478 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1351 



elementary courses, the proper view of knowl- 

 edge and an understanding of the means by 

 whicli it grows. Nothing would probably go 

 farther toward bringing us to a satisfactory 

 view of our present situation than a course 

 of instruction on that which we do not know, 

 but which might by investigation become 

 known. With this there should go a pre- 

 sentation of evidence as to the methods by 

 which constructive work could bring this in- 

 formation and apply it. 



A great responsibility for realization of the 

 possibilities in education rests upon those 

 scientific organizations which have given 

 themselves especially to the problems of con- 

 structive thought. Through the scientific in- 

 stitutions which we represent, it is our duty 

 to make clear the function of education to 

 train in judgment and construction rather 

 than to encourage merely the amassing of 

 facts. A responsibility rests upon us to see 

 also that the results of our own investigations 

 are not buried more deeply than were the 

 materials upon which they have been based. 

 New ideas should be clearly recognized, fully 

 stated, and placed where the applying engi- 

 neer may find the data which he requires to 

 meet hmnan needs. We have again a duty, so 

 to organize our work that other investigators 

 and applyers may not only know the results, 

 but that they may cooperate with us to 

 mutual benefit. 



There is no doubt that properly organized 

 and coordinated efforts of science and educa- 

 tion may increase greatly the present oppor- 

 tunity of the average man for constructive 

 activity, making his life more useful and 

 happier. The average man of the future will 

 of necessity live his life largely in a routine 

 based upon customs of the prevailing social 

 orde«r. He will give himself to action gov- 

 erned by established rules formulated from 

 experience; but always and increasingly in 

 his individual affairs, as in his relation to 

 the community, he will find his largest meas- 

 ure of satisfaction in the building type of 

 effort originating through his own thinking. 

 As the product of the life work of each indi- 

 vidual accumulates, the evidence of true in- 



dividuality will become more clear, until 

 there emerges from the chrysalis stage of 

 mere physical and mental separateness the 

 newborn personality of one who in creating 

 an idea has given to himself the right of 

 eternal individual recognition as an inten- 

 tional participant in human progress. 



As the problems of community organiza- 

 tion become more clearly visualized, the im- 

 portance of the research or constructive spirit 

 in the average man will increase, and the 

 future of democracy depends in a measure 

 upon the possibility of securing for each 

 capable person an opiwrtunity to obtain the 

 wider view of the greater problems, to learn 

 dependence upon those who know and are 

 true, and with all this to make contribution 

 in an unselfish spirit. Unless these objects 

 are realized we are doomed to revolve without 

 progress through endless cycles of misunder- 

 standing and conflict. 



Education with its varying emphasis on 

 the fundamental truths of science, philosophy, 

 human relations and religion is our principal 

 safeguard. Our definite guarantees of prog- 

 ress are foimd in the lessons of history, taken 

 with the present wide expression of individual 

 responsibility for judgment in the critical 

 affairs of citizenship. 



John C. Merriam 



DOCTORATES CONFERRED IN THE 



SCIENCES BY AMERICAN 



UNIVERSITIES IN 1920 



A COMPILATION of the doctorates conferred 

 by American universities has been made for 

 each year from 1898 to 1916, and the data 

 published in Science annually through 1915 

 and in School and Society for 1916. Dr. Burg, 

 who compiled the last annual statistics, sev- 

 ered his university connection in 1917 and 

 the compilation was turned over to someone 

 else who for various reasons was imable to 

 complete the work. No statistics, therefore, 

 are available for 191Y-18 and 1918-19, but 

 the compilation has been resumed for the 

 academic year 1919-20 in so far as the doc- 

 torates conferred in the sciences are con- 



