August 10, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



131 



for comparison a similar analysis of the 

 earned degrees of 3,446 persons engaged in 

 any of the physical, chemical or biological 

 sciences (including medicine), whose names 

 appear in the 1915 edition of " Who's Who in 

 America." The inclusion of a name in this 

 publication indicates that its holder has at- 

 tained a certain amount of public eminence 

 though not necessarily of a kind indicated by 

 his degree. An analysis of the degrees of 

 these 3,446 persons shows that 48 per cent, 

 have the M.D. degree, 20 per cent, have the 

 M.D. only, 26 per cent, have the M.D. plus 

 the A.B. or its equivalent, 2 per cent, have 

 the M.D. plus the Ph.D., 23 per cent, have the 

 Ph.D. without the M.D. and 29 per cent, have 

 degrees other than M.D. or Ph.D. It there- 

 fore appears that in the field of physical, chem- 

 ical and biological sciences the sort of emi- 

 nence indicated by registry in " Who's Who " 

 has been attained by twice as many with the 

 degree of M.D. as with the degree of Ph.D. 



An analysis of similarly selected names in 

 " American Men of Science" was begim but 

 abandoned since it was fovmd that the latest 

 (1910) edition does not include the names of 

 many of the younger men who are largely re- 

 sponsible for the present progress of American 

 medicine. 



Until the later years of the last century the 

 teaching of medicine in America, except in a 

 very few schools, was a travesty on pedagogy. 

 During the present century it has probably 

 improved more than the teaching of any other 

 science. To-day the man who obtains the 

 M.D. degree from an institution with the 

 equivalent of the " Minnesota standard," t. e., 

 including a final year's hospital or laboratory 

 work, probably has quite as much scientific 

 ability as the man who obtains the Ph.D. or 

 D.Sc. degree from the same institution. This 

 seems to be proved by the time he must study, 

 by the character of the subject-matter of his 

 studies, and by the probability of his accom- 

 plishing something in science in after life. 

 If this be true and the M.D., Ph.D. and D.Sc. 

 degrees from high-grade institutions represent ' 

 an equivalent training, it must then appear 

 that the three years of graduate training in a 



special branch of medicine now offered by the 

 University of Minnesota should result in sci- 

 entific ability just three years "to the good" 

 of that represented by any one of the three 

 doctorate degrees. 



Louis B. Wilson 

 Mayo Clinic, 

 EocHESTER, Minn. 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE RESEARCH CORPORATION 



The Eesearch Corporation was incorporated 

 in the State of New York in 1912 on the 

 initiative of Dr. F. G. Cottrell, who gave to 

 it his patents concerning the process known 

 as the " electrical precipitation of suspended 

 particles." The objects of the corporation 

 are: 



First: To build up a business organization which, 

 so far as possible, should be a model of efficient 

 administration, for the purpose of demonstrating 

 the commercial value of the precipitation proc- 

 esses included in the original gift and of snch 

 other inventions as the corporation might acquire 

 by gift or otherwise, and of making such inven- 

 tions a source of profit. 



Second: From the profits so earned to accumulate 

 an endowment fund to be used for the intensive 

 study of scientific and industrial needs, and to 

 provide the means, through the testing of new 

 discoveries and through study, investigation and 

 experimentation, of supplying such needs. 



During the year 1916 the pioneer period in 

 the application and development of the elec- 

 trical precipitation processes may be said to 

 have been completed. The corporation, which 

 began with a cash capital of ten thousand 

 dollars, is now spending that amount every 

 month and has in its service a staff of forty- 

 five engineers and others engaged in field and 

 oiBce work. The assets of the corporation as 

 reported by the auditors on February IG, 1917, 

 in cash and securities, were $217,862.72. A 

 laboratory has been established and experts 

 have been employed to study the workings of 

 the precipitation processes, and, if possible, 

 to develop improvements and meet new prob- 

 lems. Careful consideration has also been 

 given to other patents and processes which 

 have been offered to the corporation, and 



