592 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1407. 



been quite harsli in their criticisms, but it is 

 to be hoped that their distress is sufficiently real 

 to drive them to the point of writing something 

 better, for here is one of the few fields in which 

 there are not too many books. 



Where a course has been limited to the study 

 of the growth of a theory or of a particular 

 branch of the science, some useful books have 

 usually been available. Single works dealing 

 with the progress of a given era are much 

 scarcer, and, as already suggested, satisfactory 

 works covering the entire growth of the subject 

 are rare indeed. The natural compromise that 

 has resulted ds a combination of the lecture and 

 text-book method. To date this form seems to 

 have had the widest trial. Instead of depend- 

 ing upon one book only, the library facilities 

 may be drawn on so as to make use of many 

 authors in addition to the lecture notes. Papers 

 on these outside readings insure a fair degree 

 of application in their use. One teacher em- 

 ploys the lecture method mainly and assigns to 

 the students biographical topics only. In an- 

 other institution, where several courses in the 

 history of science are given, a text-book in one 

 of them serves as the nucleus about which the 

 course centers, but the class discussion is de- 

 voted mainly to points in a set of over four 

 hundred typewritten questions supplied by the 

 instructor. There are also reports on outside 

 reading. In the psychology classes, finding no 

 book suitable, the lecture method has been em- 

 ployed almost entirely. The same is true in 

 the history of pharmacy, but also for the addi- 

 tional reason that at the time of the report the 

 class had over one hundred and twenty mem- 

 bers. In medicine, at this institution, the lec- 

 ture method is supplemented by an assigned 

 paper on a historical subject to be chosen by 

 the student himself. 



In connection with this question of the form 

 of presentation of the subject, it is interesting 

 to note the method employed by one instructor 

 an chemistry. He wrote: 



I let the class decide which style they prefer. If 

 they are preparing to teach chemistry, they seem to 

 prefer a test-book, otherwise they choose the lec- 

 tures. 



He says nothing about any difficulty in getting 

 the members of the class to agree. 



Another method, and when it can be carried 

 out consistently, the one most in keeping with 

 the fact that any historical study should be an 

 attempt to see for one's self as clearly as pos- 

 sible just what has transpired, and what were 

 the immediate causes contributory to the vari- 

 ous progressive steps in the growth of the 

 science, is that where the lecture method is 

 combined with the reading of original sources. 

 Many a small college library contains much 

 material that may be used in this manner, e.g., 

 the Philosophical Transactions, and the scien- 

 tific journals that have been published during 

 the past century. Reprints of older sources are 

 now available on quite a number of subjects, 

 and fragments of original papers are often to 

 be found in encyclopaedia articles and else- 

 where, so that with diligent searching the in- 

 structor will usually be able to make a begin- 

 ning, and he may be surprised at the wealth of 

 material close at hand. 



The type of material obtainable from current 

 periodicals is too familiar to need discussion 

 here. The 'Readers' Guide will indicate the 

 main papers of the essay type which may be 

 found in popular magazines and which are 

 serviceable in a course on the history of science. 

 Wliere complete files of the older technical 

 journals are available, they will naturally be 

 put to almost constant use, although in one 

 institution now offering such a course it is de- 

 clared that there are " none used." In another, 

 the instructor in the history of chemistry re- 

 fers his pupils to " the best known chemical 

 journals, especially for their obituary notices." 

 Undoubtedly still other features of interest may 

 be found. 



Where the students are sufficiently ad- 

 vanced and equipped to handle foreign lan- 

 guages, their investigations are greatly facili- 

 tated, for aside from jjossibly a single 

 periodical in English dealing exclusively with 

 the history of science, there are several of 

 this type in Europe. 



One question that arises quite naturally in 

 the projection of a course on the history of 

 science, is whether it shall be of the " cul- 



