September 19, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



269 



size tlie fact that our present body of knowl- 

 edge is the result of arduous, devoted labor, 

 often attended with great personal sacrifice. 



For purposes of a liberal education such 

 ideas are vastly more important than mere in- 

 formation concerning economic uses and com- 

 mercial processes, or the details of structure 

 and function, and the latter, while essential, 

 to a certain degree, as a foundation for the 

 broad concepts above mentioned, should be pre- 

 sented, in the introductory course at least, as a 

 means to the larger end.^ If such a revelation 

 as a course of this character will give does 

 not prove a stimulus and lure to delve further 

 into botany or general biology, nothing will, 

 and student and teacher alike should feel amply 

 repaid for the discovery that the student must 

 seek his own life work and major interest 

 elsewhere. 



C. Stuart Gager 



Brooklyn Botanic Garden 



THE RETIREMENT OF PROFESSOR 

 EDWARD L. NICHOLS 



One of the striking events of the Semi- 

 centennial Celebration of Cornell University 

 — June 19-23 — was the " Physics Conference 

 and Reunion in honor of Edward Leamington 

 Nichols upon the completion of thirty-two 

 years service (1887-1919) and his retirement 

 from active duty as head of the Department 

 of Physics." 



Briefly stated it consisted of a reunion of 

 teachers and members of the physics seminary 

 diu'ing the thirty-two years of his leadership 

 in the department; of a meeting of the sem- 

 inary — the last at which Professor Nichols 

 should act as official chairman; and finally of 

 a conference to discuss by what methods and 

 through what means the department can be 

 made of the greatest service to the university 

 and to the country. 



7 This is in essential harmony with Professor 

 Davis's more concise statement that the introduc- 

 tory course wUl "come more and more strongly 

 to stand out as one that attempts nothing more 

 than the grounding of fundamental principles and 

 a selection of information with rather definite ref- 

 erence to its general and practical interests, or its 

 broad philosophical bearing." 



The reports at the final seminary were upon 

 " Electromagnetic Induction," by Dr. S. J. 

 Bamett ; " The Vacuum Tube and the Devel- 

 opment of the Wireless Telephone," by Cap- 

 tain Ralph Bown, and " Binaural Hearing 

 and its Application to the Location of Air 

 and Water Craft," by Professor George W. 

 Stewart. 



At the conference — presided over by Dr. 

 P. I. Wold, Western Electric Co., New York 

 City — there was a general discussion on phys- 

 ics as a profession, in which the following 

 leading features were dealt with: (1) The 

 demand and opportimities for the physicist; 

 (a) in industry; (b) in government labora- 

 tories and departments and (c) in university 

 teaching and research. This discussion was 

 opened by Mr. E. C. Crittenden, of the C. S. 

 Bureau of Standards. (2) The preparation 

 required to meet this demand: (a) the under- 

 graduate curriculum; (&) graduate training. 

 This discussion was led by Dr. C. H. Sharp, 

 of the Electrical Testing Laboratories, New 

 York, and by Dr. P. G. Nutting, of the West- 

 inghouse Research Laboratory, Pittsburgh, 

 Pa. (3) The fimction of research in this 

 preparation: (a) research by students; (&) 

 research by faculty; (c) how can conditions 

 for research be improved. Discussion opened 

 by Dr. Wheeler P. Davey, of the General 

 Electric Company, Schenectady, New York. 

 How could a department — indeed the univer- 

 sity as a whole — be so efficiently helped as by 

 this method in which her loyal sons who have 

 faced the world and won, come back to tell 

 wherein their college had helped them and 

 wherein greater help could be given to those 

 who are to come after! 



One of the pleasantest incidents was the re- 

 union dinner, at which over two hundred and 

 twenty-five of Professor Nichols's old stu- 

 dents, colleagues and friends joined in the 

 spirit of a devoted family to show affection 

 and esteem for their retiring leader. The 

 toastmaster was Ernest Merritt, student, col- 

 league and friend, who succeeds Professor 

 Nichols as head of the department. In the 

 greetings given by the toastmaster and in all 

 of the speeches there were three dominant 



