April 25, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



629 



ing in the tetragonal, hexagonal and ortho- 

 rhombic systems, might be made general, viz., 

 that when only one axis of symmetry is pres- 

 ent this is set as the vertical axis. 



2. That diameter which alone is distin- 

 guished from all those adjacent to it by its 

 unique character would receive the unique 

 treatment of vertical location, as is now the 

 case in the tetragonal and hexagonal systems. 



3. The lateral axes would, with this setting, 

 be distinguished as the macro- and brachy- 

 axes, as in the orthorhombic and triclinic 

 systems. Every teacher realizes what a store 

 of mental energy this would set free for more 

 profitable application than its present task of 

 keeping in their proper places the prefixes 

 clino-, ortho-, macro- and brachy-. 



4. The familiar spherical projections which 

 Groth has used to show the kinds of crystal 

 symmetry, and which are now widely used, 

 would then have the same relative position in 

 the monoclinic as in the other systems. 



5. The failure of positive forms to occur in 

 the upper front right octant could be obvi- 

 ated by placing acute j8 at the right of the ob- 

 server, thus removing another unnecessary 

 stumbling-block from the path of the learner. 



The undersigned would be very glad to see 

 an expression of opinion by any interested 

 readers as to the desirability of making this 

 change in the conventional position of mono- 

 clinic crystals. A. C. Gill 



Cornell University, 

 March 26, 1913 



QUOTATIONS 

 universities and intellect 

 Thirty-seven years ago next fall Johns 

 Hopkins University was opened, upon an 

 endowment estimated at less than $3,500,000. 

 Yesterday, it was stated that the budget 

 adopted by the trustees of Columbia Univer- 

 sity for the expenses of the coming academic 

 year amounted to $3,450,000. The foundation 

 of the University at Baltimore was widely ac- 

 claimed as an event of the highest importance 

 and the most hopeful augury. Never before 

 had the income of so large a fund been placed 

 at the disposal of the trustees of any new 



American institution of learning; and the 

 Johns Hopkins trustees had, in the choice of 

 its president, and in the announced plans of 

 the institution, made it plain that their op- 

 portunity was to be so used as to give to the 

 higher intellectual life of the country a great 

 and long-needed stimulus. The hope was en- 

 tertained that the new university would be the 

 means of introducing in America what had so 

 long been vainly desired by scholars and sci- 

 entists — the true university, in the European 

 sense of the term. And that hope was not 

 disappointed. The foundation of Johns Hop- 

 kins University marked the beginning of a 

 distinctly new era in the history of higher 

 education in America. What had formerly 

 been the rare pursuit of a devoted scholar here 

 and there has become the regular occupation 

 of thousands of students in scores of colleges 

 and universities. In many a field of research 

 our country now makes contributions which, 

 in point of quantity and sometimes also in 

 point of quality, stand well alongside those of 

 the leading nations of Europe ; whereas, before 

 the new start made in 1876, it was only some 

 unusually gifted or ardent mind that went 

 beyond the mere acquisition of the results of 

 foreign learning and investigation. 



In compassing with what would now be 

 regarded as small means so signal an achieve- 

 ment, one cardinal feature of the policy pur- 

 sued by President Gilman and the Johns 

 Hopkins trustees was essential. There was 

 one thing to which every eilort was directed, 

 every energy bent — the securing of the highest 

 possible quality in the professors. A small 

 group of real intellectual leaders formed the 

 nucleus of the faculty ; and in adding to them 

 younger men in the various departments the 

 keenest interest was constantly maintained in 

 the discovery of unusual talent or exceptional 

 attainment. Those who were at the univer- 

 sity in its early years testify unanimously to 

 the extraordinary exhilaration and inspiration 

 of the atmosphere thus created. The build- 

 ings were extremely modest, and in large part 

 of a makeshift character, being old residences 

 altered at slight expense; the warning given 

 by Huxley, in his notable address at the open- 



