OcroBerR 25, 1918] 
Some ten years ago, the Society for the Pro- 
motion of Engineering Education appointed a 
committee to make a comprehensive study of 
the situation, and this committee associated 
with it delegates from the five great national 
engineering societies. This joint committee 
has been cooperating with the Carnegie Foun- 
dation in this study, and the bulletin just 
issued is the result of their united labors for 
the past four years. The bulletin was pre- 
pared by Dr. Charles R. Mann, formerly asso- 
ciate professor of physics in the University of 
Chicago, now chairman of the advisory board 
to the War Department committee on educa- 
tion. 
The origin of the present system of engi- 
neering schools is traced in detail and its char- 
acteristics, both good and bad, are frankly 
stated. Its operation is studied mainly from 
the point of view of the effect upon the stu- 
dent and there is a careful examination of 
entrance records and college courses. as well 
as a brief summary of the current methods of 
instruction. On the basis of this analysis of 
the present situation, the larger problems of 
engineering education are considered to be 
those of admission, content and courses, fac- 
ulty organization, and curriculum. The treat- 
ment culminates in a definition of each of the 
larger problems in terms of the requirements 
of the profession and of the young men who 
wish to enter. The chapters on admission and 
on testing and grading describe a series of new 
and original experiments carried out by Pro- 
fessor E. L. Thorndike, of Columbia Univer- 
sity, in an effort to secure a more rational 
method of measuring engineering ability. 
The constructive portion of the bulletin pre- 
sents numerous suggestions as to ways and 
means of solving the problems thus defined, in 
an effort to reach the general principles which 
seem best qualified to help each school in soly- 
ing the problem according to its own peculiar 
circumstances. Among the suggestions may 
be mentioned the necessity for more objective 
methods of rating and testing students and 
more accurate records of achievement; the 
need for closer cooperation among the several 
departments of instruction at each school; the 
SCIENCE 
421 
introduction of practical experience with engi- 
neering materials into the freshman year; and 
the increase in the emphasis placed upon the 
humanities and humanistic studies. 
The final chapter, entitled “ the professional 
engineer,” presents the results of an extended 
study of the demands of the engineering pro- 
fession, and indicates that these demands can 
be fully met by the application of the prin- 
ciples that are developed in the preceding chap- 
ters. The thesis is set up that the chief lack 
in engineering education is the failure to rec- 
ognize the importance of values and costs in 
all engineering work and suggests ways and 
means in which this idea may be emphasized 
to advantage both in the technical and the 
humanistic work. Engineering education is 
here shown to be but one branch of all educa~ 
tion, and it is suggested that the methods of 
improving both are identical. Therefore, the 
bulletin has a wider interest than its title 
would imply and may be read with profit by 
educators of all kinds. 
Copies of the Bulletin may be had by ad- 
dressing the Carnegie Foundation, 576 Fifth 
Avenue, New York City. 
TWO NEW ANTHROPOLOGICAL 
JOURNALS 
Durine the present year two new anthropo- 
logical journals have made their appearance— 
one devoted to physical anthropology, the 
other one devoted to American linguistics. 
The establishment of the American Journal 
of Physical Anthropology is due to the energy 
of Dr. Ale3’ Hrdlitka, curator of the division 
of physical anthropology in the United States 
National Museum. Up to the present time 
two numbers have appeared, which indicate 
that the scientific standard of the Journal 
will be a high one. The first number is intro- 
duced by a preface, and a general survey of the 
scope and aims of physical anthropology, both 
written by the editor Dr. Hrdlitka. In the 
second number the editor gives a brief review 
of the history of physical anthropology in 
America. The department of literature is 
very full and exhaustive and gives a review of 
