310 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1213 



unpacked in the laboratories of tlie American 

 Museum. The work has been supervised by 

 Assistant Curator IST. C. ISTelson, under the 

 immediate direction of Mr. Earl H. Morris, 

 also of the American Museum. 



The seventy thousand specimens already .re- 

 covered from the Aztec Ruin constituted one 

 of the most complete collections representa- 

 tive of a prehistoric North American culture 

 which have thus far been obtained. Trained 

 preparators are working with the material, 

 and in the near future a representative selec- 

 tion will be placed on exhibit in the Museum's 

 Southwest Hall. 



One of the most important phases of the 

 explorations at Aztec is the repair and pres- 

 ervation of the ruin. As fast as the walls are 

 imcovered, masons replace the stones which 

 have disintegrated, and strengthen the por- 

 tions of the structure which threatened to 

 collapse. The intention is to make of the 

 ruin a permanent monument to the aborigines 

 of the Southwest rivalling in importance the 

 Mesa Verde National Park. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECH- 

 NOLOGY AND THE McKAY BEQUEST 



President Eiohard C. Maclaurin in his an- 

 nual report to the corporation of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology in referring to 

 the recent decree of the Supreme Court with 

 reference to the agreement between the Insti- 

 tute and Harvard University says that this 

 agreement marked an epoch in the history of 

 educational progress in this country. The end 

 sought was to build up an educational machine 

 more useful to the community and to the na- 

 tion than anything that could be maintained 

 by either the institute or the imiversity, act- 

 ing independently. Dr. Maclaurin writes : 



The plan adopted by the two corporations nearly 

 three years ago has in the meanwhile been put to 

 the actual test of experience and has met that test 

 well. Most, if not all, of the difS.oulties that were 

 anticipated by some have either not presented 

 themselves at all or have been easily overcome. 

 The educational power both of the institute and 

 the university has been greatly strengthened and 

 the cause of science that is applicable to the serv- 

 ice of man greatly promoted by this combination 



of forces. . . . Uufortunately, however, the funds 

 that the university has at its disposal for the pro- 

 motion of the great science of engineering are al- 

 most wholly dependent on the income from the 

 Gordon McKay Endowment, and the Supreme 

 Court has decreed that this income can not be ap- 

 plied in the manner indicated by the agreement. . . . 



It remains to be seen whether another plan can 

 be drawn up that is equally or nearly equally, 

 workable and effective as an educational instru- 

 ment and that accords with the view of the court 

 regarding Mr. McKay's intentions. We should be 

 false to our educational trust if we did not give 

 this matter due consideration and earnestly seek 

 a satisfactory way out. If intimate cooperation 

 between these two institutions was demanded by the 

 exigencies of the situation before the war, it is still 

 more urgently demanded now. With the serious 

 problems that this nation must face during the 

 war and the equally serious problems that must 

 be dealt with in the period of reconstruction 

 thereafter, needless duplication of effort and need- 

 less dissipation of energy would be in a high de- 

 gree reprehensible. . . . 



As far as the institute is concerned in the near 

 future the abandonment of this agreement would 

 be much less serious in its financial aspects than 

 seems generally to be supposed. This arises from 

 the fact that the actual amount of income avail- 

 able from the Gordon McKay Endowment has been 

 greatly exaggerated in certain quarters. Accord- 

 ing to the testimony before the court, all that the 

 university has available at present is the income 

 from less than two and one quarter millions. 

 Under the agreement Harvard does not turn any 

 of this income over to the institute, but appropri- 

 ates a portion of it for the maintenance of courses 

 leading to Harvard degrees, these courses being 

 conducted at the institute. The amount thus ap- 

 propriated since the agreement went into opera- 

 tion has been $100,000 annually, the major part of 

 this having been employed in paying the salaries 

 of the university's professors and instructors. 

 The whole amount is less than one tenth of the 

 annual expenditure of the institute. It must not 

 be supposed, therefore, that the institute will be 

 crippled financially if the agreement with the uni- 

 versity is abandoned. 



THE GENERAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 

 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



The American Philosophical Society will 

 hold its annual general meeting at Philadel- 

 phia on April 18, 19 and 20. Dr. William B. 



