Febbuabt 5, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



229 



The choir invisible 

 Whose music is the gladness of the world. 



We seem to do better in the natural sciences. 

 In geology, zoology, botany, anthropology and 

 psychology, there is probably more research 

 work published here than in any other country 

 except the German empire and the amount of 

 research work published is the most tangible, 

 and perhaps the most exact, measure of scien- 

 tific activity. I have found that in the Zeit- 

 schrift fur Psychologie there have been more 

 articles in experimental psychology revievred 

 (selected as the more important articles) 

 from America than from the German-speak- 

 ing nations combined, and more than ten 

 times as many as from Great Britain. We 

 have also, according to the criterion of mem- 

 bership in foreign academies, the most emi- 

 nent living psychologist. 



The statement made by Professor Nichols 

 and endorsed by Professor Willcox that " the 

 men v^ho have laid the foundations upon 

 which civilization is built have nearly all been 

 teachers and professors " appears to be more 

 correct for Germany than for England. 

 Darwin did not teach, and not one of the five 

 scientific members of the Order of Merit — 

 Hooker, Huggins, Lister, Eayleigh and Wal- 

 lace — is a teacher. It is a remarkable fact 

 that while Germany has excelled in the 

 quantity of research work accomplished since 

 the development of its universities, England 

 has produced the greatest leaders. The ele- 

 mentary teaching required in our collegiate 

 universities not only absorbs time and energy, 

 but also tends to develop a superficial omni- 

 science and a dogmatic attitude imf avorable to 

 investigation. If we add to this the clerical, 

 administrative and missionary work, which 

 the university president crowds on the uni- 

 versity professor, and the distracting need of 

 earning enough money to support his family, 

 there is perhaps reason to wonder that he ac- 

 complishes as much research work as he does 

 accomplish. 



Fortunately there has been within thirty 

 years a great increase in this country in the 

 number of positions permitting scientific 

 work, and in the opportunities which these 



positions offer for research work. Many of 

 our universities have admirable laboratories, 

 and there is certainly a strong sentiment in 

 favor of permitting the professors to use them. 

 We are gradually obtaining university labora- 

 tories analogous to the astronomical observa- 

 tories, where professors will only do so much 

 teaching as is favorable to their investigations. 

 At the same time there has been a notable 

 development of scientific work outside the 

 universities, under the national government, 

 under states and municipalities, in techno- 

 logical work, and recently in the establishment 

 of research institutions such as the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington and the Eocke- 

 feller Institute for Medical Eesearch. The 

 material foundation is already adequate and 

 will be rapidly enlarged. What we need is 

 more men with the ability and spirit which 

 research work demands. 



J. McEJEEN Cattell 



80IEWTIFIG BOOKS 

 Qualitative Analyse vow, SiandpunMe der 

 lonenlehre. Von Dr. Wilhelm Bottger, 

 Privatdozent und Oberassistent am Phys.- 

 Chem. Institut der Universitat Leipzig. 

 Zweite, TTmgearbeitete und Stark Erweitete 

 Auflage. Leipzig, Wilhelm Engelmann. 

 1908. 



The first edition of this book was published 

 in 1902. An English translation by Smeaton 

 appeared in 1906, a book of 300 pages. This 

 second German edition is a stately volume of 

 524 pages; it contains nearly double as much 

 matter as its predecessor and is quite differ- 

 ent in arrangement. 



The fundamental general and ionic theory 

 is in a division by itself, forming the first 116 

 pages of the book, and is illustrated by simple 

 but ingenious and instructive experiments, 

 thirty-five in number. These experiments 

 alone would give the book permanent value, 

 but it is worthy of study throughout. 



In the chapter on systematic analysis, for 

 example, a method is given, familiar in detail 

 but new in application, for separating the 

 cations of group III.; after treatment of the 

 sulphides with dilute HCl, and filtering, the 

 filtrate containing Al, Or. Ee, Mn, Zn and 



