4 oo POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Science, for a long time, was an insignificant feature of the college 

 curriculum; its treatment was more elementary than that of history. 

 The professor had an immense field to cover — the whole of nature aside 

 from man's achievements in a few directions — but, while he taught 

 many subjects after a fashion, he studied only one. The stock of knowl- 

 edge was very small and anything new to one observer was likely to be 

 new to all others. Investigation was a simple matter; ingenuity, in- 

 dustry and keen discrimination made up most of the necessary equip- 

 ment; so that there were few earnest teachers who failed to contribute 

 frequently to the common stock. But, by their earnestness, these men 

 worked their destruction as investigators ; for while each had his chosen 

 field of study, he still covered the whole area as teacher. Many of the 

 discoveries made by these men were startling and were discusssed in a 

 more or less inaccurate way by the newspapers. Students sought expla- 

 nation from the professor who was supposed to know everything. The 

 botanist was puzzled by questions respecting chemical physics or psy- 

 chology ; the physicist was worried by questions respecting alleged 

 discoveries in biology or geology. Practical application of newly 

 discovered principles followed quickly to add to the teacher's trials. 

 There was no longer time for special investigations and all one's 

 energies had to be devoted to a vain effort to keep pace with investiga- 

 tions in the several directions. 



The danger of this condition was recognized early in some of the 

 older and wealthier institutions, so that in them, as in some of the newly 

 organized and well-endowed universities, the fact was accepted that the 

 several sciences were soon to be independent professions, and the depart- 

 ments of chemistry, physics, biology, psychology, geology, paleontology 

 and mineralogy became practically schools, each with its own staff of 

 professors and assistants. 



But in too many of our colleges the danger was not recognized at 

 an early period and in too many it is still unrecognized. Only a few 

 of our institutions have more than four chairs in natural science, many 

 have only two, and far too many are still in the sub-high school stage of 

 only one. Yet the catalogues of such institutions offer a long series 

 of courses, graduate as well as undergraduate, in several departments. 

 A rather prominent college trustee not long ago informed the writer 

 that a professorship of psychology or physics or geology is hardly equal 

 in extent to one of Latin or pure mathematics. Yet any one of the 

 chairs first named covers a group of subjects as unrelated as those 

 embraced by the old-time chair of 'mental and moral science, history 

 and belles lettres.' It is broader in scope than that other chair of 

 'ancient and modern langiiages' which existed in many colleges thirty- 

 three years ago. A professor who teaches three branches of chemistry, 

 physics or geology in three successive hours deals with three wholly 



