794 



NATURE 



[August i8, 192 i 



Unitrersity Education in the United States. 



THE Washington Bureau of Education has just 

 issued Bulletin No. 87, dealing with certain 

 statistics of State universities and colleges in the 

 United States of America for the year ended June 30, 

 1919. This is an annual publication which was 

 formerly prepared and published by the National 

 Association of State Universities, and contains data 

 relating to ninety-two public institutions of university 

 rank. The total enrolment in these State institutions 

 for the year 1917-18 was 110,900, as against 244,231 

 in the corresponding private institutions. In 1918-19 

 the lowest enrolment was 31 for the New Mexico 

 School of Mines, and the highest 8857 for the Uni- 

 versity of Michigan. With regard to teaching staff, 

 the numbers in the State institutions vary from 7 to 

 908, the latter being the number of teachers in the 

 University of Minnesota in 1918-19. It is curious to 

 find that the University of Michigan with its 8857 

 enrolments shows an average of 20 regular term 

 students per teacher, while the University of Minne- 

 sota with an enrolment of 6095 has an average of 

 only 7. What is perhaps more curious is the fact that 

 the total working income of the former is 3,069,587 

 dollars, while that of the latter is 3,462,361 dollars. 



The fact that the institutions to which the bulletin 

 has reference are passing through a stage of financial 

 stringency very similar to that which is being experi- 

 enced by the British universities at the present time 

 gives an added interest to the publication. In the 

 American State universities, just as in this country, 

 " the cost of salaries has not risen to the same extent 

 as the cost of living," and, as the bulletin very per- 

 tinently says, "unless the people wish to see their 

 higher institutions staffed with men of inferior ability, 

 it will be necessary to pay salaries sufficiently large 

 to attract teachers of merit and ability." University 

 teachers in this country will recognise a familiar ring 

 about this language ! The bulletin contains a mass 

 of statistics which have been compiled by the Bureau 

 of Education in the hope that they will be "very 

 useful in the promotion of State campaigns for the 

 more adequate support of higher education." While 



one may express the hope that American State uni- 

 versities and colleges will receive such public support 

 in the future as will be necessary for their develop, 

 ment, it should be observed that already they receive 

 in the aggregate almost 73 per cent, of their 

 income from public funds. In four States, indeed, 

 the percentage is more than 90. In this country, 

 notwithstanding the recent additional grant of 

 5oo,oooi. to the universities, State aid is greatly 

 inferior to the State aid which is given to public 

 institutions in America. 



Of special interest is the question of students' fees 

 in these universities and colleges. At the outset one 

 must make a clear distinction between public and 

 private universities or colleges in America. The 

 number of students enrolled in the public higher 

 institutions amounts to about 31 per cent, of the 

 whole, while the remaining 69 per cent, are enrolled 

 in private or non-State-aided institutions. As a rule, 

 the former pay small fees. In the case of New York 

 University the income from fees is as low as 3 per 

 cent, of the total income. The average for the whole 

 country in 19 17-18 was 22 per cent, of the total 

 income. In the private institutions the percentage 

 for the same year varied between 17 (Connecticut) 

 and 87 (Alabama), with an average of 54 per cent., 

 the remaining income being derived mainly from 

 "productive funds" or private benefactions. So far 

 as the State institutions are concerned there is no 

 indication that students' fees, though lower than 

 those in this country, are to be increased. The cam- 

 paign to increase the income is apparently to be 

 directed to obtaining increased assistance from public 

 or State funds. The plea for State aid is concisely 

 expressed in the words : — " When the State appro- 

 priates money to education, it is making a wise invest- 

 ment which will yield manifold returns. Liberal 

 support of higher education is good public economy 

 and wise forethought for the future." One may be 

 allowed to hope that the Government of this country 

 will ponder over these words. Our home universities 

 are sadlv in need of further State aid. 



Recent Work on Minerals and Rocks. 



"Vr OW that questions of crystal structure and of 

 -^^ approximate isomorphism play so large a part in 

 chemical and physical conceptions, the study of 

 crystallography is no longer for specialists alone. 

 Students of many branches of science will welcome 

 the re-issue of J. B. Jordan's nets for making models 

 of simple crystal-forms (T. Murby and Co., London, 

 35.). The older names can be covered by labels 

 bearing those suggested in this edition, though we 

 should like to see " bipyramid " substituted for 

 "pyramid " throughout, since no true pyramids, such 

 as those occurring in tourmaline, are utilised. These 

 models were familiar in the Royal School of Mines 

 forty years ago, and should now serve many future 

 generations of students whose outlook on crystals has 

 widened with physical research. Their effective 

 colours and their price certainly commend them. 



A. D. Hall provides a very interesting memoir 

 (Union of South .'\frica Geol. Survey, No. 15, 1920, 

 75. 6d.) on "Corundum in the Northern and 

 Eastern Transvaal," in which the modes of occurrence 

 and of working are fully illustrated. The author, in 

 a chapter on "'The Problem of Genesis," very pro- 

 perly directs attention to the tardy recognition of 

 corundum as a rock-forming mineral, and lays stress 



NO. 2703, VOL. 107] 



on the experimental work of Morozewicz in 1899. 

 Corundum in the Transvaal arises from a granite 

 magma supersaturated with alumina. Hall holds that 

 this supersaturation arises, not through absorption of 

 aluminous material from contact-rocks^ but by re- 

 moval of silica into those rocks along the zones of 

 contact. 



In "Phosphate in Canada" (Canada Depart, of 

 Mines, No. 396, 1920) Hugh S. Spence describes and 

 illustrates the well-known occurrences of apatite in 

 Ontario and Quebec, and discusses works established 

 in other parts of Canada where imported phosphatic 

 materials are used. The apatite " is to be considered 

 of igneous origin rather than to have been derived 

 from the original liinestones " through which the 

 pegmatite masses have passed. The associated 

 minerals, such as pyroxene, scapolite, and phlogopite, 

 are described. At Huddersfield, Quebec, allanite 

 occurs in crystals more than an inch in diameter, and 

 fluorspar, which is here abundant in calcite, assumes 

 a deeper violet colour in close proximity to it. An 

 emanation-influence naturally suggests itself. 



The minerals of saline lakes, notably epsomite, are 

 dealt with by L. Reinecke in "Mineral Deposits be- 

 tween Lillooet and Prince George, British Columbia " 



