April 29, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



603 



University for the encouragement of research 

 in physics has been awarded to R. B. Owen, a 

 graduate of the School of Engineering and pro- 

 fessor of engineering in the University of Ne- 

 braslja. Of the twenty-four fellowships an- 

 nually awarded, the following fall more 

 immediately within the field covered by this 

 Journal: T. E. Hazen, botany ; B. H. Owen, 

 philosophy ; J. D. Irving, geology ; E. Kasner. 

 mathematics ; W. C. Kretz, astronomy ; J. W. 

 Miller, Jr., mechanics; F. C. Paulmier, zool- 

 ogy ; F. J. Pope, chemistry ; C. E. Prevey, 

 statistics; R. S. Wood worth, psychology. 



Here Krupp has given 20,000 M. to the 

 Institute of Physical Chemistry at Gottingen. 



A COMMISSION of ten members of the Paris 

 Municipal Council has been appointed to study 

 the relations between the city and the Univer- 

 sity. 



Sometime since we called attention to the de- 

 cree excluding foreigners from the engineering 

 departments of the Berlin School of Technology. 

 The Scientific American quotes some German 

 opinions of the subject. Thus the Deutsche 

 ZetteTjp remarks : " At the non-Prussian high 

 schools at Munich, Dresden, Stuttgart, Carls- 

 ruhe, Darmstadt and Brunswipk there are 1,200 

 foreigners out of 8,682 students. We hope that, 

 as the foreigners use their knowledge to the 

 detriment of German industry, the non-Prus- 

 sian governments will forthwith exclude them." 

 It is learned that for some time past there has 

 been an exchange of views between Prussia and 

 the other German governments on this subject, 

 and there is no telling how spon the policy may 

 become general throughout Germany. The 

 following expression by a high German official 

 indicates the feeling on the subject : " There is 

 no question that, the German technological 

 schools and industrial and scientific institutions 

 will soon be forced to adopt a less liberal policy 

 with foreigners. The tricks of trade we have 

 been teaching them so long are now being used 

 against us to the great injury of our industry." 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 

 COLOR VISION. 



In a paper upon Color Vision, published in 

 Science, April 15, 1898, Professor W. Le Conte 



Stevens deplores the unsettled state of psycho- 

 logical opinion on matters of visual theory. 

 " The bewildered physicist * * * * despair- 

 ingly beseeches the psychologists to agree 

 among themselves, but they will not agree ; 

 on the contrary, the prospect seems to be that 

 additional color hypotheses will continue to 

 appear until from their abundance they cease 

 to receive attention." In the present article I 

 hope to be able to show that the psychology of 

 Color Vision is not quite so chaotic as to Pro- 

 fessor Stevens it seems to be. 



First of all, however, I desire to express my 

 appreciation of the courtesy and frankness with 

 which the author's challenge to the psycholo- 

 gists is made. The work of scientific men to-day 

 is very highly specialized, and it taxes one's ener- 

 gies to the utmost to keep abreast of the move- 

 ment of thought in one's own special province. 

 Nevertheless, we are all, to some extent and 

 in certain cases, dependent upon our neighbors; 

 we must at times make excursions into adjacent 

 scientific fields. Here, then, is a great difliculty. 

 If we stay at home we fail of knowing some- 

 thing that we ought to know ; if we travel into 

 another domain we are apt to go astray. We 

 have no perspective in the unfamiliar science; 

 we cannot distinguish the important from the 

 unimportant ; our reading of the literature has 

 been intermittent and perfunctory. However 

 earnest our attempt to find out what is doing 

 next door, its result must oftentimes be a per- 

 sonal bewilderment and confusion, which we 

 may very easily make objective and ascribe to 

 what is in reality a perfectly orderly house- 

 hold. I have sometimes left the study of a dis- 

 puted point in nerve physiology with the feeling 

 that the whole issue w'as a matter of the merest 

 conjecture ; but a subsequent talk with a work- 

 ing neurologist has given me a scale of values, 

 and indicated definitely enough to which side 

 the balance of probability inclined. 



Professor Stevens, writing as a physicist, gives 

 up the psychological problem of Color Vision, 

 and calls upon the psychologists to settle the 

 question for him. We cannot quite do that, 

 because Color Vision is, and will for some time 

 remain, debatable ground. But we can, return- 

 ing his candid appeal an equally candid answer, 

 give him the clue to the maze of hypothesis, or, 



