THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



5 T 5 



the sciences did not excel the others. 

 On the contrary, it appears that of the 

 23 men who took ten or more courses in 

 science, only 39 per cent, graduated 

 cum laude from the medical school, 

 whereas of 48 men who took less than 

 three courses 61 per cent, graduated 

 cum laude. In general, it was the case 

 that students who elected six or more 

 courses in any one of the four groups 

 into which the studies at Harvard are 

 now divided did equally well in the 

 professional school whatever the group 



-2,0 



II 



/ss 



The two columns on the left represent the 

 students in the medical school who did not 

 and who did receive honors in accordance 

 with the subjects pursued in college. The 

 two columns on the right represent those who 

 did not and those who did receive honors in 

 the medical school in accordance with their 

 standing in college. 



in which the larger share of work was 

 done. The relations for the medical 

 school are shown on the chart. Of 311 

 students who elected six or more courses 

 in the languages in college, 145 gradu- 

 ated without and 166 with honors from 

 the medical school. Of those who took 

 six or more courses in the natural sci- 

 ences, 75 graduated without and 81 

 with honors. Within the limits of 

 probable error, the relations are the 

 same for the smaller groups in political 

 science and in philosophy and mathe 

 matics. 



The two columns on the right side of 

 the diagram show the relations between 

 high standing in college and success in 

 the work of the medical course. Of the 

 239 men who received no honors in col- 

 lege 36 per cent, were given honors in 

 the medical school; of the 85 with a 

 cum laude in college, 76 per cent.; of 

 the 39 with magna cum laude, 87 per 

 cent. ; and the two who received summa 

 cum laude received honors in the med- 

 ical school. 



President Lowell's theories are cer- 

 tainly supported by these statistics. 

 He holds that men should be incited to 

 obtain high grades in college and that 

 the college course should be purely 

 cultural without reference to the stu- 

 dent 's work in after life. He has 

 argued that the college course should 

 make all students equally well prepared 

 to enter any professional school and 

 that the entrance requirements of each 

 professional school should be such that 

 they are met by all students having 

 completed a college course. Every one 

 will of course agree that it is a good 

 thing for students to do well in their 

 college work, even though it may be 

 doubted how much is gained by trying 

 to lead students to compete with one 

 another for honors, as President Lowell 

 advocates. It is, however, a legitimate 

 incentive to good work to make it 

 known that students who do well in col- 

 lege, are likely also to succeed in the 

 professional school and in after life. 



The fact that students do equally 

 well in the medical school, whatever the 

 studies they pursued in college, is a 

 stronger argument for cultural studies 

 than any theory. It is not quite con- 

 vincing, as it may be argued that the 

 courses in the natural sciences given 

 to students at Harvard are proved by 

 these statistics not to be the best train- 

 ing for the future medical student. We 

 know that students who do well in one 

 subject in college are likely to do well 

 in others. This was put on a quantita- 

 tive basis by Dr. Clark Wissler in a 

 doctor's thesis from the psychological 

 department of Columbia University, 



