Decembeb 4, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



789 



classes of apparatus which have hitherto been 

 largely matters of individual opinions. 



This meeting wiU be the first annual meet- 

 ing of the American Institute of Chemical 

 Engineers, organized last spring in Phila- 

 delphia for the purpose of bringing together 

 aU those who are particularly interested in 

 the combined application of chemistry and 

 engineering to technical problems. The or- 

 ganizers of the institute, after considerable 

 investigation as to the need of such a society, 

 have made the qualifications for active mem- 

 bership extremely rigid, believing that a very 

 important object of an organization of chem- 

 ists and engineers (besides meeting for purely 

 social purposes) should be the raising of pro- 

 fessional standards among its members. To 

 this end a careful and serious effort is being 

 made to so limit membership that admission 

 to the institute wiU be in itself an evidence 

 of the standing of its membeis. 



That there was need for some such move- 

 ment is sufficiently evident by the extent to 

 which fake processes have at times been 

 ofEered in this particular field. Hitherto 

 chemistry has by the very nature of the phe- 

 nomena studied, the transformation of matter, 

 presented that element of the mysterious 

 which seems to be important to the successful 

 exploitation of fraud. Numerous patents, 

 which never worked and never could work, 

 have been taken out and sold or made the 

 basis of " Wildcat Companies." Numerous 

 manufacturers have been victimized and it 

 is hoped that in time the Institute of Chem- 

 ical Engineers may be able to do for the 

 chemical engineering profession what the So- 

 ciety of Civil Engineers has so ably accom- 

 plished in its field. 



All communications from those desiring to 

 attend the Pittsburg meeting, or from manu- 

 facturers who desire to exhibit, should be ad- 

 dressed to the secretary. Dr. J. C. Olsen, 

 Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn, N. T. 



VOCATIONS OF TALE ALUMNI 

 The Yale Alumni Weekly/ gives some sta- 

 tistics from the new quadrennial catalogue of 

 living graduates. It shows that the law holds 

 its own, or nearly so, in the ratio of alumni 



choosing it even if one goes back far into the 

 expired century or even earlier. In 1797 there 

 were 42 per cent, of Yale graduates in the law. 

 This ratio fell to 33 per cent, in 1802; rose to 

 36 per cent, in 1813-14; fell to 31 per cent, in 

 1821-2-4; rose to 32 per cent, in 1831-3-4; 

 and to 33 per cent, in 1841-5. During the 

 last ten years in the academical department 

 there were graduated 2,950 men, of whom 713 

 (or somewhat more than 24 per cent.) took the 

 law. The choice of law varies much in par- 

 ticular classes. Thus in the class of 1898 it 

 runs up to 31 per cent.; in the class of 1901 

 it runs down to about 21 per cent. But the 

 average of 24 per cent, in the last ten classes 

 is not strikingly divergent from the ratios of 

 the first half of the nineteenth century. 



As was to be expected, the ministry shows a 

 big decrease. It took 39 per cent, of the Yale 

 graduates in 1797; 30 per cent, in 1802; 25 

 per cent, in 1813-14; 34 per cent, in 1821-2-4; 

 the same in 1831-3^; and 27 per cent, in 

 1841-5. The last ten academic classes, with 

 2,950 men, return but ninety-five ordained or 

 prospective clergymen, or somewhat more than 

 3 per cent. Eor the whole university there 

 are but thirty-six more clergymen as com- 

 pared with four years ago, although during 

 that time the total of living graduates shows 

 an increase of 2,141. 



Medicine in 1797 took 8 per cent, of the 

 college graduates; in 1802 the same; in 1813- 

 14 it rose to 14 per cent.; in 1821-2-4 to 20 

 per cent.; in 1831-3-4 it fell to 15 per cent.; 

 and in 1841-5 to 9 per cent. Among the 2,950 

 graduates of the last ten years it numbers 

 162, or about five and one half per cent. Here 

 again appear striking disparities — eight out of 

 290 men in the class of 1906 taking that voca- 

 tion, as compared with twenty out of the 305 

 men in the class of 1903. 



Education in the vocations of the academic 

 graduates comes out stronger than any occupa- 

 tion except the law and business. In 1797 it 

 counted 3 per cent.; in 1802 it fell to 2 per 

 cent.; in 1813-14 it rose to 5 per cent.; in 

 1821-2-4 it was the same; in 1831-3-4 it was 

 up to 10 per cent, and in 1841-5 fell to 8 per 

 cent. During the last ten years it has taken 



