218 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 945 



be a public function at the university. The 

 local committee will entertain the distin- 

 guished visitors at night, probably at a the- 

 ater. Tuesday, September 16, will be devoted 

 to sectional meetings in the morning, and a 

 conference of delegates and a garden party at 

 the Edgbaston Botanical Gardens in the after- 

 noon. In the evening there is to be another 

 popular science lecture and a discourse to 

 members. On the following day the meeting 

 closes. 



UNIVEESITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 The regents of the University of Wisconsin 

 have decided to ask the state legislature, now 

 in session, for $1,000,000 to be appropriated in 

 sums of $250,000 a year for four years, in 

 order to provide and equip dormitories for 

 men, a men's commons and union and a stu- 

 dent infirmary. ■ They have also voted to re- 

 quest the continuance of the present appro- 

 priation of $300,000 a year for the construc- 

 tion and equipping of academic buildings. 

 For the further development of university ex- 

 tension work, the regents desire an increase of 

 $25,000 a year. Owing to the reduction in the 

 assessed valuation of personal property, re- 

 sulting from the adoption of the income tax 

 in Wisconsin, the university's fund for cur- 

 rent expenses provided for by the three eighths 

 of a mill tax, has this year fallen below the 

 amount anticipated. The regents, therefore, 

 have requested that the sum of $92,380 be ap- 

 propriated to make up this year's decrease; 

 that $175,000 be provided for next year's de- 

 crease, and $225,000 for the following year's 

 decrease. 



It appears from reports in the daily papers 

 that Professor Willard C. Fisher, of Wesleyan 

 University, known for his effective advocacy 

 of legislation on behalf of the laboring classes 

 of Connecticut, has been dismissed from his 

 chair at Wesleyan University for stating that 

 religion would benefit from the closing of 

 churches for several years. 



Former Dean W. A. Henry, of the College 

 of Agriculture of the University of Wiscon- 

 sin, has presented his private library to the 

 agricultural college. It will be maintained 



largely for the use of the dean and director of 

 the college and the station. 



The whole staff of the college of medicine 

 and surgery of the University of Minnesota 

 having resigned, the regents have named the 

 following committee to consider and make 

 recommendations concerning the reorganiza- 

 tion of medical teaching in the university: 

 Dean Wesbrook, Drs. Moore, Green. Wilson 

 (of Eochester), Tuohy (of Duluth), and 

 Bratrud (of Warren), and the president of 

 the university. 



Mr. Alfred Knight Chittekden, forester 

 in the U. S. Indian Service, Department of the 

 Interior, has been appointed assistant to the 

 director of the Engineering Experiment Sta- 

 tion and lecturer on timber and timber re- 

 sources in the College of Engineering of the 

 University of Illinois. 



Professor Edward C. Elliott, head of the 

 education department at the University of 

 Wisconsin, has refused the offer of the presi- 

 dency of the University of Idaho recently 

 made him by the regents of that institution. 



DISCUSSION AND COSRESPONDENCE 



conn's " BIOLOGY " 



To THE Editor of Science: In the last 

 number of Science (December 28) I notice 

 a review of Conn's " Biology," by M. M., in 

 which the reviewer draws parallels between 

 the subject in hand and some other sciences. 

 It would seem that the examples selected were 

 ill chosen to meet the point at issue. But this 

 may be due to the fact that others look upon 

 biology differently from the reviewer. 



Biology, being the study of living things, 

 must be concerned with either plants or ani- 

 mals. A book written by either of the cor- 

 responding scientists is likely to be more ac- 

 curate in all details, within his field, than is 

 a book written by a scientist engaged in the 

 other of the two fields. To cover accurately 

 both divisions of the subject requires a 

 breadth of view, and a degree of detailed 

 knowledge in each field, not often combined 

 in a single individual ; especially in these days 

 of high specialization. 



