SCiENCE 
SSS 
FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1912 
CONTENTS 
The Opportunity of the Endowed University: 
PROFESSOR GEORGE J, PEIRCE ............ 973, 
Research on the Smoke Problem at the De- 
partment of Industrial Research of the 
Unwersity of Pittsburgh: R. C. BENNER .. 977 
CONCCTPRESCOLCIUS Warts aC ome eee islet ie 979 
The National Argentine Observatory: Pro- 
FESSOR ©. D. PERRINE ................ .. 980 
An International Congress of Anthropology: 
PROFESSOR GEORGE GRANT MacCurby .... 980 
Honorary Degrees in Science .............. 980 
Scientific Notes and News ...............-- 981 
University and Educational News .......... 984 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Oblique Orientation of Maps and Half- 
tones: ROLAND M. Harper. Another Sez- 
limited Character: Epwarp N. WENTWORTH 985 
Scientific Books :— 
Jackson’s Phylogeny of the Echini: Dr. 
Husert Lyman Cuark. The Parasitic 
Amebe of Man: PRoressor Wm. B. 
AWAHERR Vets acne toy syaterxanerasessyera viapaicie ine eels 986 
Botanical Notes:— 
Botany by the Hxperimental Method; A 
Handful of Little Manuals; Botany in the 
Mountains: PRorEssoR CHARLES E. Bessey 994 
Special Articles :— 
Nitrates in Soils: Dr. F.L. Stevens. Reac- 
tions of Young Lobsters determined by 
Food Stimuli: PRroressor Puiip B. Haver, 996 
Societies and Academies :— 
The Anthropological Society of Washing- 
ton: Dr. TRUMAN MicHELson. The Botan- 
teal Society of Washington: Dr. W. W. 
STOCKBERGER 
MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to the Editor of SclENCE, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 
THE OPPORTUNITY OF THE ENDOWED 
UNIV ERSITY 
AT first glance there would seem to be 
opportunity, in this country, for more than 
one type of college and university, and if 
the opportunity, then the obligation and 
the inspiration. Historically there are two 
types, but under identical environmental 
influences they present to-day few distin- 
guishing characters. They exhibit a phe- 
nomenon very rare and interesting in biol- 
ogy. While we have been speculating and 
searching about the origin of species by 
evolution, the history of the American col- 
leges has recorded the almost complete dis- 
appearance of a species through imitation, 
a transmutation instead of a mutation! 
The endowed college, later called univer- 
sity, was the first type to appear on the 
American continent; but with the growth 
of the public school idea, with the out- 
growth of those aristocratic remnants 
which the early settlers so unconsciously 
brought with them and so strongly exhib- 
ited, and with the immense addition to the 
English stock by immigration from conti- 
nental EKurope with its universities founded 
and maintained by the funds of the people, 
it was only natural that state universities 
should come into existence. For the most 
part they are found in those states which 
have nothing more tangible to connect them 
with the past than traditions of aristocracy, 
and at all events they prosper most, if one 
may judge by our usual American stand- 
ards of dollars or of numbers, in the states 
in which the people is most thoroughly 
satisfied that the people can do no wrong. 
The future, the opportunity, of the en- 
dowed university may appear, therefore, to 
