SCIENCE 



Friday, December 16, 1921. 



The Present Status of tlie History of Science 

 in American Colleges and TJniversiti-es : Peo- 

 PESSOR E. H. Johnson 585 



The Expedition to Trinidad for the Study of 

 HooTcworm Disease: Dk. W. W. Cort 595 



Tlie American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science: 



The Toronto Meeting: Professor Burton 

 B. Livingston- 597 



Scientific Events: 



Forest Experiment Stations; The U. S. 

 Patent Office; Scientific Journals published 

 by tlie Government ; The American Society 

 of Zoologists 599 



Scientific Notes and News 601 



University and Educational News 603 



Discussion and Correspondence : 

 In Assistance of the Archives de Biologic: 

 Professor Eobert A. Btjddington. The 

 Vibrations of a Tuning Fork: Dr. Paul 

 Thomas Young. An Anecdote concerning 

 Dr. Field: S. Two Retrospective Features 

 of the Toronto Meeting : Dr. A. P. Hunter . 603 



Scientific Books: 



Baker on The Life of the Pleistocene or 



Glacial Period: Dr. Wm. H. Dall 606 



Special Articles: 



Tlie Egg-laying Eabits of Megarliyssa: 

 Werner Marc hand. A Condensation Pump : 

 Dr. E. H. Kurth 607 



The American Chemical Society: Professor 

 Charles L. Parsons 609 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 

 review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 

 Hudaon, N. Y. 



THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE HIS- 

 TORY OF SCIENCE IN AMERICAN 

 COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES 



During tlie past few years there have been 

 several attempts to establish beyond question 

 the value of a study of the history of science 

 in American colleges. A little has been writ- 

 ten in defense of the subject as a proper part 

 of the curriculum, and a few science teachers 

 have spared no effort in the critical study and 

 presentation of the history of the particular 

 phase of science with which they have been 

 most familiar. And yet, the papers that have 

 been wi-itten in English dealing at all directly 

 with this history are so few in number that 

 they all may be read in a very few hours. Of 

 histories of science — books relating to the sub- 

 ject matter itself — there are even fewer, so it is 

 not surprising that the otherwise busy teacher 

 has not been drawn into this phase of his 

 science by any sense of an ample amount of 

 readily available material. At the same uxnie, 

 those who have considered the matter seriously 

 have usually become strong advocates of the 

 value of a study of the development of science, 

 both for its service in explaining the present 

 status and aims of science, and also for its 

 value as a picture of human development that 

 probably is not to be equalled in educational 

 value by any survey of political or military 

 movements. 



With this conviction, the present writer un- 

 dertook to ascertain in just how far the history 

 of science was being studied in American col- 

 leges and universities. Questionnaires were 

 sent to the deans or presidents of nearly four 

 hundred institutions throughout the United 

 States. While such instruments are necessarily 

 imperfect, and the individual findings perhaps 

 often unreliable, the total mass of material 

 thus gathered together is not without point, 

 and it indicates among other things, that inter- 



