JVLY 24, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



113 



to mathematics covers almost the whole 

 range of the subject, from arithmetic to 

 the elements of the calculus, required of 

 our engineering students, there is nowhere 

 any reference to students of engineering 

 or to any other special class of students. 

 I might, therefore, appear out of order in 

 speaking of this report at the present occa- 

 sion. But I wish to say most emphatically 

 that, in my opinion, there is no special 

 "mathematics for engineers"; nor is there 

 any method of teaching mathematics, spe- 

 cially adapted to engineering students. 

 If it is wrong to present mathematics in a 

 form so abstract as to make it unintel- 

 ligible to the student, it is just as wrong to 

 present the results of mathematics in a 

 form so concrete as to reduce the science to 

 a mere art of performing certain mechan- 

 ical operations, to make it, as the saying 

 goes, a mere tool, and not a habit of think- 

 ing. 



In conclusion allow me to say that I 

 should be the last to advocate a remodeling 

 of our institutions of learning on the Ger- 

 man plan, or the French plan, or any other 

 existing plan. But I believe that the time 

 has come in this country when one or two 

 years of general college study can be de- 

 manded as preparation for the professional 

 engineering course, at least for those more 

 able students who wish to obtain a thor- 

 oughly scientific preparation for their pro- 

 fessional career. An opportunity should 

 then be offered to students of engineering 

 of scientific ability to extend their knowl- 

 edge on the theoretical side. 



Alexander Ziwet 

 University of Michigan 



TBE BRITISH BUREAU OF SLEEI'lXd 

 SICKNESS 



The British Colonial Office has issued the 

 following statement: 



At the instance of the late secretary of 

 state for the colonies and with the cooperation 



of the government of the Sudan and the 

 Eoyal Society, his majesty's government have 

 decided to establish in London a bureau for 

 the collection and general distribution of in- 

 formation with regard to sleeping sickness. 

 The Eoyal Society will find accommodation 

 for the bureau at Burlington House, and one 

 fourth of the cost of up-keep will be borne by 

 the Sudan government. 



The bureau will be under the general con- 

 trol and direction of an honorary committee 

 of management, appointed by and responsible 

 to the secretary of state for the colonies. The 

 committee will be composed of the following: 

 Chairman, the Eight Honorable Sir J. West- 

 Eidgeway, G.C.B., who is also chairman of 

 the advisory committee of the tropical diseases 

 research fund; Sir Patrick Manson, M.D., 

 K.C.M.G., F.E.S.; Sir Eubert Boyce, F.E.S.; 

 Dr. Eose Bradford, F.E.S. (representing the 

 Eoyal Society) ; Colonel D. Bruce, C.B., 

 F.E.S. ; Mr. E. A. Walrond Clarke (repre- 

 senting the foreign office) ; Mr. H. J. Eead, 

 C.M.G. (representing the colonial office), with 

 Mr. E. Popham Lobb, of the colonial office, as 

 secretary. 



The main function of the bureau, which 

 will be administered by a paid director, will 

 be to collect from all sources information 

 regarding sleeping sickness, to collate, con- 

 deix'se, and, where necessary, translate this 

 information, and to distribute it as widely and 

 quickly as possible among those who are en- 

 gaged in combating the disease. The publi- 

 cations of the bureau will be divided into two 

 categories, viz., scientific publications intended 

 for those who are engaged in research work 

 or in carrying out medical administration in 

 the infected districts, and publications of a 

 less technical character for the use of govern- 

 ment officials, missionaries and others, whose' 

 duties involve residence in those districts. 

 One important piece of work will be the 

 preparation of a map of the whole of tropical 

 Africa, showing the distribution of the disease 

 and of the different species of blood-sucking 

 insects which are suspected of conveying it. 

 A map of this kind showing, as it would, the- 

 extent to which the distribution of the disease 

 coincides with the distribution of the different 



