MAGDALEN COLLEGE AND THE PHYSIOLOGICAL. LABORATORY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—A paragraph appeared in the Spectator of last Saturday on the Oxford Memorial concerning the University Physiological Laboratory. That part of it which affects Magdalen College appears to me to rest upon erroneous information, and as it is- certainly calculated to spread an entirely false impression of the attitude of this College in the matter, I think it right to inform you of the actual facts, and to rely upon your sense of justice to publish the following account of the real state of the case :— You appear to have been informed that the signatures were drawn from members in Oxford, and " a circle of about fifteen miles round." The fact is, that the signatures are not drawn exclusively from either the smaller or even the larger area, one of the so-called Magdalen signatures being that of a, member of the Hereford Cathedral Choir, and that they are representative neither of the governing body of the College nor of the resident members.
The governing body of the College consists of the President and twenty-four Fellows; of these twenty-five, three alone have signed the memorial. The resident members, as shown by the
list of Congregation, number 22; of these 22, only six have signed.
Finally, as regards the last paragraph, it is true that Magda- len College has for years past had a physiological laboratory of its own, and it is further true that the University teaching of physiology has been carried on there, previous to the advent of Dr. $urdon Sanderson, for years past under a Government licence, with the full and express consent of the whole govern- ing body of the College; a fact which is indeed significant, but hardly in the way you appear to have been informed.—I am, Sir, Fellow and Senior Tutor in Natural Science of Magdalen College. Magdalen College, Oxford, November 14th.
[We are sorry to find we have been misinformed, if we have been misinformed ; but we had high local authority for our statements; and we wish. Magdalen College had deserved better the credit we gave it.—En. Spectator.]
Previous page
