57° 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



preceding day addresses were made by 

 Dr. C. R. Van Hise, president of the 

 University of Wisconsin, on ' Colorado 

 as a field for scientific research'; by 

 Dr. Samuel L. Bigelow, of the Univer- 

 sity of Michigan, on ' The growth and 

 function of the modern laboratory ' ; 

 by Dr. C. E. Bessey, of the University 

 of Nebraska, on ' The possibilities of the 

 botanical laboratory,' and by Dr. Henry 

 Crew, of Northwestern University, 

 on ' Recent advances in the teaching of 

 physics.' The president of the college. 

 Dr. William F. Slocum, said in his ad- 

 dress : " We dedicate then to-day this 

 building devoted to the high purposes 

 which led to the founding of the col- 

 lege ; to the cause of learning and scien- 

 tific study, to the up-building of the 

 educational movement throughout the 

 state. It is an added contribution to 

 what other similar institutions are ac- 

 complishing in Colorado and through- 

 out our country. In all the years to 

 come may it help to broaden and en- 

 large the scope of human knowledge 

 and aid in bringing into this section of 

 the United States such a love of the 

 larger life of thought and accurate 

 study, and that new meaning will come 

 to many as they read over its entrance, 

 ' Ye shall know the truth and the truth 

 shall make you free.' " 



THE SIZE OF FAMILIES OF COL- 

 LEGE GRADUATES. 

 The statistics on the size of families 

 of college graduates published last 

 year in this magazine by Professor 

 Thorndike and by Dr. Engelmann have 

 been considerably amplified by Presi- 

 dent Stanley Hall and Mr. Theodate L. 

 Smith, and form the subject of an 

 article in the last number of The Peda- 

 gogical Seminary. It is pointed out 

 that the decrease in the number of 

 children per wife is less than per man, 

 owing to the fact that the graduates 

 of the last century so frequently remar- 

 ried. The conditions for the wives of 

 clergymen in colonial times appear 

 to have been unfortunate, about forty 

 per cent, dying under the age of fifty. 



But the authors are scarcely justified 

 in saying that * on this biological 

 blunder of estimating the increase of 

 population per man instead of per 

 woman and too narrow a study of 

 statistics is based much of the alarmist 

 outcry in regard to the future popula- 

 tion of the United States.' As far as 

 the increase of the population is con- 

 cerned, it matters but little whether it 

 is due to strict monogamy or to succes- 

 sive polygamy. 



The figures given in the paper are 

 substantially those with which we are 

 familiar. The size of family of the 

 married college graduate has decreased 

 from about four in the first part of 

 the last century to about two and a 

 half in the second half, and at the same 

 time the percentage of those unmarried 

 has increased. Great care must, how- 

 ever, be taken in interpreting such 

 statistics. For example, the members 

 of the class of 1883 of Yale College are 

 reported to have only five living chil- 

 dren; but we find that the report re- 

 lates to a period three years after 

 graduation. Even when the period is 

 as long as fifteen years the number of 

 children will increase by about 50 per 

 cent. The ominous fact stands, how- 

 ever, that college graduates do not now 

 reproduce themselves. If the figures 

 for Harvard College are correct, they 

 are exterminated with startling rapid- 

 ity, a hundred graduates produce only 

 68 boys in the next generation, and 

 leave only 30 great-grandsons. It 

 must, however, be remembered that the 

 conditions in the race and class from 

 which graduates come may be as bad. 

 Thus the number of children living for 

 every native Massachusetts woman, be- 

 tween the ages of forty and fifty, was, 

 in 1885, only 1.80. 



The statistics for the women gradu- 

 ates are of special interest, although 

 they in most cases relate to such recent 

 classes that they are difficult to in- 

 terpret. They are also reported by 

 diverse methods and are probably not 

 very accurate. Thus when it is said 

 that of 176 children only 11 have died, 



