AMERICAN COLLEGES vs. AMERICAN SCIENCE. 467 



have already spoken, commenced the publication of a monthly journal 

 entitled Anales de la Sociedad Cientvfica Argentina, which appears to 

 be a creditable periodical, and I trust will live and prosper. 



There is also published in Buenos Ayres a semi-scientific journal, 

 called the Anales de la Sociedad Mural Argentina. 



That there is some taste among the general public for scientific 

 reading is exhibited by the circumstance that the daily papers find it 

 worth their while to frequently admit scientific articles. 



The National Observatory at Cordoba was established in 

 1872, under the Sarmiento administration, our distinguished fellow- 

 countryman, Dr. B. A. Gould, being placed in charge as director, 

 which position he still holds. The observatory has done splendid 

 work for science since its establishment. A series of maps of the 

 heavens, from the pole to several degrees north of the equator, is in 

 course of preparation under the title " Uranometria Argentina." It 

 is expected to contain about 85,000 stars, 35,000 of which ar* now 

 for the first time corrrectly mapped. It is far advanced, and will be a 

 monumental work when completed. 



A meteorological office is also under Dr. Gould's supervision, and 

 it is intended, when the arrangements now under way are completed, 

 that the Argentine Republic shall also have her "Old Probabilities." 



There is a school of mines in the republic, also two schools of 

 aoriculture. They, however, are too recently established to admit as 

 yet of important results iu their respective spheres. 



Buenos Atres, March, 1876. 



-**- 



AMERICAN COLLEGES VERSUS AMERICAN SCIENCE. 



By F. W. CLARKE, S. B., 



PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY IK THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI. 



AMERICA, when compared with other first-class nations, occupies 

 a low position in science. For every research published in our 

 country, at least fifty appear elsewhere. England, France, Germany, 

 Austria, Russia, Italy, and Sweden, outrank its as producers of knowl- 

 edge. Our original investigators in any department of learning may 

 almost be counted on the fingers. Fifteen or twenty chemists and 

 physicists, as many mathematicians and astronomers, and a somewhat 

 larger number of zoologists, entomologists, botanists, and geologists, 

 would fill out our meagre catalogue. Among these few discoverers a 

 comparatively small proportion are of high rank. There may be in 

 the United States', all told, twenty men of really notable scientific 

 standing, although there is no one to compare in actual achievements 

 with Sir William Thomson, Helmholtz, or Regnault. In geology we 



