THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



189 



THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



DARTMOUTH COLLEGE AND THE 

 SUMMER MEETING OF THE 



AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR 



THE ADVANCEMENT OF 



SCIENCE 



The American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science in planning 

 a special summer meeting had in view 

 a visit to an educational institution 

 of interest in a region attractive in 

 the summer time, rather than a con- 

 venient place for the presentation of 

 scientific papers. The meeting was j 

 entirely successful from the point of 

 view of place and environment, and 

 the fact that the scientific programs 

 were not extensive was scarcely a 

 drawback. Nor did the small attend- 

 ance interfere seriously with the pleas- 

 ure of those present, though it seems 

 a pity that only two of the eleven 

 sections of the association organized 

 and that but few of those interested 

 in sciences other than physics and 

 geology made the meeting an occasion 

 to visit Dartmouth College and meet 

 their friends. 



It is perhaps true that the holidays 

 are not the best time to visit a col- 

 lege, which should be regarded as its 

 men and their work rather than as its 

 buildings and equipment. But in any 

 case it is not possible for a visitor to 

 do more in a couple of days than ob- 

 tain a general impression. Dartmouth 

 is one of the oldest of our colleges 

 and one of those which have grown 

 most rapidly in recent years. It is in 

 many ways a typical New England 

 college, though its school of medicine 

 and its graduate schools of engineer- 

 ing and affairs give it better warrant 

 to bear the name of university than 

 many institutions which assume this 

 dignity. 



Dartmouth College traces its origin 

 to a school for the christian education 

 of young Indians, opened in 1754; it 

 received a charter with its present 

 name in 17G9. In 1819 a lawsuit be- 

 tween the trustees and the state of 

 New Hampshire was decided which 

 made the college independent of the 

 state. Otherwise it might have been 

 the University of Xew Hampshire, and 

 this it may yet become. The reaction 

 against state control which separated 

 most of the eastern institutions from 

 the state is not apparent west of the 

 Atlantic seaboard, and it is by no 

 means unlikely that through their col- 

 leges of agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts or by adoption of one of the pri- 

 vately controlled institutions there 

 may yet Le state universities in each 

 of the eastern states. 



The Dartmouth Medical School began 

 with the appointment of a professor of 

 medicine in 1798. The Thayer School 

 of Engineering was established in 1867 

 and the Amos Tuck School of Admin- 

 istration and Finance in 1900. These 

 two schools are based on the college 

 course, or rather, following the 

 " Columoia plan," on the first three 

 years, the last year of college and the 

 first year of the professional school 

 being identical. The college predom- 

 inates, having 1,102 of the 1,219 stu- 

 dents in the institution. In it the 

 group system obtains and the possi- 

 bility of completing the course in three 

 years. Latin is required for the bach- 

 elor of arts degree, but not Greek. 

 The students in the course leading to 

 the bachelor of science degree, for 

 which neither Latin nor science is re- 

 quired, are about half as many. 



The catalogue says that tne under- 

 graduate life develops independence, 



