September 24, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



407 



school education, when he enters busines?, he is 

 obliged to begin at the bottom of the ladder with- 

 out knowledge of many things that the farm boy 

 has learned in connection with his daily home life. 

 To my mind this is the fundamental reason why 

 boys brought up on the farm appear to make 

 better successes in their after business life than 

 do city boys who have not had the advantages of 

 a similar business training in their earlier days. 



President White, of the Eichmond, Fred- 

 ericksburg and Potomac Eailroad Company, 

 in discussing the effect of life on the farm, 

 says: 



It is preeminently, in my judgment, an experi- 

 ence which develops independence and self-reliance 

 and, therefore, I think, the spirit of achievement, 

 more than any other I know of. 



Another railroad president remarks: 



I believe that farm life lays a good and broad 

 foundation for a healthy, vigorous manhood in 

 both mind and body. 



Another noted railway man, who never spent 

 a day on the farm, says: 



I am inclined to think boys brought up on the 

 farm have better constitutions and are less liable 

 to temptations. 



President L. W. Hill, of the Great Northern 

 Railway, says: 



My present home is on a farm and my principal 

 reason for making my home there, rather than at 

 some of the lakes or in the city, is that I have 

 three boys of my own I am trying to give a fair 

 start in life. I believe there is no end of argu- 

 ments that living on the farm gives the best 

 chance for a growing boy. While my making the 

 farm my home sometimes works an inconvenience 

 to me, I realize that the benefits to my children 

 are well worth the inconvenience to me of getting 

 in and out between my office and the farm. 



I have always contended that the value of 

 farm rearing lies in the fact that on the farm 

 there is a chance to place responsibility on the 

 growing boy. I firmly believe that it is pos- 

 sible to work out a system of education that 

 will give our schools all the advantages of the 

 farm life. This is being done, to a certain 

 extent, in the cities, and I believe that this 

 fact has something to do with the increasing 

 number of strong men who come from the 

 city. But I must admit that the actual data 

 on this subject are very meager and I join Dr. 



Woods in the hope that some careful student 

 w-ill give this question the investigation which 

 its importance demands. W. J. Spillman 

 U. S. Depabtment of Agriculture 



doctorates conferred by american 

 universities 

 I REGRET to find that several errors were 

 made in compiling the statistics of the doctor- 

 ates conferred by American universities (Sci- 

 ence for August 20). The number of degrees 

 conferred by Wisconsin was sixteen (not 

 seven), of which four were in the sciences. 

 There were five degrees (not three) in geology 

 conferred by Tale with geology as the major 

 subject. On page 266, column 2, line 4, Mich- 

 igan should be substituted for Washington. 

 The assistant who compiled the data is not 

 without excuse for these errors; for example, 

 in the case of Wisconsin the doctorates con- 

 ferred are given in two dift'erent places on the 

 commencement program without any cross 

 references. But I regret the occurrence of 

 errors in statistics which I believe have hith- 

 erto been free from them. 



J. MoKeen Cattell 



THE NOMEXCLATORUL COURT 



To THE Editor of Science : Some weeks ago 

 Mr. Francis N. Balch called attention in the 

 columns of Science to the need of a court for 

 determination of questions in zoological nom- 

 enclature. It appears that the International 

 Congress of Zoologists has appointed a Nom- 

 enclature Commission of which Dr. C. W. 

 Stiles, of Washington, is secretary, which 

 performs the functions of such a court al- 

 though its work is still far from being well 

 developed or appreciated. 



It appears that the International Congress 

 has not made any appropriation for the ex- 

 penses of this court whose labors have hitherto 

 been carried on as a work of love. As the 

 business before the court has accumulated the 

 need of a paid clerk becomes urgent. As I 

 understand the International Congress has no 

 means of raising funds for the carrying on of 

 the business of its committee, it is obviously 

 the duty of those who most directly profit by 

 the activities of the committee to pay a tax 



