Apeil 9, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



bll 



President William Osley Thompson had con- 

 sented to act as honorary chairman, but later 

 found it impossible to be 'present, and Miss 

 Preda Detmers, president of the club, presided. 

 The program was intended to cover the various 

 phases of Darwin's life work as the following 

 list of subjects will indicate : " Darwin's Char- 

 acter and Method of Work," Professor F. L. 

 Landaere; "The Influence of Darwin's Work 

 in Geology," Professor G. D. Hubbard; "Dar- 

 win's Contributions to Zoological Science," 

 Professor Herbert Osbom; "Darwin in 'Sis 

 Eelationship to British Stockmen," Professor 

 C. S. Plumb; "Darwin's Contributions to 

 Horticultural Science," Professor V. H. 

 Davis ; " The Work of Darwin in Physiolog- 

 ical Botany," Professor A. Dachnowski; 

 "Darwin's Contributions to Botany," Pro- 

 fessor J. H. Schaffner; "Darwin and Modern 

 Philosophy," Professor A. E. Davies; "Dar- 

 win and Modfern Psychology," Professor D. R. 

 Major. 



VNITERSITT AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



The appropriations committee of the Penn- 

 sylvania House of Eepresentatives has re- 

 ported a bill recommending an appropriation 

 of $700,000 to the University of Pennsylvania. 



It is said that DaUiousie University is likely 

 to be removed from Halifax, N. S., to the city 

 of Dartmouth on the opposite side of the har- 

 bor. This city has oifered a free site and 

 about $100,000 for buildings. 



The governor of Colorado has signed a bill 

 permitting the state university to conduct the 

 last two years of its medical course in the city 

 of Denver. 



There has been introduced in the New York 

 assembly a bill which provides that five mem- 

 bers of the board of trustees of Cornell Uni- 

 versity shall be appointed by the governor, his 

 appointments to be subject to the approval of 

 the senate. 



A ROYAL commission has been appointed to 

 consider the position and organization of uni- 

 versity education in London. 



The inauguration of Dr. Eichard C. Mac- 

 Laurin as president of the Massachusetts In- 



stitute of Technology will take place on Mon- 

 day, June 7, at Symphony Hall. A committee 

 of the corporation, faculty and alumni has 

 been appointed to take charge of the ceremony. 



Mr. E. H. Whitbeck, of the New Jersey 

 State Normal School, Trenton, N. J., has been 

 appointed assistant professor of geology at the 

 University of Wisconsin. He will give courses 

 especially intended for the preparation of 

 teachers, dealing primarily with applied geog- 

 raphy and with materials available for sec- 

 ondary school teaching and methods of pre- 

 senting physical geography, geography and 



Dr. Edmund Landau, decent at Berlin, has. 

 been appointed professor of mathematics at 

 Gottingen, 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 

 CITY BOYS VERSUS COUNTRY BOYS 



To THE Editor of Science : In yo\ir issue of 

 February 12 Mr. W. J. Spilhnan, under the 

 title " Education and the Trades," makes, with 

 regard to the birthplaces of leading Ameri- 

 cans, the following surprising statement: 



I believe there are some things which have 

 higher pedagogic value than anything taught in 

 our schools to-day, else why is it that with only 

 29 per cent, of our population actually living on 

 the farm, with miserably poor school facilities as 

 compared with our city population, this 29 per 

 cent, furnishes about 70 per cent, of the leaders 

 in every phase of activity in this country? 



I say surprising, because any one who is 

 familiar with modem investigations in the 

 inheritance of mental qualities in man, must 

 see that such a supposition, if it were indeed 

 a fact, would seriously clash with the con- 

 clusions drawn from a number of researches 

 otherwise harmonious and mutually support- 

 ing. 



This point I will discuss later, but now let 

 us test the facts. Does the farm produce 

 more than its share of leading Americans? 

 Such a question must be answered on a statis- 

 tical, impartial, and as far as possible, scien- 

 tific basis. It is first necessary to determine 

 who are the " leaders in every phase of activ- 

 ity in this country." I have turned to " Who's 



