SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 



OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Friday, September 4, 1908 

 contents 



The Teaching of Mathematics to Students of 

 Engineering: — 

 Oeneral Discussion: Pkofessor Calvin M. 

 Woodward; Professob B. F. Groat ; 

 President C. S. Howe; Professor Clar- 

 ence A. Waldo; Professor C. B. Will- 

 iams; Professor J. B. Webb; Professor 

 H. T. Eddy; Professor S. M. Barton; 

 Professor Arthur E. Haynes ; Professor 

 Arthur S. Hathaway; Professor Edward 

 V. Huntington; Professor Donald F. 

 Campbell 289 



The International Geographical Congress . . . 299 



Report of the British Fisheries Committee. . 300 



Soientifio Notes and News 301 



University and Educational News 305 



The College of Engineering of the University 

 of Illinois 306 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Wild Jamaica, Cotton: F. Fletcher 307 



Quotations: — 

 As to University Administration 30S 



Soientifio Hooks: — 



Gray on the Labyrinth of Animals: 

 Professor C. R. BiUtDEEN. Bammarsten's 

 Physiological Chemistry: Professor La- 

 fayette B. ]\Iendel. Eastman on the 

 Dovonio Fishes of the New York Forma- 

 tions: L. HussAKOP. Ruthven's Variations 

 and Genetic Relationships of the Garter 

 Snakes : Arthur Erwin Brown 309 



Scientific Journals and Articles 315 



The Liquefaction of Belium 316 



Special Articles: — 



A New Group of Permian Amphibians: 

 Professor S. W. Williston. Combina- 

 tions of Alternative and Blending Inherit- 

 ance: Frank E. Lutz. Distribution of 

 Diabase in Massachusetts: Professor B. 

 K. Emerson. A Simple Atmometer: Dr. 

 Burton Edward LmNQSTON 316 



MSS. iutendod for publication and boolcs, etc., intended for 

 review should be sent to the Editor of Science, Garrisou-on- 

 Hudson, N. Y., or during tUe present summer to Wood's Hole, 

 Mass, 



THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS TO 

 STUDENTS OF ENGINEERING^ 

 WHAT IS NEEDED IN THE TEACHING OP 

 MATHEMATICS TO STUDENTS OF ENGINEER- 

 ING? (a) RANGE OP SUBJECTS; (6) EX- 

 TENT IN THE VARIOUS SUBJECTS; (c) 

 METHODS OP PRESENTATION; {d) CHIEF 

 AIMS. 



By Calvin M. Woodward, Professor of 

 Mathematics and Applied Mechanics, 

 and Dean of the School of Engineering 

 and Architecture, Washington Univer- 

 sity. 



I want to emphasize the point which Mr. 

 Scott has just touched on, and that is that 

 we often attempt too early to teach the 

 subjects that require mature and reflect- 

 ing minds. I want to tell you a story, a 

 true biography of some one you all know 

 of. He went through, in the city of New 

 York, the whole range of mathematics, in- 

 cluding analytic geometry and calculus. 

 He learned his formula; and definitions 

 and ' ' passed ' ' in some manner, but, he told 

 me, he did not know anything about them. 

 He believed he was a diuice, and whenever 

 he was required to make an intelligible 

 demonstration, he could not do it; his 

 teachers and his parents concluded that he 

 was a dunce in mathematics, and could 



' General discussion following the presentation 

 of four formal papers (see Science, July 17, 24 

 and 31, 1908), and of the eight prepared discus- 

 sions (see Science, August 7 and 28, 1D08). Pre- 

 sented before Sections D and A of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science and the 

 Chicago Section of the American Mathematical So- 

 ciety, at the Chicago meeting, December 31, 1907. 



