SIR.-11 is not only in matters such as the election
of a Chancellor or in the remission of Latin that the
in of Oxford is somewhat behind, but equally In the admission of students. It is not uncommon for the head of a science department to have little or no say in the choice of men who enter it. The colleges reserve this to themselves to ensure a broad spread o f subjects represented in their undergraduates. Men in the rarer subjects, therefore, can slip through regardless of their quality. The story is told of a College Board which was interviewing a particularly scruffy type. He was about to be turned down when the Dean asked him What subject he wished to read. On the reply 'theology,' a discipline rarer than it used to be, the Dean embraced the candidate and, to the stupefac- tion of the Board, exclaimed : 'My boy ... you're in!'
Thirty-five years a scientist, I subscribe myself— Yours faithfully, 5 Windmill Hill, Hampstead, NW3
A. E. GUNTHER BA, Oxon.
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