916 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 730 



present admission is being refused to 

 several hundred applicants each year. At 

 Vassar the total number of students is 

 limited to about one thousand. 



The following changes in the course of 

 study and additions to the equipment have 

 been reported : At Dartmouth a new dormi- 

 tory, New Hampshire Hall, accommodating 

 107 students, has been erected, and the 

 chapel has been enlarged, its capacity hav- 

 ing been increased about half. Wesleyan 

 has adopted a new course of study, which 

 substitutes the " group and major " sys- 

 tem for the semi-required system of 

 previous years. English is the only sub- 

 ject required of all students, while candi- 

 dates for the B.S. degree must take some 

 mathematics and some modern languages. 

 North College, the new dormitory to take 

 the place of old North College, burned a 

 few years ago, was opened last January 

 and is now fully occupied. The most im- 

 portant change instituted at Lehigh this 

 fall is the establishment of a conference 

 department, which provides extra instruc- 

 tion in modern languages, mathematics, 

 physics, and chemistry for freshmen and 

 sophomores, the purpose being to furnish 

 help at a very low rate to students of the 

 first two years who experience difficulty in 

 handling their work. Smith reports the 

 erection of a new college library, which 

 is to be ready for occupancy next Sep- 

 tember, and Mount Holyoke the addition 

 of a music hall— containing a concert 

 room, class rooms and practise rooms— and 

 a library, which are to be completed before 

 the close of the present academic year. 

 The Sanders Laboratory of Chemistry, at 

 Vassar, is to be completed before the 

 second half-year. An additional in- 

 structor has been engaged for the German 

 department, who gives her entire time to 

 colloquial practise. A half-year of work in 

 the history of philosophy is now pre- 

 scribed as a prerequisite for the senior 



course in ethics, both of these courses being 

 required at Vassar for the A.B. degree. 

 At the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 

 ogy physical training has been prescribed 

 for all first-year students. 



Rudolf Tombo, Jr. 

 Columbia Univeesity 



{To be concluded) 



JAMES FLETCBER 



Doctor James Fletcher, botanist and 

 entomologist of the Experimental Farms Sys- 

 tem of Canada, died November 8 in Montreal. 

 He had been suffering for some time with 

 internal hemorrhage, and went to Montreal to 

 consult a specialist. He remained there for a 

 week under treatment, but in spite of expert 

 medical assistance the iUness terminated 

 fatally. Doctor Fletcher was one of the most 

 widely known and most universally loved ento- 

 mologists in North America. He was also 

 widely known among the botanists and other 

 men of science. He had been connected with 

 the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science since 1883, had attended 

 most of the meetings, and had thus become 

 known to very many. 



He was born at Ashe, Kent, England, 

 March 28, 1852. He was educated at Kings 

 School, Rochester, England, and came to 

 Canada in 1874, taking a position in the Bank 

 of British North America. Later he became 

 connected with the Library of Parliament at 

 Ottawa, and in 1887 was made entomologist 

 and botanist to the Dominion Experimental 

 Farms, and entomologist to the Geological 

 Survey. His acquaintance with Canadian 

 naturalists was, of course, even wider and 

 closer than with those of the United States. 

 He organized the Ottawa Field Naturalists' 

 Club and was president of it. He was one of 

 the leading spirits in the Ontario Entomo- 

 logical Society, and for a long time had been 

 a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, at 

 one time holding the oiSce of honorary secre- 

 tary and honorary treasurer of that important 

 organization. He was the heart and soul of 

 the Botanical Club of Canada. He was also 

 a fellow of the Linnean Society of London, 



