NATURE 



\97 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 191 1. 



THE SCIENTIFIC MEN OF AMERICA. 



11) American Men of Science. A Biographical Direc- 

 tory. Edited by J. McKeen Cattell. Second edition. 

 Pp. viii + 576. (New York: The Science Press, 

 1910.) 



(2) Leading American Men of Science. Edited by 

 D. S. Jordan. Pp. vii + 471. (New York: Henry 

 Holt and Co., 1910.) Price 1.75 dollars net. 



THESE two books bear very similar titles, but they 

 are nevertheless of totally different character, 

 for whilst the first is an exhaustive dictionary of all 

 the men of science at present living in the United 

 States and Canada, the second consists of a series of 

 biographical sketches of seventeen men of science who 

 have all passed to the majority, but the period of 

 whose activities range from the time of the founda- 

 tion of the American Republic until last year. Prof. 

 Simon Newcomb, who contributed one of the sketches 

 to this volume, is himself the subject of another, and 

 he died as lately as June 11, 1909. 



(i) Turning our attention to the first volume, we 

 may say at once that it constitutes a most valuable 

 record. Under each name are given all the particu- 

 lars which can be crammed into a small paragraph. 

 We are informed not only as to the nature of each 

 man's present position, but also as to that of every 

 other position which he has occupied since graduation, 

 and an outline of the nature of his contributions to 

 scientific knowledge is appended. A full list of his 

 degrees and other academic distinctions is likewise 

 given. For the compilation of such a record no one 

 could be better fitted than the editor, Prof. McKeen 

 Cattell, who has taken such a large part in the 

 organisation of American science, and is sometimes 

 affectionately nicknamed by his colleagues, " the Lord 

 Pooh-Bah of American science." The only doubt 

 which rises in one's mind as to the utility of so com- 

 plete a work is occasioned by the ver\- frequent 

 changes of position which occur in the American 

 scientific world; for whereas in the older Eastern 

 universities the tenure of a chair is almost as secure 

 as in Europe, it is of the slenderest character in many 

 of the newer institutions. Cases are not unknown of 

 a newly-appointed president "sacking" almost 

 half his staff, but the situation is not without its 

 compensations, for dismissal by no means connotes 

 disgrace, and the discharged members of the staff 

 usually succeed in finding other posts before long. 

 The book which we are considering now appears 

 in its second edition, but its first edition was issued 

 in 1906. If it is to serve as an accurate guide to the 

 addresses and positions of American men of science 

 a new edition every year will be required. To 

 ^ the alphabetical list of names. Prof. Cattell has 

 added about fifty pages dealing with the conclusions, 

 I at which he arrived by the use of statistical and 

 i graphic methods on the mass of material out of which 

 ' the book is constructed. We may be permitted to 

 hesitate before accepting Prof. Cattell's belief in the 

 I possibility of quantitatively estimating the "amount" 

 I of scientific ability which an investigator possesses. 

 NO. 2152, VOL. 85] 



Prof. Cattell secured the cooperation of 120 "leading 

 men " of science, to whom were submitted the names 

 of their colleagues in their respective sciences. These 

 names were then arranged in order of merit by each 

 of them, and the final position of each man of science 

 in the scale of merit was determined by the average 

 of the positions assigned him by this " judicial com- 

 mittee " of his colleagues. It seems to us that the 

 "probable error" involved in these estimates is so 

 large as to vitiate almost entirely the value of the 

 tables. Some of the minor conclusions, however, 

 which Prof. Cattell draws are of interest. Judged by 

 the number of scientific positions and by the number 

 of men of science born there, Boston and the surround- 

 ing parts of the State of Massachusetts are still the 

 intellectual centre of the country. The States of the 

 middle west rank high when we consider the very 

 recent origin of their universities, whilst the south 

 constitutes, relatively speaking, an '"intellectual 

 desert." 



Prof. Cattell has some weighty words to say about 

 the inadequacy of the remuneration doled out to those 

 who give their lives to scientific work. Next to the 

 "bearing and rearing of children," he considers that 

 creation in science and art is the most important 

 ser\-ice that can be rendered to the State, and he adds 

 that 



" No one can know that his work is of value except 

 by the reflected appreciation of others, and in the 

 existing social order the most adequate expression of 

 this appreciation is direct payment for services ren- 

 dered." 



And again : — 



" If the scientific man in the government service 

 receives the salary of a clerk and is subject to the 

 orders of a superior he will be treated like a clerk, 

 and in the end will deserve no better treatment." 



Space forbids us to pursue this important subject 

 further, but now that the daily Press is endeavouring 

 to find reasons for the aggressive vigour of the Ger- 

 man nation in commercial matters, there is irre- 

 sistibly recalled to the writer's mind the occasion on 

 which he joined in the International Zoological Con- 

 gress in Berlin. On that occasion the Imperial 

 Government placed at the disposal of the congress 

 both Houses of Parliament. Important members of 

 the Cabinet were deputed to assist at the general 

 meetings, and the streets of Berlin were cleared by 

 a police force, whilst the Kaiser " reviewed " a pro- 

 cession of members of the congress. The imagination 

 staggers in the attempt to picture this state of affairs 

 in England, but one cannot help wondering whether 

 the attitude of respect to pure knowledge displayed 

 in such acts has not just as much to do with Ger- 

 many's success as her judgment in the matter of 

 tariffs. 



(2) The seventeen essays contained in the volume 

 entitled " Leading American Men of Science " are of 

 very unequal merit. Some of them, notably that by 

 Mr. Slosson on Count Rumford, and those by Mr. 

 Stone on the two American ornithologists, Wilson 

 and Audubon, are charmingly written, and a great 

 deal more interesting than most " short-story " 

 romances, but others, possibly on account of their less 



