522 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 223. 



cold and damp morniug ; the air was not clear, 

 and there was a film of thin clouds over all the 

 sky. The weather records at St. Paul Observa- 

 tory, five miles distant from Hamline, indicated, 

 S. E. 6 miles per hour for the wind, 29.50 as the 

 Barograph reading of the barometric pressure, 

 and 20 degrees below zero as the thermograph 

 reading of the temperature. The two ' sun-dogs ' 

 proper were g and h of the figure and were so 

 brilliant that it was painful to look at them, 

 and a line of intense light stretched from them 

 outwards toward d and c. There were two cir- 

 cles surrounding the sun ; one, the inner one, was 

 complete ; the other was nearly so, but dipped 

 below the horizon. There were arcs of two cir- 

 cles turned from the sun at a and 6, and at 

 these points there was a display of prismatic 

 colors. The large outer circle looked much like 

 a rainbow, especially near the horizon. This 

 latter fact seemed connected with the fact that 

 there was almost moisture enough in the air to 

 constitute a very fine snow. 



h. l. osboen. 

 Hamline University, St. Paul, Minn., 



February 20, 1899. 



DEGREES IN SCIENCE AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 



Harvard University conferred for the first 

 time last year the degree of ' Master of Science.' 

 As the creation of this degree appears at first 

 sight to be a new recoguition of science, it may 

 be desirable to point out that there are aspects 

 under which it is, in fact, harmful to science 

 and a retrograde movement in that university 

 to which we look for guidance. It is, indeed, 

 logical to have a degree between the S. B. and 

 S. D. parallel to the A. M., but it would be 

 equally logical and, in my opinion, far better to 

 abolish the S. B. and S. D. 



The composition of the Lawrence Scientific 

 School of Harvard University is not made less 

 heterogeneous by giving all its graduates the 

 same degree. Some of the students are pursu- 

 ing studies in applied science exactly parallel to 

 those of the schools of medicine, law and theol- 

 ogy, and should on graduation be given a tech- 

 nical degree signifying the profession that they 

 have been trained to practice, i. e., C.E., civil 

 engineer, etc. Others of the students are follow- 

 ing the same scientific studies as may be elected 



by students of the college who receive the A.B_ 

 The difference is that the Lawrence Scientific 

 School may be entered with an inadequate prep- 

 aration. Fortunately, plans have been adopted 

 that will gradually raise the requirements for 

 admission to the Scientific School to substantial 

 equality with those of the college. At present 

 consequently the S. B., in its sense of a liberal 

 education based upon science, means, as com- 

 pared with the A. B. for the same studies, an 

 inadequate preparation ; later it will signify a 

 secondary education without Latin. 



Students of Harvard College, as of the Great 

 English universities, may now take the A.B. 

 without any study of Latin or Greek at the 

 University. This freedom of election has, as 

 President Eliot points out in his last annual re- 

 port, maintained at Harvard the relative nu- 

 merical importance of the traditional degree 

 better than in any other American institution. 

 The A. B.is becoming almost obsolete in our great 

 State universities. Thus at California last year 

 among 191 bachelors only 30 were in arts, at 

 Wisconsin among 173 only 13, etc. I regard 

 this as unfortunate as the Ph.B. and S.B. at 

 these universities means simply a liberal edu- 

 cation without Greek or without Latin and 

 Greek. It seems to me more consistent to give 

 the A.B. for liberal studies as is done at Har- 

 vard, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Cornell and 

 the English universities. But of these univer- 

 sities only Cornell is sufliciently logical to ad- 

 mit that a liberal education is possible without 

 ' small Latin ' in the preparatory school. Presi- 

 dent Eliot will anticipate the course of educa- 

 tional progress, as he has so often done, if he 

 will transfer the required study of English to 

 the preparatory school, as he aims to do, and 

 will secure the admission of students to Har- 

 vard College without Latin. The S.B., S.M. 

 and S.D. would then be superfluous as degrees 

 for liberal studies. I regard them as useless 

 altogether, except that it might' be desirable to 

 give the Sc.B., simultaneously with a technical 

 scientific degree and to maintain Sc.D. and 

 Litt.D. as honorary degrees. In the English 

 universities Sc. refers to science, while B.S. 

 and M.S. refer to surgery, consequently Sc. 

 rather than S. should be used. 



At Harvard the A.M. and the Ph.D. are 



