presided, 
 
 It is then my apology for writing to you on the 
 subject of certain changes in the University, pro- 
 posed and discussed, that for the success of the 
 departments of Natural Science, and for the pro- 
 gress of Rational Scientific Medicine in this place, 
 some changes in our system seem to me to be ab- 
 solutely required. 
 
 What changes loitliin these departments require 
 our first attention, I have stated in my evidence to 
 the Oxford University Commission ; and I shall 
 not force the details upon you now. They are in 
 a word, mainly, that we should have a Professor 
 of Anatomy and Physiology, not engaged in any 
 other work, with the power, and means, of ap- 
 pointing an Assistant ; that we should have a Pro- 
 fessor of Medicine, whose duty should be to lay the 
 foundations, and make clear the rational principles, 
 on which Medicine depends, as distinct from mere 
 practical and clinical instruction ; to give general 
 lectures on Hygiene as well for the Clergy, Mis- 
 sionaries, and others, as for Students of Medicine ; 
 that there should be a Professor of Zoology and 
 Comparative Anatomy ; and that these, with the 
 other Natural Science Professors, should form a 
 more or less independent Board for the regulation 
 of their department. Further particulars it is 
 needless now to discuss. 
 
 As matters are now, the Faculty of Medicine is 
 here a nuUity last year we had no Candidate for 
 
 ^ / 
 
 ^-^v/
 
 Examination for the degree of Bachelor of Medicine ; 
 and in the year before, but one : and yet Sir Ben- 
 jamin Brodie, himself a member of no University^, 
 strongly urges Medical Students to obtain a Uni- 
 versity Education. 
 
 Nay, further, there are not medical graduates to 
 occupy Fellowships which they might hold.: or at 
 all events they do not hold them. Indeed, the 
 method of working efficiently our existing machi- 
 nery for the benefit of the Faculty of Medicine has 
 yet to be discovered. There must be some reason 
 for this state of things, which an active executive 
 could discover and remedy. 
 
 I have discussed this quite enough elsewhere''. 
 The fact is generally admitted, I think, though I do 
 not see in the Report to the Hebdomadal Board, 
 any plan for attracting students of Medicine to 
 Oxford. 
 
 Indeed, I am well aware that many persons be- 
 lieve that students of Medicine should not come to 
 Oxford at all : they consider ' students of Medicine' 
 and a ' complete medical school,' as synonymous. 
 Yet if our education is worth anything, and if the 
 opinions most entertain of its value are correct, it 
 is of course most desirable that as many practi- 
 tioners of Medicine as possible, should pass through 
 such education as we profess to give. 
 
 This I have also stated in common with other 
 
 * Report of the Oxford University Commissiou, p. 81. 
 
 '' Evidence to the Oxford University Commission, pp. 235 and 285. 
 Remarks on the Extension of Education in the University of Oxford. 
 Parker, 1848.
 
 6 
 
 persons, and my remarks have been quoted in 
 various places to this effect. I know however no 
 words which express my sentiments on this matter 
 so briefly, or confirm them so completely, as a 
 passage quoted by Dr. Pusey from the late Bishop 
 of Lincoln. 
 
 " A strictly professional education, comrneuced at too early a 
 period, lias for the most part a tendency to cramp the mind, to 
 narrow its views, to subject it to tlie trammels of system, to 
 dispose it to acquiesce without examination in the conclusions 
 laid before it, perhaps even to unfit it for the task of examina- 
 tion. The advantages derived from it are rather of a mechanical 
 character : it places a set of tools in the student's hands and ren- 
 ders him expei't in the use of them ; but their application is 
 confined within narrow limits. Observe, on the contrary, the 
 quickness and energy with which one whose education has been 
 conducted on a more liberal plan applies himself to professional 
 studies ; he displays at once an aptitude to any pursuit, how- 
 ever foreign to his former occupation ; nothing comes amiss to 
 him; he soon places himself on a level, in extent of profes- 
 sional learning, vrith those whose life has been directed to that 
 single object ; while in the application of his learning to prac- 
 tice, he possesses an incalculable advantage, in the power which 
 the habit of close and accurate reasoning confers, of seizing at 
 once the important point of every question, and in the copious- 
 ness of illustration which his stores of general knowledge 
 supply"." 
 
 I may be allowed to remark that, from this 
 matter not being understood, we stand in great 
 jeopardy of suhstitutlng professional for general 
 education ; whereas what should be done is to 
 add, when the general education is completed, 
 such professional knowledge as may be decided 
 on. If this is not attended to, our professional 
 Students will be worse educated than now. 
 
 ■= Bp. Kaye, charge of, 1831, as quoted by Dr. Pusey in the Report 
 preserited to the Hebdomadal Board.
 
 To these statements I may add another weighty- 
 consideration : if we have no Students of Medicine 
 the " Natural Science School" will probably fail. I 
 was instrumental, whether right or wrong, in aiding 
 the formation of this School, though wholly dis- 
 senting from some of its arrangements. A few per- 
 sons in the University studying earnestly for that 
 School, with the object of making a commencement 
 of their practical work*of life in and through it, (as 
 students of Medicine do, for Natural Science is to 
 them, in every way, a stern reality,) a few such per- 
 sons will give an impetus to the School which will 
 bear it through to one of its main objects, the im- 
 parting general information to the non-professional 
 student. 
 
 It was on the ground of the necessity of its exist- 
 ence for the man of general education, that I for- 
 merly urged its foundation ; and I said at that time 
 (1848) of the introduction of Natural History stu- 
 dies into Oxford, " It must and will bear some fruit ; 
 what its full fruit may be, we may hope, but need 
 not now enquire"^." Now this fruit will be, in part, 
 the bringing more students of Medicine hither ; and 
 the bringing them hither will be the saving and 
 making of the Natural Science School, to the great 
 advantage of the medical profession, and a conse- 
 quent gain to society. 
 
 I need not and dare not enlarge on tbis topic 
 here. Few know what blessings they owe to ra- 
 tional and scientific medicine and surgery, and what 
 
 ■* Remarks on the Extension, &c., p. 21.
 
 8 
 
 curse is in the world from their degradation hy im- 
 postors; few, therefore, comparatively, understand 
 why such great stress is laid on thorough training 
 for the higher branches of these subjects. It is be- 
 cause medicine and surgery are progressive sciences ; 
 because they are full of mistakes of former ages, and 
 replete with the fancies of restless innovators ; be- 
 cause nothing but the judgment of a sound educa- 
 tion, and the lumen siccum of a disciplined under- 
 standing, can resist and crush the one, or eradicate 
 the other. 
 
 It is then of great importance that some means 
 should be found to remove the load that depresses 
 Medical study here. It is my firm conviction that 
 no contrivance can effect this, and that no one can 
 w'isely suggest the means, till those, engaged in the 
 University in directing special studies, can readily 
 originate practical measures, and are deemed trust- 
 worthy to carry them out. 
 
 It is this circumstance which has forced me to 
 consider in common with so many others the best 
 constitution for that body which is to take the ini- 
 tiative in University Legislation. It is manifest that 
 upon the proper adjustment of this question mainly 
 depends the peace of the University for years to 
 come — its well being, and perhaps its existence, — 
 always supposing that free action is still accorded 
 to us by the Government. So many persons, in- 
 cluding the Vice-Chancellor and the Kegius Pro- 
 fessor of Hebrew, have expressed this opinion that 
 I only advance an admitted fact; a fact which I
 
 state most respectfully towards the existing govern- 
 ing body, and with hearty feeUngs of gratitude and 
 esteem towards its individual members. 
 
 The objects, which I suppose are to be aimed at 
 in forming an Initiative Board, are the simplest 
 methods for ensuring, 
 
 1st. The maintenance of the discipline of the 
 University, 
 
 2ndly. The judicious regulation of its studies, 
 
 3rdly. The proper administration of its revenues, 
 
 4thly. The free and ready decision of the many 
 questions of detail, which on various subjects must 
 constantly arise, in the affairs of so important an 
 element in the body politick. 
 
 It is clear that in order to represent so large a 
 body as Convocation, of which every member is 
 entitled to a vote on almost every subject connected 
 with the University, and in which there are so many 
 different interests as the Collegiate system implies, 
 there must be a large number of representatives, 
 if perfect confidence on the part of the represented 
 is to be secured. 
 
 The importance of such confidence, and the evil 
 of a constant state of discussion, expectation, and 
 apprehension of too great change, or too great hin- 
 drance, cannot be over estimated. 
 
 Now in a University like Edinburgh the matter 
 is simple enough. The Teachers are the Professors: 
 the Executive are the Professors : the Senatus is 
 composed of the Professors. 
 
 Nobody is interested in doubting their manage- 
 ment or desires to share it : except in such matters
 
 K) 
 
 as the town council have by law a right to regulate 
 or control. 
 
 The case here is very different. To the repre- 
 sentatives of the University have to be added those 
 of the Colleges, and the Colleges have become prac- 
 tically the most important part of the machine. 
 
 The Colleges must be represented — and no Col- 
 lege can represent another College. 
 
 The Head of the College properly and naturally 
 represents it. But as the teaching and discipline 
 are virtually carried on by the Fellows, they justly 
 demand a full share in the conduct of affairs, and 
 they must be represented also. 
 
 So, generally, the University is to be represented 
 by her Professors : the Colleges each by its Head, 
 and by one or more of its Tutors. 
 
 There are 1 9 Colleges, and 5 Halls ; each would 
 send their Head, and one or more Tutors elected by 
 the Besident Members of Convocation of each Col- 
 lege ; making in all about 50 ; then, 29 Professors, 
 and perhaps three more to be created, give a total, 
 with the Proctors, of 84 : to which I must add that 
 the new Halls should send one of their Principals, 
 elected by themselves, for every forty or fifty resi- 
 dent students they have collectively : and that I 
 should desire to see included the Bodleian and 
 RadclifFe Librarians. 
 
 Now what I wish to point out by this state- 
 ment is, that if the University generally and the 
 Collegiate Institutions are to be fully and fairly 
 represented, I cannot see how the number can be 
 less than this. The President and Tutors of one
 
 11 
 
 College cannot represent the Principal and Tutors 
 of another, any more than the Professor of Chemis- 
 try can appear for the Professor of Greek. They 
 have each and all a right to an immediate hearing, 
 and each and all may demand to be able at once, 
 and without needless delay, and a complicated pro- 
 cess, to state their respective cases, or offer their 
 several proposals. 
 
 Against this plan, which is by no means identical 
 with that of the Commissioners which has found in 
 Oxford so much opposition, there is one objection, 
 plausible and apparently valid, the great size of 
 the body and the number of persons so distracted 
 from their other work : and another, much more 
 strongly felt, the predominance, it is said, of the 
 Professors. 
 
 I will consider the first objection, the size of the 
 Board. It is easily disposed of. 
 
 It can be injurious only, either because it will not 
 work ; or because, though it will work, it employs 
 too many hands for the result obtained. For the 
 first, 80 persons can work together as well as 25, 
 for every one acquainted with the proceedings of 
 deliberative bodies, knows too well that the delays 
 and hindrances that may be caused by 25 in com- 
 ing to a decision on any practical matter are quite 
 astounding ; and to get work done hy a Body com- 
 posed of o?ily 25, Committees must be constantly 
 appointed. But if Committees must be frequently 
 appointed within the Body, is it not most irrational 
 to limit exceedingly the number out of which the
 
 ]2 
 
 Committees have to be chosen ? Certainly. The 
 Committees should he selected out of as large a num- 
 ber of competent persons as possible, and therefore 
 also, as there must be in the circumstances of Ox- 
 ford a large deliberative body, (if all are represented, 
 and if Convocation is to be satisfied,) it must work 
 VTHOLLY by Committees. 
 
 I suppose then that such a Board exists : when 
 all are present it numbers perhaps 85. 
 
 1 . Every measure must be introduced in the form 
 of a motion, that a Committee, consisting of a vari- 
 able number, (except in cases to be mentioned, not 
 exceeding 5,) should be appointed for a certain pur- 
 pose. 
 
 2. This Committee may be executive, or deli- 
 berative. 
 
 E.g. There would be an executive Police Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Or, a Committee would be appointed to report 
 on a certain subject : the report would be accepted, 
 or rejected ; if accepted, it would go to Convoca- 
 tion ; and this would soon become almost a formal 
 transaction, except on great occasions ; the same 
 Committee or another in its place would then be ap- 
 pointed to execute the subject-matter of the report. 
 No executive Committee would be appointed with 
 power to expend money of indefinite amount. 
 
 Now in fact this plan is nearly the same as that 
 of the Vice-Chancellor, only that I feel that it is 
 impossible to consider the University to be repre- 
 sented if the Professors are not there; and the
 
 13 
 
 same as the Comnaissioners' Congregation, except 
 that I do not include the Assistant Professors or 
 Lecturers, and that I should therefore make one 
 distinction between a Professor and an Assistant 
 Professor, that one had a seat at the Board, and that 
 the other had not ; and this Board would sanction the 
 creation of Professorships, or Assistant Professor- 
 ships, just as it pleased. 
 
 This simple arrangement seems to me to meet 
 the second class of objections derived from the 
 overwhelming number of Professors, so strongly 
 and ably urged by Dr. Pusey : he estimates them 
 as at least 7Q, whereas I reckon them as not more 
 than 32, of whom at this moment 4 are Heads of 
 Houses ; and it ought also in my judgment to satisfy 
 those who are anxious to give the Professors their 
 due influence ^ 
 
 To me it seems very plain that if the Univer- 
 sity and Colleges are to continue to exist in any- 
 thing like their present state, all the Professors 
 on the one hand, and each of the Colleges, on the 
 other, by their Head, and by their Common-room, 
 must have immediate, direct personal access to the 
 Initiative Board. I cannot conceive anything but 
 dissatisfaction in the end, if you attempt to engage 
 
 * There are at present Professorships (excluding that of Music) 
 •which might be held by 31 individuals. They are actually held by 
 28, of whom 4 are Heads of Houses, and 15 are not above the degree 
 of M.A. The plan proposed above supposes that the two Arabic Pro- 
 fessorships would be united, that there would be one Professorship of 
 Medicine and one of Anatomy, and that three new Professorships 
 woidd be created, namely, one of Latin, one of Mental Philosophy, and 
 one of Zoology and Comparative Auatoiny.
 
 14 
 
 some of the Professors to stand in the plaec of the 
 remainder ; or if you get the members of one College 
 to act on behalf of the members of another ; and I 
 cannot see that business will be otherwise than 
 rapidly and thoroughly done, if a Committee he ap- 
 pointed for every purpose, with power to execute or 
 to report, as the case may be. In the case of power 
 being granted to execute, the appointment, for a 
 limited time only, but renewable, would be conferred 
 by Convocation. 
 
 To those who have not reflected on this matter, 
 any arrangement, really including the various in- 
 terests concerned, will appear too cumbrous to 
 work : but it is a very prevalent fallacy, as I have 
 said, to believe that twenty-five can work together 
 much better or quicker than eighty or eighty-five. 
 Neither can work satisfactorily except through Com- 
 mittees. 
 
 I may add further, that a week's notice of all 
 motions should be given, and every vote confirmed 
 at a subsequent meeting, and the result printed and 
 circulated to the members of the Board ; for in this 
 case no member need go to the discussion of any 
 subject matter which does not concern him. 
 
 In practice, the mere formal business would 
 shortly be carried on by a few men ; and in every 
 important matter, the Committee, consisting of those 
 most conversant with the question in hand, would 
 work alone and report, and the report would be 
 accepted, or objected to and thrown back for 
 amendment. Those interested would use every
 
 15 
 
 dispatch ; and frivolous objectors would, after a 
 little experience, find their own level. 
 
 I stated above, that I should make an exception 
 to the limitation of five as the number of Commit- 
 tees : in the case of the expenditure of money the 
 number should be on each occasion optional, be- 
 tween three and nine ; and the present Hebdomadal 
 Board should form a standing Committee, which 
 would deliberate alone when it pleased, and bring 
 forward reports as it pleased, and be appointed per- 
 manently and absolutely for various purposes to be 
 defined. I cannot believe that this arrangement 
 would be found so derogatory to the eminent per- 
 sons composing that Board, as in some of the evi- 
 dence presented to the Board of Heads of Houses 
 and Proctors it is made to appear ^ 
 
 It would be idle to discuss whether any new Con- 
 stitution can remedy all evils, or satisfy all objec- 
 tors — whether all close Fellowships are an abso- 
 lute evil : whether Fellowships appropriated to par- 
 ticular Faculties can be made permanently useful ; 
 whether any University can be thoroughly effective 
 without some form of Retiring Pensions ; whether 
 by Examinations Colleges will always obtain the 
 
 ' Since the above was in type, I have seen for the first time Mr. 
 Barry's " Remarks on the three proposals for reforming the Constitu- 
 tion of the University of Oxford," in which a phin is advocated which 
 agrees with that proposed in the text in limiting the number of public 
 Lecturers at the Board, but differs from it in two essential points ; for 
 ]\Ir. Barry, in other respects, adopts the Commissioners' scheme, which 
 neither allows the Collegiate bodies to elect their representatives, nor 
 makes the appointment of Committees a necessary mode of condiictiufir 
 business.
 
 16 
 
 man who will prove in the long run the best 
 citizen ; whether increased intellectual activity will 
 bring in its train new and great evils ; whether 
 our present quiet is without its special advantages ; 
 whether our Collegiate system has done all it might 
 have done for discipline or mental training : — there 
 is no one of these propositions, except the first, 
 that, whether put in the affirmative or in the nega- 
 tive, would not excite in a mixed company the most 
 vigorous opposition. 
 
 But though on these points I must not now say 
 anything, yet I may express the hope that your great 
 influence may be used to adjust the difference of 
 statement, (I dare hardly say sooth the difference of 
 opinion,) which exists on one point, viz. : concern- 
 ing the relative value of Professors and of Tutors. 
 A sad array of almost incompatible statements 
 might be collected concerning either body — the strife 
 is not ended — it is not for me to attempt to recon- 
 cile them. But I may make bold to say that the 
 faith of some of my friends among the Tutors will 
 remain unshaken, even though hereafter they should 
 become Professors ; and that Professors need take 
 no higher model for singleness of purpose, and de- 
 votedness to their calling than may be found in 
 every direction among Oxford Tutors. 
 
 I could not have allowed myself to discuss this 
 subject of a Constitution, but in the hope that the 
 suggestions I have made may help to settle a ques- 
 tion which makes a hearing on the subject of Uni- 
 versity Government somewhat difficult of attain-
 
 17 
 
 ment. " If your plan gives power to the Profes- 
 sors, it is mischievous." " If your plan leaves the 
 University in the hands of the Tutors, it is bad." 
 Why cannot both icork together ? I have every 
 hope that the time is coming when they will do 
 so. If, under the new arrangements, all Pro- 
 fessors reside at their post, exercising a daily in- 
 fluence for good on the intellectual and religious 
 culture of the place, they will meet, according to 
 their station and abiUty, with the sympathy and 
 co-operation of all the earnest men now engaged in 
 tuition in Oxford. 
 
 For my own part, I see no practical difficulty, 
 under the Constitution I have sketched, in the 
 harmonious working of an able, conscientious body 
 of College Tutors, and of a distinguished corps 
 of resident Professors. It is clear enough to me 
 that if we do not find the means to combine the 
 two, the Professorial Element will not give way. 
 
 Not long before his death, Chalmers, standing 
 at the gate of All Souls, and gazing up to the Rad- 
 cliffe Library, said to me — " You have the best 
 machinery in the world for the purpose of Christian 
 Education, but you don't know how to use it." 
 
 Every year, that has since elapsed, has, as that 
 Christian Philosopher would have desired, done 
 much towards making his remark less applicable. 
 But God grant the whole matter come to a speedy 
 and happy issue. I see years passing by, energy 
 wasted, party spirit fostered, sadness and sorrow 
 of heart ; in some, who, from accidental causes,
 
 18 
 
 cannot find room for the patient labour they long 
 for ; in others, who look on the younger generation 
 as eager overmuch, rash and self-willed. Whither 
 knowledge, opinion, power, the shortcomings of 
 rulers, or impatience of the people, may in the 
 world's history carry our race, is known alone to 
 the Creator and Preserver of men : but this I am 
 sure of, that all who desire the happiness and pro- 
 gress of Man, are interested in the maintenance 
 and improvement of Religious Education in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 What England may yet be allowed to gain for 
 Truth and for Civilisation — what she may throw 
 away — who shall determine? It is a momentous 
 question. Her sons may not rest, dreaming of her 
 greatness — their strength must be tried as was that 
 of their fathers. She, who has cause to be grateful 
 for the public men she has heretofore received at 
 the hands of Oxford, may say to him who now frames 
 new laws for the Education of her youth — may the 
 words be of as happy omen ! 
 
 Casarem vehis etfortunas ejus ! 
 
 Believe me to be. 
 
 My dear Mr. Gladstone, 
 
 Ever most faithfully yours, 
 HENRY W. ACLAND. 
 
 Oxford, 
 February 2, 1854.
 
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