Januabt 15, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



109 



We do not see that this charge is well founded. 

 We do not see why the technicalities of legal 

 procedure should be followed in such cases. 

 Certainly our courts are not so prompt and 

 efficient in their action as to commend their 

 methods for extension into academic circles. 

 It is the business of boards to talk over freely 

 the qualifications and defects of the professors, 

 and they would be seriously hampered in their 

 consideration of the subject if the individuals 

 discussed had to be present or represented by 

 attorney. 



The reason why no definite and serious 

 charges such as would necessitate his dismissal 

 were brought against Dr. Kemp was probably 

 because there were none to bring. The presi- 

 dent seems to have objected to hira on the 

 ground that he was not a first-class teacher or 

 administrator and that he was a hard man to 

 get along with. These are as intangible as 

 they are important, and it is difficult to see 

 how they could be proved or disproved by any 

 form of court-martial. President James prac- 

 tically appealed to the trustees to express their 

 confidence in his judgment of men, and this is 

 what they have done. Since to be a good 

 judge of men is one of the most important 

 qualifications of a college president, they could 

 hardly have decided against him if they 

 thought him worthy of office. It may be that 

 President James underestimated Dr. Kemp's 

 ability and overestimated his incompatibility, 

 but the error, if it were such, does not involve 

 any moral obliquity. The University of Illi- 

 nois should have the best physiologist it can 

 find, and it is not clearly demonstrated that 

 Dr. Kemp is that man. 



We believe that the board of trustees are 

 right in holding that further discussion of the 

 case is unnecessary and detrimental, although 

 we do not regard their resolutions, reported in 

 The UniversUy of Illinois Press Bulletin of 

 December 16, as satisfactorily worded. We do 

 not find in Dr. Kemp's letter of resignation 

 the reasons they quote as his. The letter as 

 published in Science gave altogether different 

 reasons. And the statement made by the 

 board that Dr. Kemp's resignation was not 

 even suggested at the board meeting is quite 

 too sweeping an assertion. 



On the whole, we fail to find evidence to 

 prove that academic freedom is in danger in 

 the University of Illinois or that President 

 James is more autocratic than other successful 

 presidents, as, for example, our revered Presi- 

 dent Eliot. He certainly is less inclined to be 

 arbitrary and dictatorial than his predecessor. 

 President Draper. We can not here enter 

 upon the wider question of whether a more 

 democratic system of government, such as is 

 advocated by Professor Cattell, is desirable. 

 At present the tendency is to regard a stronger 

 centralized and personal administration as best 

 for universities and cities. The liability to 

 abuse such power is checked by the watchful- 

 ness of supervising boards and by the fact 

 that an aggrieved party may appeal to Csesar, 

 i. e., Science. — The Independent. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Essays on Evolution, 1889-1907. By E. B. 



PouLTON, Hope Professor of Zoology in the 



University of Oxford. Oxford, Clarendon 



Press. 1908. 



Professor Poulton is well known as an 

 ardent neo-Darwinian and as one who has 

 made the subject of insect mimicry his own, 

 the wonderful collection illustrating this in- 

 teresting phenomenon in the Hope department 

 of the Oxford Museum being a monument to 

 his enthusiasm, energy and information in 

 this field of investigation. In the volume of 

 essays now under review these two topics are 

 very much in evidence, the essays being for 

 the most part addresses delivered by the author 

 on various occasions, now brought up to date 

 and reprinted. Inasmuch as the essays deal- 

 ing with the Darwinian theory were originally 

 written before the theory of mutations and 

 Mendelism had become important factors in 

 the question of the origin of species. Professor 

 Poulton has added an introduction to his book 

 dealing with these topics and protesting 

 against the extreme position taken by those 

 whom Professor Hubrecht, himself an up- 

 holder of the mutation theory, has lately char- 

 acterized as " silly antagonists of Darwinism 

 and evolution, who have thought fit to pro- 

 claim with a loudness that is in inverse ratio 



