THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



557 



some years the attempt to get an exact 

 estimate of normal variation in differ- 

 ent animals, of the production of ab- 

 normal variations and of the laws of 

 inheritance. Professor Davenport is 

 himself breeding mice extensively and 

 thus securing data. Of the courses of- 

 fered two deserve special mention. One 

 is the course for teachers of zoology in 

 high schools, a chief feature of which is 

 the study of living animals. The other 

 is a course on 'Variation and Inheri- 

 tance,' which gives advanced students 

 a chance to study the most important 

 question of biology and by the most 

 exact methods. The Cold Spring lab- 

 oratory has been growing very rapidly 

 of late and seems likely to continue to 

 grow. In general the evolution of the 

 summer laboratory is of interest. An 

 enthusiast or a modest association gath- 

 ers a few sympathetic workers at some 

 favorable locality. The informality and 

 personal contact are inspiring and 

 the place becomes famous for good 

 work. Then come numbers and with 

 numbers a rapid complication of the so- 

 cial life of the school. The eminent 

 leader is replaced by a dozen different 

 instructors; one no longer knows every 

 one else; organization becomes complex 

 and what was at first a sort of sci- 

 entific family may turn into a formal 

 institution. The summer laboratory 

 should not become a big summer col- 

 lege at the cost of its single-mindedness. 



While special laboratories are open 

 for work in biology, and the universi- 

 ties are extending their sessions through 

 the summer, the common schools are 

 also beginning to realize that they 

 must adapt themselves to an urban civ- 

 ilization. Country schools should ad- 

 journ in the summer for obvious rea- 

 sons, but in the city nothing is gained 

 by turning the children from the schools 

 into the streets. The vacation or play 

 schools now in session in New York 

 City are in every way to be com- 

 mended. The only drawback is that 

 they cannot hold half of those who wish 

 to attend. Set free from the traditional 



curriculum the children learn more in 

 the five weeks of 'play school' in the 

 summer, than in twice that period of 

 'work school' in the winter. Swimming, 

 open-air gymnastics, team games, chess, 

 visits to parks, piers, museums and li- 

 braries, excursions in barges and into the 

 country, sketching, whittling, cooking, 

 sewing and the rest do not lose their 

 educational value because the children 

 like them. Such exercises will do a good 

 deal toward curing the indigestion 

 caused by being fed for five years on 

 the three li's, and toward correcting the 

 anti-social atmosphere of the ordinary 

 school-room. Among the commonplaces 

 of modern psychology are: It is not 

 what a person knows but what he does 

 that counts; the way to learn is to act; 

 progress follows from the pleasure of 

 partial success; an individual only ex- 

 ists in his relations with others. Such 

 maxims seem to be as clearly kept in 

 view by the New York Department of 

 Education in the summer as they are 

 forgotten in the winter. The committee 

 on the New York Play Schools consists 

 of Messrs. Seth T. Stewart, John L. N. 

 Hunt and A. P. Marble, to whom and 

 to the teachers who have carried out 

 their plans much honor is due. The 

 report for 1899 is an educational docu- 

 ment of importance. Copies can prob- 

 ably be obtained from the Department 

 of Education of the City of New York. 



The Paris Exposition and its con- 

 gresses may be regarded as a great sum- 

 mer school. The applications of science 

 exhibited for amusement, for instruc- 

 tion and for the advantage of commerce 

 and manufactures are bewildering in 

 their multiplicity. It is interesting to 

 note that the group 'Education' heads 

 the catalogue of the Exposition. In the 

 exhibits representing higher instruction, 

 the United States received nine grand 

 prizes and nine gold medals, ranking 

 second to France. On the motion of 

 a French juror, three Americans were 

 mentioned as worthy of special dis- 

 tinction: Prof. H. A. Rowland, Johns 

 Hopkins University; Prof. Nicholas 



