858 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol,. XXIX. No. 752 



lieutenant, about $2,300, for a first lieutenant 

 about $2,800, for a captain about $3,400. 

 These are all low grades in the army. 



What teacher receives anything approach- 

 ing this on graduation from a college or even 

 on receiving a doctor's degree after six more 

 arduous years of hard study ? 



The salary on graduation of a Massachu- 

 setts Institute of Technology man as assist- 

 ant is $500, with an increase to $600 the next 

 year. It may in some institutions reach as 

 high as $1,000, but that is exceptional. 



A common soldier may reasonably look 

 forward to retirement at the age of 45 or 50 

 years, with a life-long income of $2,040, and 

 the opportunities to devote himself to a con- 

 genial pursuit. 



One feels a certain amount of chagrin in 

 meeting casually on a train an enlisted naval 

 petty ofiicer younger than himself who has 

 $12,000 saved in the bank. 



Why must the teaching profession be for- 

 ever in such an unfortunate financial position 

 in comparison with other callings? Have we 

 not, as a class, enough common interest, 

 enough moral courage to wage a campaign 

 together for what is justly due us, for our 

 labors ? That is, a reasonable salary sufiicient 

 for our needs, sufiicient for our family, suffi- 

 cient to maintain the responsible and honor- 

 able position we now hold and which would in 

 the event of a just increase become of much 

 more influence in public life. 



J. G. Coffin 



FAIE PLAY AND TOLERATION IN SCIENCE 



To THE Editor of Science : I have read with 

 surprise, if not indignation. Professor Black- 

 welder's discussion of Lowell's " Mars as the 

 Abode of Life " in your issue of April 23, 

 1909; and feel that it is only just to enter a 

 protest, in the interest of fair play and that 

 degree of toleration which has always been 

 characteristic of the better men of science. 

 Professor Blackwelder speaks as if some great 

 injury had been done to the public by the 

 appearance of a popular book, written in a 

 narrative style adapted to the lay demand. 

 Of course this is wholly untrue, and mere idle 



vaporing. Lowell's popular works are all bet- 

 ter than Proctor's and Flammarion's, and both 

 of these latter writers have done valuable 

 service in diffusing the results of scientific 

 research among the multitude. It may sound 

 very plausible to the scientific recluse to say 

 that nothing but mathematical formulae and 

 tables are of value, but every well-informed 

 man knows better. It is by the popularization 

 of science that new interest is awakened in the 

 public mind and increased opportunities pro- 

 vidted for the extension of scientific research. 



To take a specific example, it was the read- 

 ing of a popular work by Huyghens, entitled 

 " Comotheoros," which led Dr. Plume to es- 

 tablish the Plumian professorship of astron- 

 omy at Cambridge, which has been held by 

 such distinguished mathematicians as Sir 

 George Darwin, who has greatly extended our 

 knowledge of mathematical astronomy, yet is 

 not so narrow as to deny the value of popular 

 science, but on the contrary has contributed 

 to it by popular articles in magazines and a 

 standard work on the tides. 



If we compare the present state of astron- 

 omy in the United States with that in other 

 countries, we shall be compelled to admit that 

 American preeminence is due very largely to 

 popular interest, and a general appreciation of 

 results. Without popular diffusion of the 

 results of scientific research, who among our 

 business men and captains of industry could 

 possibly have any interest in scientific work? 

 In this day of specialization even scientific 

 workers find it difficult to understand the 

 labors of others, and the public is at vastly 

 greater disadvantage. I make great use of 

 logarithms, trigonometry and calculus, but I 

 have yet to see the laymen who enthuse over 

 columns of figures or complicated mathemat- 

 ical analysis. 



When Proctor was living he was assailed by 

 the self-appointed critics in much the same 

 way as Lowell is now; but they always forget 

 that there are others to be considered besides 

 the mere priesthood of science. It sometimes 

 seems to me that some of the latter are almost 

 as intolerant as those divinely inspired per- 

 sons who took it upon themselves to conduct 



