November 19, 1000] 



SCIENCE 



703 



the universities began to change the character 

 of their work, and modem science was in- 

 cluded in the curricula. The geometry taught 

 in the secondary schools of Germany up to the 

 seventeenth century was taught largely in con- 

 nection with astronomy and surveying, copied 

 after the work done in some of the medieval 

 schools. The logical aim became more promi- 

 nent by the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury when science began to assume its more 

 modern form. 



In Russia, geometry was first taught from 

 the practical standpoint. The logical aim was 

 long in getting recognition. It was not until 

 the end of the eighteenth century that geom- 

 etry received any great attention as a science. 

 In France, the early texts show that the prac- 

 tical in geometry was valued as well as the 

 logical. In Holland, the beginning was prac- 

 tical, the eighteenth century marking a more 

 logical trend, when the teaching was made 

 systematic. In the United States, the first 

 geometry taught was of a practical nature, 

 but the English influence was soon felt, and 

 it was not until the first quarter of the nine- 

 teenth century that the more practical geom- 

 etry of the French began to replace the Eng- 

 lish Euclids. 



Another aim has characterized the teaching 

 of geometry, an aim different from the two 

 already considered, but still not standing apart 

 from them. It is associated with the study of 

 geometry as a preparation for advanced work 

 in mathematics. This aim is a recent one in 

 the teaching of geometry. Before the latter 

 part of the eighteenth century, in no strict 

 sense could the secondary schools that have 

 here been considered be called preparatory 

 schools for the higher institutions. 



It was not until 1788 that the Prussian 

 government required an examination from all 

 who entered the universities, and it seems that 

 this was not at first rigidly enforced. One 

 may safely judge that previous to 1788 the 

 aim of preparing for advanced study was not 

 a dominant one in the gymnasia. On the 

 creation of the lycees in France by Napoleon 

 in 1802, these schools began to assume the 

 character of preparatory schools for the uni- 

 versity and the various government schools. 



In England, the secondary schools did not be- 

 gin to teach Euclid until the early part of the 

 last century, and it was not required in gen- 

 eral until about the middle of that century. 

 It has been only within fifty years that these 

 schools have in any strict sense prepared for 

 the universities. In Russia, students at first 

 passed from the seminaries and the ecclesias- 

 tical academies into the universities, but in 

 1759 the gymnasia began to act as preparatory 

 schools. The secondary schools of Holland 

 began to prepare for the university in 1815, 

 but as far as geometry was concerned, the re- 

 quirements were not strictly defined. In the 

 United States the universities did not require 

 geometry for entrance before 1844. Since that 

 date the high schools have assumed more and 

 more the function of preparing students for 

 advanced work in the universities. 



One of the results of this close relation be- 

 tween the university and the secondary school 

 has been an improvement in the teaching of 

 geometry from the scientific standpoint, but, 

 in the United States at least, while the teach- 

 ing of geometry has been better developed 

 logically, its practical side has been corre- 

 spondingly neglected in the high schools. 



Alva Walker Stamper 



Chico, Cal. 



A NEW NAME FOR A NEW SCIENCE^ 

 The following list, though noticeably brief, 

 attempts to include all books and memoirs in 

 which the facts of history of a personal nature 

 have been subjected to statistical analysis by 

 some more or less objective method. Such 

 researches may be made to contribute to the 

 science of eugenics. They also stand upon 

 the border line of the allied sciences, psychol- 

 ogy, anthropology and sociology. Since in- 

 vestigations of this nature contribute to sev- 

 eral sciences, and at the same time primarily 

 ' " Some Desiderata in the Science of Eugenics 

 and Bibliography of Historiometrj'," by Dr. Fred- 

 erick Adams Woods. Reprinted from Vol. V. of 

 the American Breeders' Association Report of the 

 Meeting, held at Columbia, Mo., January fi, 7 and 

 8, 1900. Report of the Committee on Eugenics. 

 Bibliography of Historiometry (Quantitative His- 

 tory) now printed for the first time. 



