SCIENCE 



Friday, October 8, 1909 



CONTENTS 



Addresses before the Section of Education of 

 the American Chemical Society: — 

 The Rehabilitation of the American College 

 and the Place of Chemistry in it: Pbo- 



FESSOB Alexander Smith 457 



College Chemistry beyond the Elementary 

 Course: Db. Lauder William Jojjes .... 466 



Sow Can the Bureau of Education Help the 

 City Superintendent of Schools? E. C. 

 Moore 470 



Water Vapor in the Atmosphere of the Planet 

 Mars: Professor W. W. Campbell 474 



Scientific Notes and Neics 475 



University and Educational News 477 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Progress of the International Language Es- 

 peranto: Dr. W. J. Spillman. Geology 

 and Cosmogony : Dr. T. J. J. See. " Um " 

 and " ium " Endings : G. B. 478 



Scientific Boohs: — 



Bateson on Mendel's Principles of Hered- 

 ity: Pbofessob W. E. Castle. Reeks on 

 Crystal Dratoing : Walter F. Hunt. Plim- 

 mer's The Chemical Constitution of Pro- 

 teins, Hawk's Practical Physiological Chem- 

 istry: Dr. H. C. Jackson. Anthropological 

 Publications of the University of Cali- 

 fornia: Thomas Waterman 481 



Botanical Notes: — 



Another Key to Saccardo; A New Colorado 

 Book; The Minnesota Botanical Studies: 

 Recent Systematic Papers; Recent Papers 

 on Algae; A Handful of Fungus and Patho- 

 logical Papers: Professor Chables E. 

 Bessey 488 



Special Articles: — 



The Conservation of Mass and the Passing 



of Matter: Db. Frank VV. Very 491 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 

 review should be sent to the Editor of Science, Garrison-ou- 

 Hudson. N. Y. 



THE REHABILITATION OF THE AMERICAN 



COLLEGE, AND THE PLACE OF 



CHEMISTRY IN IT' 



There are two subjects which at present 

 occupy the focus of public interest in the 

 United States ; namely, the American tariff 

 and the American college. One difference 

 between the situations in the two cases 

 seems to be that whereas a few people are 

 strongly in favor of the tariff, nobody has 

 a good word to say for the college. Per- 

 haps a reservation should be made in regard 

 to the latter; one senator, apparently, 

 thinks that the negative quality of ineffi- 

 ciency is better than none at all. His 

 words are : " I love my alma mater for all 

 she has enabled me to be and to do, in 

 spite of herself." He finds virtue in her 

 very laxness. 



Can we as chemists confidently feel that 

 Flexner and Birdseye in their voluminous 

 writings, and the myriad commencement 

 orators in their more or less seasonable out- 

 pourings, have all spoken with a definite 

 mental reservation 1 Can it be that all the 

 unpleasant things that they have said were 

 intended to apply to the whole structure 

 of the American college, with the sole ex- 

 ception of its department of chemistry? I 

 fear not. If then the American college is 

 an Augean stable, shall we wait in the hope 

 that some Hercules will come and clean it 

 all in twenty-four hours, or shall we take 

 off our coats and tackle the problem of our 

 own stain 



' An address before the Section of Education of 

 the American Chemical Society, at the Detroit 

 meeting, July, 1909. 



