918 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 782 



veterinary supervision of the university flocks 

 and herds. 



The department of mining engineering of 

 the University of Illinois has just issued its 

 first circular of information. The course of 

 study required for the degree of B.S. in min- 

 ing engineering covers the usual period of 

 four years. The technical studies relating to 

 mining are begun in the sophomore year, min- 

 ing principles in the first semester and earth 

 and rock excavation in the second semester. 

 In the junior year the study of mining meth- 

 ods, mine surveying and mine ventilation is 

 pursued. In the senior year more time is de- 

 voted to the subjects 1-elating particularly to 

 mining. They are mechanical engineering of 

 collieries, mine administration and organiza- 

 tion, mining law, mining laboratory and eco- 

 nomics of coal. Professor H. H. Stock, head 

 of the department has been appointed a mem- 

 ber of the Mine Commission by Governor 

 Deneen. A Mine Explosion and Eescue Sta- 

 tion has been established at the university 

 under the direction of Mr. E. Y. Williams. 



It has been decided by Balliol College to 

 ofi^er next year an exhibition of £80 a year, 

 tenable for two years, for the competition 

 among students recommended by trade unions 

 operating in Newcastle. 



Foe the recently constituted degree of bach- 

 elor of science in agriculture at the Univer- 

 sity of Manchester, special courses have been 

 prepared. The practical work will be carried 

 on at the college of agriculture and horticul- 

 ture at Holmes Chapel under the supervision 

 of the principal, Mr. T. J. Young, who has 

 been appointed a lecturer in the department 

 of agriculture in the university. 



The professorship of natural history at the 

 College of the City of New York has been 

 filled by the promotion of Dr. Ivin Sickels, as- 

 sistant professor, who since the death of Pro- 

 fessor Stratford has directed the affairs of the 

 department. Professor C.-E. A. "Winslow, of 

 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

 has accepted an appointment as associate pro- 

 fessor of biology in the College of the City of 

 New York and has been made curator of pub- 

 lic health in the American Museum of Nat- 



ural History. Professor Winslow is lecturing 

 at the University of Chicago, on leave of ab- 

 sence from the institute during January, Feb- 

 ruary and March, returns to Technology for 

 the rest of the spring term and goes to New 

 York in September. 



Dr. Joseph Evans, of Philadelphia, has 

 been appointed professor of clinical medicine 

 and medical adviser to the students of the 

 University of Wisconsin. 



Mr. Harold K. Barrows, of the U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey, has been appointed to the 

 position of associate professor of hydraulic 

 engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology, made vacant by the resignation 

 of Professor William E. Mott. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 

 the teaching of elementary dynamics in 



the high school 

 To the Editor of Science: So the teachers 

 of physics have at last recognized and con- 

 fessed the fact that they do not know how to 

 teach elementary dynamics (or kinetics) to 

 high school students, and they think they have 

 discovered the cause of their trouble, viz., the 

 multiplicity of forms in which the " young- 

 ster " is taught the familiar formula 



force = mass X acceleration, 

 one of these forms being 

 force (poundals) n=nias3 (pounds) X accel. 



(ft. per sec. per sec.)' 



Instead of drawing the obvious conclusion, 

 "let us simplify the subject and get rid of 

 some of the forms, especially the one with the 

 ' poundal ' in it," the physicists are actually 

 talking of running away from the difficulty. 

 A majority of a conference of physicists have 

 signed a statement which proposes among 

 other things " that colleges should require of 

 the schools no quantitative treatment of ki- 

 netics, or the behavior of matter undergoing 

 acceleration." 



To this lame and impotent conclusion have 

 the teachers of physics come after years of 

 blindly following the modern text-books. The 

 aim of these text-books seems to be not to make 



' See Professor Edwin Hall's paper in Science, 

 October 29. 



