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, November 13, 1908 



CONTENTS 



A Talk on Teaching: Professor Arthub A. 

 Notes 657 



Som« Principles in Laboratory Construction: 

 Professor Charles Basicebville 665 



The American Bison Society 676 



The Committee of One Hundred of the Amer- 

 ican Association on National Health 676 



Scientifio Notes and News 677 



The Resignation of President Eliot 681 



University and Educational News 681 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



The Carter Snakes of North America: Dr. 

 Hubert Ltman Clark. A New Locality 

 for Miocene Mammals : Professor T. D. A. 

 CocKERELL. Education and the Trades: 

 Stella V. Kellerman. Provincial Mu- 

 seums: Dr. Frank C. Baker. Milk Pro- 

 teins: Professor E. B. Hart 682 



Quotations : — 



The Retirement of President Eliot 685 



Scientific Books: — 



TomkiTis on Marine Engineering: Db. 

 Horace See. Gray's New Manual of Bot- 

 any: Professor Charles E. Bessey 686 



Scientifio Journals and Articles 689 



Moorehouse's Comet: Professor Edward C. 

 Pickering 690 



Special Articles: — 



Note on the Occurrence of Rhodochytrhim 

 spilanthidis Lagerheim in North America: 

 Professor George F. Atkinson. The 

 Present State of our Knowledge of the 

 Odonata of Mexico and Central America: 

 Dr. Philip P. Calvert. Some Inversions 

 of Temperatures in Colorado : Professor 

 Francis Ramaley 691 



Societies and Academies: — 



The American Physical Society: Professor 

 Ernest Merritt 696 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc.. Intended for 

 reTiew should be sent to the Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 

 Hudson, N. Y. 



A TALK ON TEACHING^ 

 In speaking to you to-day upon the sub- 

 ject of teaching, I shall try to present some 

 considerations, suggested by my ovni ex- 

 perience, in regard to the application of 

 educational principles to our own prob- 

 lems. Much of what I shall say will 

 doubtless be familiar to a body of teachers 

 like yourselves. Yet it is perhaps desir- 

 able that even the commonplaces of educa- 

 tion be brought before us from time to 

 time; for, though we recognize the ab- 

 stract principles that should be followed, 

 yet it is only by constant attention to them 

 that we shall succeed in making them the 

 real foundation of our courses of instruc- 

 tion. 



Throughout our considerations we must 

 keep in view the aim of the education for 

 which the institute stands. In regard to 

 this there is, I believe, little difference of 

 opinion. The aim is to produce men who 

 have the power to solve the industrial, 

 engineering and scientific problems of the 

 day — men who shall originate and not 

 merely execute. The fundamental ques- 

 tion is, then, How shall we develop this 

 power? It is power that counts, and not 

 knowledge. The ultimate test is what a 

 man can do, not what he kiwws; and this 

 is the test we should apply to our students 

 upon the completion of each subject of in- 

 '^ Given at a conference of members of the in- 

 structing staff of the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology on March 20, 1908. To Professor H. 

 G. Pearson I desire to express my great indebted- 

 ness for his suggestions and assistance in connec- 

 tion with the preparation of this paper for the 

 printer. 



