Febbuaey 26, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



339 



votes, the vote of each university counting as one, 

 are then chosen by the minister of public instruc- 

 tion as members of the committee. 



The responsibility for a selection now rests upon 

 this committee. Each of the members individually 

 examines the applications, and considers the rela- 

 tive merits of the candidates. Finally the com- 

 mittee meets as a whole in Eome and decides upon 

 a first, second and third choice for the position. 

 The minister of public instruction offers the posi- 

 tion to the first choice; if he refuses, to the 

 second, etc. 



This system seems to me to eliminate, about as 

 completely as any human contrivance may, the 

 chances for injustice in an appointment. The 

 complete publicity which attends the various steps 

 in the proceedings, the fixing of the responsibility 

 for a recommendation upon a committee of five of 

 the most representative men of their profession, 

 the democratic and in every way admirable man- 

 ner of selecting these men, seem to give an abso- 

 lute guarantee of the wisdom of the final choice. 

 In fact it has worked admirably in practise, and 

 it seems to me that this Italian system is the one 

 which we ought to attempt to adapt to our needs 

 in this country. 



Gentlemen, I hope that the discussion of this 

 evening will bear some fruit. If in our country 

 there existed a central authority controlling all 

 of our universities, we might make an effort to 

 have such a system of appointments introduced 

 by law. We are compelled to resort to a slower 

 process, that of forcing a gradual change from our 

 present methods by educating public opinion. But 

 we are members of a great national organization, 

 the American Mathematical Society, and I am 

 going to ask you to support a motion to appoint 

 a committee to investigate the possibility of im- 

 proving the methods of appointments in our col- 

 leges and universities as far as mathematicians 

 are concerned. I hope that you will support the 

 motion; I hope that this committee will find a 

 satisfactory solution of the problem, and that 

 finally other national learned societies will fol- 

 low our example, so as to improve the status of 

 the American professor not only in mathematics, 

 but in all other subjects. 



To show you more in detail what kind of ques- 

 tions such a committee might investigate, I will 

 give a few examples. Do not misunderstand me. 

 I am not attempting to legislate for the com- 

 mittee, I do not hold tenaciously to any of the 

 propositions which I am now going to advance. 

 Their only purpose is to show that there are cer- 



tain features of this problem which a society like 

 ours can attack with some degree of success, and 

 which would form a legitimate, if difficult, portion 

 of its work. 



Would it not be desirable, for instance, if every 

 mathematical vacancy occurring in any of our 

 colleges or universities were advertised in the 

 Bulletin, accompanied by a statement of title and 

 salary, grade, character and amount of work, as 

 well as the date of appointment? It may seem 

 very difficult, but may it not be possible to devise 

 a scheme by means of which the society could put 

 at the service of any institution requesting it, its 

 advice in regard to the filling of any particular 

 position? This might be done by means of a com- 

 mittee appointed for this purpose from year to 

 year, or as in the Italian system for the making 

 of one particular appointment. Several such com- 

 mittees might be appointed for the different re- 

 gions of our country, whose vastness, of course, is 

 one of the great difficulties to be overcome in the 

 working out of such a system. 



I have tried your patience long enough. I shall 

 be satisfied if I have convinced you of the wisdom, 

 not of any of the particular things which I have 

 mentioned, but of the general policy of taking this 

 matter under consideration. It is my honest 

 opinion that the American Mathematical Society 

 can render signal service to the cause of education 

 and science in this manner. I feel convinced that 

 it is our duty as free and independent men, as 

 citizens of the academic world to take this step, 

 which may lead toward a better condition of 

 affairs, where merit will receive its just reward, 

 where all proceedings will be open and frank, 

 where there will be no place for incompetence 

 and injustice. 



E. J. WlLCZYNSKI 



The Univeesity of Illinois 



gAtera without species 

 Notwithstanding the great value of the 

 International Code of Zoological Nomenela- 

 ture, and the care with which it has been com- 

 piled, there remain several important points 

 upon which those professing to follow the code 

 are disagreed. In part, these are due to de- 

 liberate omissions, resulting from the impos- 

 sibility of securing unanimity; but some of 

 them are supposed to be covered by the code, 

 and yet opposite interpretations are made by 

 good authorities. Probably the most serious 

 question of the latter sort relates to generic 



