THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



93 



cates admitting students to the profes- 

 sional schools at the close of the soph- 

 omore year, either giving them the 

 degree of A.B. then or after a certain 

 amount of professional work. The 

 newspapers have raised an outcry over 

 this suggestion they declaim against 

 debasing the bachelor's degree, attract- 

 ing students by low requirements and 

 the like, confusing the question of the 

 degree as a mere counter with the 

 educational problem. Thirty or forty 

 years ago the A.B. degree did not rep- 

 resent more than the equivalent of the 

 completion of the present sophomore 

 year. It signified rather less than com- 

 pletion of the course of the German 

 gymnasium, of the French lycee or of 

 the English and Scottish universities. 

 Unwise competition for the best stu- 

 dents has raised, not lowered, the re- 

 quirements for the A.B. and for en- 

 trance to the professional schools. The 

 A.B. might be abandoned, as in Ger- 

 many, without any particular loss to 

 the educational system. Its meaning is 

 now vague and unsatisfactory. The 

 real question is: Shall we require stu- 

 dents who have completed the high 

 school course to spend four years on 

 so-called liberal studies and athletics 

 before they may begin their real work? 

 This question must be answered in the 

 negative and has been so answered by 

 the logic of events. It is far better to 

 make the professional schools more lib- 

 eral that is, more insistent on meth- 

 ods, general principles arid research 

 than on mere technique rather than 

 to require the A.B. degree as a prelim- 

 inary. A more natural division of 

 studies has been developed in France 

 and Germany than here. The prepara- 

 tory school and high school should be 

 developed to include all studies that 

 are required and pursued by text-books 

 and recitations. The small denomina- 

 tional college should be placed on the 

 level of the high school, where it can do 

 good work. High schools and colleges 

 should be found in every community. 



The universities can also conduct col- 

 leges for those who wish to go forward 

 to the professional schools and facul- 

 ties of philosophy or science. The stu- 

 dent of the professional school who 

 must complete his work in three years 

 should be permitted to do so, while 

 those who show ability for investiga- 

 tion and independent thought should 

 work both in the professional school 

 and the graduate school, and should 

 be permitted to prepare simultaneously 

 for the professional qualification and 

 for the degree of A.M. or Ph.D., or 

 what they represent. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT 

 BELFAST. 



The seventy-second annual meeting 

 of the British Association will not have 

 the same historical significance as the 

 famous meeting held in Belfast in 

 1874. At that meeting Tyndall deliv- 

 ered the address which was so widely 

 criticized and discussed. It will be 

 remembered by many that Tyndall 

 there went beyond the limits of science 

 and discussed problems of philosophy 

 and religion. While his remarks were 

 frank and outspoken, it is somewhat 

 difficult for us to realize the obj action 

 taken to them thirty years ago. Scien- 

 tific freedom has since been attained; 

 and this to a certain extent may be 

 said to date from Tyndall's address at 

 the Belfast meeting of the Association. 

 Professor Dewar's address at the pres- 

 ent meeting was more nearly what is 

 expected of such an address. After an 

 introduction reviewing scientific organ- 

 ization and the place of Great Britain 

 in science, he described those problems 

 of chemistry on which he is the great- 

 est living authority, namely, the his- 

 tory of cold and the absolute zero; 

 the liquefaction of gases, especially 

 hydrogen and helium; and various low 

 temperature researches. 



At the meeting of the sections a 

 great number of important papers were 

 presented, there being, however, an in- 



