THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



381 



144; botany, 137. There is then a 

 drop to geology with 76, physiology 

 with 48 and astronomy with 35. Uni- 

 versity work in chemistry is often a 

 professional course for the chemical 

 analyst or engineer and is thus not 

 altogether parallel with the other sci- 

 ences. It would be well if similar con- 

 ditions obtained in engineering and the 

 medical sciences, so that there would 

 be larger numbers from which those 

 competent to undertake research work 

 might be selected. 



The universities differ in the relative 

 emphasis placed on the sciences and 

 the humanities. Thus at Cornell and 

 the Johns Hopkins nearly sixty per 

 cent, of the degrees are in the sciences, 

 whereas at Harvard, Yale, Columbia 

 and Pennsylvania the percentage is 

 about forty. At Chicago the percent- 

 age is 49, at New York University it 

 is only nine, and at Boston University 

 only two. It is commonly supposed 

 that the state universities are mainly 

 occupied with the utilitarian sciences, 

 and it is interesting to note that at 

 Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota, 

 respectively, 77, 60 and 70 per cent, of 

 the degrees are in the humanities. 



The three or four hundred young 

 men added each year to those engaged 

 in the advancement of science and 

 learning are probably the most impor- 

 tant factor in our civilization. Not 

 more than half of them will accomplish 

 anything after their doctor's theses, 

 but the others may perhaps have their 

 places rilled by those who enter re- 

 search work otherwise than by the 

 ordinary academic routine. When we 

 remember, however, that about 5,000 

 physicians and lawyers are graduated 

 each year, the number taking the doc- 

 torate of philosophy seems to be small 

 — not in proportion to the population 

 and wealth of the country. There are 

 some 25,000 professors and teachers in 

 our colleges and universities and some 

 35,000 in the secondary schools; then 

 there are increasing numbers of posi- 

 tions in the government service and 

 elsewhere. The supply of men of the 



right kind does not equal the demand, 

 and one of the most serious problems 

 that confronts us is to find methods to 

 increase the numbers and improve the 

 quality of those engaged in scientific 

 research. 



AERIAL NAVIGATION 



The center of interest — dramatic, 

 practical and scientific — at present is 

 in the demonstrations of aerial navi- 

 gation now being made in France 

 and here, especially by Mr. Wilbur 

 Wright at Le Mans and by Mr. Orville 

 Wright at Fort Myer. But the changes 

 are so rapid — at the time of this 

 writing Mr. Orville Wright has broken 

 the record four times in four consecu- 

 tive days — that only the daily news- 

 papers can follow them. A scientific 

 journal, however, should not go to 

 press without an expression of ad- 

 miration for the work of those who 

 have so successfully applied scientific 

 principles to the solution of practical 

 problems, and it is not chauvinistic to 

 betray satisfaction in the fact that the 

 United States, in the scientific and 

 applied work of Langley, Chanute and 

 Bell and now in the practical success 

 of the Wright brothers, has led the 

 way. 



It may be that flying-machines will 

 only be used in war and in sport, but 

 history has shown time after time that 

 it is not safe to set limits to what 

 science can accomplish. It almost 

 seems to be a longer step from Lang- 

 ley's first experiments to what the 

 Wright brothers have now done, than 

 from this to complete mastery of aerial 

 navigation. It would of course be 

 impossible to accomplish this other- 

 wise than through gradual progress in 

 many directions. What is most needed 

 at present is an engine of increased 

 efficiency for its weight. Should this 

 be devised, the problem would be much 

 simplified. The dangers of aerial navi- 

 gation are more obvious than real. It 

 is now safer to go down to the sea in 

 ships than to ride along a road on a 

 horse. There is plenty of room in the 



