340 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1447 



seemed necessary. A simple legal formula 

 could be devised for the administration of such 

 a specific bequest, with some provision against 

 capitalization and the assignment of unexpend- 

 ed balances to some other object after a definite 

 period. The donor's benevolence could be re- 

 corded in perpetuity, were the memoirs de- 

 scribing the results associated with his name. 



THE AMERICAN PLAN 



But there are also donors who wish to pro- 

 vide capital funds, large or small, for the per- 

 petual benefit of science or of some branch of 

 natural knowledge. One of the members of the 

 National Kesearch €ounoil of America has pro- 

 posed a scheme in which he hopes to have com- 

 bined permanence with flexibility. In that 

 western home of liberty a very large inter- 

 ference with what in Europe we still think the 

 inalienable rights of the individual is not only 

 advocated, but is accepted with docility, and I 

 gather that the intention is to compel bene- 

 factors to wisdom. 



It is proposed, in brief, that the board of 

 trustees to whom is to be committed the admin- 

 istration of any permanent gift for the ad- 

 vancement of science should be elected at stated 

 periods by a committee of electors. Of the 

 latter, five are to be appointed annually, two 

 chosen by the board itself, and three by some 

 stable institution such as, for example, the 

 National Research Council, which is a working 

 organization of the National Academy of Sci- 

 ences. The duration of office should be for five 

 years, and a member would not be eligible for 

 re-election for one year. The object is that 

 every board of trustees should be chosen by 

 persons a 



majority of whom are approved representatives 

 of the science or sciences named, fully conversant 

 with the situation in the age in which they are 

 acting, free from self-interest in the election, and, 

 by virtue of their position, charged vnth responsi- 

 bility for rendering this type of service. 



The trustees so elected and so kept in con- 

 tinuous touch with the 'best interests of science 

 should have full power in regard to the super- 

 vision of projects and expenditure of funds. 

 But what is the vital element in the scheme is 

 that they would have power to adapt the pro- 

 visions of their original charter to what they 



conceive to be the object of the funds, so as to 

 meet "changing conditions and needs in the 

 spirit of the original intent of the donor." It 

 is a very interesting proposal, which if carried 

 out on a large scale would probably do much 

 for the progress of science, and certainly 

 increase to a very marked extent the power of 

 the National Research Council. But Quis cus- 

 todiet ipsos custodesf Is it quite cei-tain that 

 even a National Research Council will prove a 

 perpetual fount of wisdom and impartiality? — 

 London Times. 



SCIENTIFie BOOKS 



An Advanced Course of Instruction in 

 Chemical Principles. By Arthur A. Notes 

 and Miles S. Sherrill. Complete Revision, 

 pp. XVIII + 310. The Macmillan Com- 

 pany, New York. 



Perhaps in no other subject is the method 

 which is employed for instruction more vital 

 than it is in Physical Chemistry; for it is in 

 that subject that the distinction between Power 

 and Knowledge is probably most marked. 



In striking contrast to the many books on 

 this subject which are written from the purely 

 descriptive point of view, books which are 

 attractive because easy to read, but which leave 

 the reader only with a vague knowledge of 

 what has been done, and with no acquired 

 power to apply the principles studied to the 

 new questions of to-day and to-morrow, this 

 book is intended primarily to make the prin- 

 ciples and at the same time their general and 

 specific application so clear, that the knowl- 

 edge and the power to apply and use it practi- 

 cally are developed simultaneously. In other 

 words, the problem-method of instruction, fii'st 

 introduced in Physical Chemisti-y by Speyere 

 in his "Text-book," and amplified by the Re- 

 viewer in the second edition of his "Elements" 

 (1902), is the method recognized in this work 

 as the only one which will "give that intensive 

 training which is essential for pursuing more 

 specialized courses of scientific study, or for 

 applying chemical principles to industrial 

 problems." 



It is to be regretted that the authors have 

 not seen fit to include any journal-references 

 in the text, either to the things directly con- 



