SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 748 



the welfare of science, which is likely to 

 suffer serious deterioration. 



Apart from the considerations thus dealt 

 with, there is another factor of great per- 

 sonal importance, since it bears directly 

 upon the ability of the individual scientist 

 to participate in the work of societies, and 

 makes for the diminution of such organ- 

 izations rather than their multiplication. 

 In the pressure which is brought to bear 

 upon the scientist to become a member of 

 various societies, it is commonly overlooked 

 that there is an absolute limit to his ability 

 to meet the attendant expenses of such 

 membership together with the ordinary re- 

 quirements of his position and of his pro- 

 fession, and this limit is soon reached in 

 the case of a large number of men. It was 

 a recognition of this fact that led the Nat- 

 uralists, some years since, to establish two 

 branches, known as the Eastern and West- 

 ern Branches, with such a form of organ- 

 ization as would enable them to meet sepa- 

 rately or jointly as circumstances might 

 determine. Few scientists are endowed 

 with private means through either inherit- 

 ance or marriage, and there are certainly 

 several of the professions in which it would 

 be impossible for them to amass even a 

 moderate competency through the exercise 

 of their technical knowledge. 



Toronto, Chicago and Columbia have re- 

 cently been enabled to advance their scale 

 of salaries somewhat in accordance with the 

 advance in the increased cost of living, but 

 the great majority of institutions of learn- 

 ing adhere to the salaries which were barely 

 adequate fifteen or twenty years ago. 

 Taking the most common average salary 

 at $2,000, an examination of the relations 

 of a college professor to the responsibilities 

 of his profession will probably justify the 

 statement that he is called upon to expend 

 from fifteen to twenty per cent, of his net 

 earnings for the mere maintenance of his 

 position without reference to the require- 



ments of progress. "Low living and high 

 thinking" finds neither place nor sympa- 

 thizers under the present-day conditions, 

 for he who would think high must not only 

 be properly nourished, but his general en- 

 vironment must stimulate, not depress. We 

 are in full accord with the attitude of a 

 recent contributor to Science when he 

 says: 



If we take $2,000 as the average salary of our 

 college professors, we may say that on an average 

 our professors will be drawn from homes where 

 the scale of living is adjusted to the same figure. 

 It should, therefore, be the aim of the college to 

 pay such salaries to its professors as would en- 

 able them to give to their children what the college 

 would regard as a perfect preparation for profes- 

 sional work. Only in this way can it draw its 

 teachers from a class in which such preparation 

 is possible. 



The conditions indicated impose a griev- 

 ous burden, and in the face of the educa- 

 tion of children and support of families, 

 it is often prohibitive of participation in 

 those activities with which every scientific 

 man should be identified. They carry with 

 them also the additional burden of an un- 

 due strain upon the nervous system, and it 

 is now a commonplace that the average 

 professor is in a position of undue stress 

 with respect to ways and means for the 

 necessary expenses imposed by the position 

 he holds, the maintenance of his family and 

 the education of his children. It is within 

 my own observation that this condition has 

 more than once brought men to the verge 

 of despair. It not only denies educated 

 men of the very advantages they are ex- 

 pected to enjoy, but it places a premium 

 upon celibacy and the imperfect education 

 of children. These are not considerations 

 in which sentiment forms a factor, but ele- 

 ments which are directly concerned in the 

 best social organization. But, wholly apart 

 from purely personal elements, putting the 

 case upon the ground of correct business 

 principles and business expediency, we may 



