5*6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



which showed that the correlation was 

 about 0.60. The student who did well 

 in Latin not only was likely to do well 

 in other studies, but was as likely to do 

 as well in mathematics or in gym- 

 nasium work as in French. Ability and 

 hard work lead to success rather than 

 special aptitudes or previous training. 

 Apart from manual skill, the student 

 can learn in four years about as much 

 as he is able to remember, and conse- 

 quently students at the end of the Har- 

 vard medical course can pass their ex- 

 aminations about as well whatever were 

 their studies four to eight years before. 

 This does not, however, mean that a 

 student might not have passed these 

 examinations equally well if he had 

 begun his medical work two years 

 sooner and begun to practise medicine 

 two years earlier, or that he would not 

 have been a better prepared physician 

 if he had left the college at the end of 

 the sophomore year and spent six years 

 in the work of the medical school. The 

 real difficulty in the way of a prolonged 

 college course in its bearing on future 

 professional work is that the student 

 begins too late. This is an economic 

 danger, as only the well-to-do can enter 

 the professions, and it is psycholog- 

 ically unfortunate, as by the time a 

 man has begun his real work in life, 

 he has passed the period when he is 

 best able to learn how to carry it for- 

 ward and most likely to have new ideas. 



THE PORTSMOUTH MEETING OF 

 . THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION . 

 The meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion at Portsmouth appears to have 

 maintained the high traditions of its 

 eighty years of scientific service. The 

 attendance of about J, 400 was smaller 

 than usual, but this depends on the 

 number of local associates who join for 

 the meeting. Details are not at hand 

 for Portsmouth, but at one of the 

 larger recent meetings there were in 

 attendance 885 members, a large part 

 of whom were not engaged in scientific 

 work, and in addition to these there 

 were registered 1,384 local associates 



and 873 ladies. This indicates a stri- 

 king difference between the meetings 

 of the British and American associa- 

 tions, which has become even more em- 

 phasized in recent years. At the ap- 

 proaching meeting of the American 

 Association and its affiliated societies 

 at Washington, there will probably be 

 about 2,500 members in attendance who 

 will be almost exclusively scientific men. 

 They go to attend the meetings of the 

 special societies having very technical 

 programs; the people of the city will 

 know very little about the meetings and 

 will not even attend the addresses and 

 sessions which might be of interest to 

 them. 



The constitution of the British Asso- 

 ciation states that one of its principal 

 objects is "to obtain a more general 

 attention to the objects of science." 

 The constitution of the American Asso- 

 ciation contains a similar statement. 

 Both associations have concerned them- 

 selves with the diffusion as well as with 

 the advancement of science, and it must 

 be admitted that the British Associa- 

 tion has in this direction been the more 

 successful. It accomplishes more for 

 the city in which it meets, and the city 

 in turn provides social functions such 

 as are unknown in this country. At 

 Portsmouth there were two dukes ready 

 to entertain the members at their 

 castles and a bishop to preach for them 

 on Sunday. The mayor offered both a 

 garden party and an evening reception, 

 and there were all sorts of social enter- 

 tainments. There were excursions to 

 the Isle of Wight and to the New 

 Forest, and the members were taken on 

 a battleship to witness an attack by 

 torpedo-boat destroyers and submarines. 

 The association in turn arranged a 

 number of public lectures and general 

 addresses, and these were fully reported 

 in the daily press. Thus the London 

 Times published the address of the 

 president, Sir William Eamsay, and 

 large parts of other addresses, together 

 with full accounts of the proceedings. 

 It printed in advance an elaborate fore- 

 cast of the meeting and afterwards an 



