DISTRIBUTION OF TIME OF CORNELL STUDENTS. 541 



Week Chosen. — It is, of course, difficult to select a week for pur- 

 poses like the present which shall be entirely typical and free from 

 circumstances which tend to produce distortion in one direction or an- 

 other. The week December 7-12 was sufficiently removed from the 

 influence of the usual written tests, examinations and generally un- 

 settled conditions of the week just preceding the Christmas recess, 

 and might be regarded as a typical winter week, save that the unusually 

 good skating increased the time of many students for physical exer- 

 cise. Probably, however, the average for physical exercise is no greater 

 than that expended during warmer weather when tennis, rowing, base- 

 ball, walking and other forms of sport and recreation combine to entice 

 the student from his work, so that physical exercise may be considered, 

 after all, as not far from normal in amount. 



On the other hand, the amount of field work in civil engineering 

 and agriculture is necessarily somewhat low during any winter week. 

 A few students in chemistry reported university work slightly less than 

 normal owing to a change from qualitative to quantitative analysis, 

 while a few other students in various courses reported an excess of uni- 

 versity work due to preparation for tests or preliminary examinations 

 in one or two studies. But such disturbances are slight and tend 

 to counterbalance one another. 



Omission of Sunday. — The investigation may possibly be considered 

 incomplete because it embraces but six days of the week.* Two reasons 

 contributed to this. In the first place our object was merely to obtain 

 the average daily time distribution of college students, and the daily 

 routine of college work is maintained during the six week days only. 

 Secondly, if Sunday were to be included, additional categories would 

 have been necessary, and a separate tabulation of the week-day totals 

 and of the Sunday items — all of which would entail labor quite out of 

 proportion to the results achieved. 



Moreover, it is not difficult to see, in the light of remarks appended 

 by numerous students, that Sunday would have an influence significant 

 for us in one respect alone, viz., the time credited to outside study. 

 It is unfortunate that no attempt was made to obtain quantitative 

 estimate of this time. We might, perhaps, add some two hours to the 

 weekly average for outside study (and university work).f 



others to fill out and return bona-fide statements of their negligence in these 

 matters. 



* We are, for instance, in receipt of a lengthy letter from a student con- 

 demning the investigation on that score. 



f But it is, of course, impossible to make any quantitative allowance for 

 this increment in computing the average day from our returns, save by ob- 

 taining a full record for Sunday and averaging for seven days, which was 

 inadvisable for the reasons already cited. We can feel, at any rate, that this 

 increment more than removes the discount for lack of representation from the 

 unstudious. 



