owGlLENCE 
SSS 
Fripay, DeceMBer 27, 1918 
CONTENTS 
Science and Medical Training: PROFESSOR 
CSRAOTA MP IOUSE: cccinsle s «\tsae «bei am oe woe ofb 629 
The Smithsonian ‘‘Solar Constant’’ Expedi- 
tonto Calama, Chilé 0... 2 cece ds ens e en 635 
The Harvard Engineering School ........... 636 
The Medallists of the Royal Society Bact ee 637 
Scientific Events :— 
The British Medical Research Committee ; 
Resolutions in Honor of Director Frederick 
J. V. Skiff; The Work of Dr. C. G. Abbot; 
The Annual Meeting of the American Ornith- 
LG RSER UUM ycrcrelanc/slaitiew sivia. Sickel aero bl a\eva Oe} 639 
Scientific Notes and News .............005- 642 
University and Educational News ......:... 645 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Age Flow and Ebb of the Eocene Seas: Pro- 
Fessor G. D. Harris. Hereditary Deficien- 
cies in the Sense of Smell: Proressor OTTo 
GuasER. Biological Principles in the Zool- 
ogy Course: ProFessor A. FRANKLIN SHULL. 
International Organization of Science: Pro- 
clsts) eT) 6 ae NG i 646 
Quotations :— 
A National Laboratory for the Study of Nu- 
eT eel cele PA ofc be yiircle erie Poles: civ) sia « aa) hte 650 
Scientific Books :-— 
Whetzel’s Outline of the History of Phy- 
topathology: Proressor J. C. ARTHUR .... 651 
Special Articles :— 
Resistance in the American Chestnut to the 
Bark Disease: Dr. ArtHUR HARMOUNT 
Graves. The Occurrence of Azotobacter in 
Cranberry Soils: SELMAN A. WAKSMAN ... 6: 
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MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 
SCIENCE AND MEDICAL TEACHING! 
Preswent Exior, through the long years of 
his distinguished service, has begged for a 
larger cultivation of the sciences among our 
people and only recently he has demanded that 
such a wider tuition be introduced into our 
schools as a necessity of proper national recon- 
struction. The value of science to mankind 
is being everywhere more fully appreciated. 
It is of its prophets in the past that this 
paper is to deal. 
In the preface to the fourth edition of 
Lavoisier’s “ Elements of Chemistry,” as trans- 
lated from the original French and printed 
in Philadelphia in 1799, one finds the follow- 
ing conception of the scientific method. 
When we begin the study of any science, we are 
in a situation, respecting that science, similar to 
children; and the course by which we have to ad- 
vance is precisely the same which Nature follows 
in the formation of their ideas. In a child, the 
idea is merely an effect produced by a sensation; 
and, in the same manner, in commencing the study 
of a physical science, we ought to form no idea 
but what is a necessary consequence, and immediate 
effect, of an experiment or observation. Besides, 
he who enters upon the eareer of science, is in a 
less advantageous situation than a child who is ac- 
quiring his first ideas. To the child, Nature gives 
various means of rectifying any mistakes he may 
commit respecting the salutary or hurtful quali- 
ties of the objects which surround him. On every 
occasion his judgments are corrected by experience; 
want and pain are the necessary consequences aris- 
ing from false judgment; gratification and pleas- 
ure are produced by judging aright. Under such 
masters, we can not fail to become well informed; 
and we soon learn to reason justly, when want and 
pain are the necessary consequences of a contrary 
conduct. 
In the study and practise of the sciences it is 
entirely different; the false judgments we may 
1 Address at the meeting for the award of honors 
to students of medicine of Harvard University, 
December 16, 1918. 
