340 NATURE -STUDY REVIEW 



The per cent saying that dragons do not exist, tabulated ac- 

 cording to sex is as follows: 



Male Female 



College Freshmen 72% 58% 



Junior High Schools 91% 56% 



(Ninth grade) 98% 96% 



These figures are insufficient to warrant an infallible conclusion 

 but they suggest tendencies. To the young chiM, hobgoblins, 

 cockhorses and dragon-like beings are quite real. In high school 

 the dragon of Tanglewood Tales is explained as a myth. In 

 college the earlier ideas have persisted, possibly subconsciously, 

 but sufficiently^ indeed to mystify his mental activities. What an 

 indictment against nursery rhymes should this prove true. On 

 the other hand there is the possibility that students of college age 

 reasoned out that the question as it stands is rather foolish. They 

 concluded, perhaps, that what is really meant is where are dragons 

 supposed to exist? However as the figures now stand they indi- 

 cate that a far greater per cent of college freshmen than of grammar 

 school seniors believe in the existence of dragons. 



Is it possible that this is the result of a premature classical 

 career? Is it due to a lack of ordinary scientific training as a 

 basis? Literature is the artistic, aesthetic expression or belles- 

 lettres of the evening and science is the working fotmdation of 

 everyday life. Educators have for the most part placed literary 

 courses at the beginning and science courses at the end of the 

 curriculum. As a result students view facts through the fancies 

 of literature. The situation needs investigation in order to dis- 

 cover the modus operandi by which ideas arise. Cure will follow 

 the discovery of the mode of infection. 



What Shape are Stars? 



Stars are spherical and not star-shaped as one might suppose 

 from representations on flags and Christmas decorations. The 

 idea that stars are star-shaped decreases and the idea that they 

 are spherical increases with higher education. The word round 

 was often used for spherical. The per cent of answers may be 

 tabulated as follows: 



Star-shaped Spherical . Irregular 



College and Normal School 31% 38% * 6% 



High School 59% 16% 9% 



