356 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVI. No. 1189 



Harvard University and recently elected head 

 of tlie department of psychology at the Uni- 

 versity of Minnesota, is chairman of the 

 committee, and has been made a major in the 

 Sanitary Corps of the Army in charge of the 

 Section of Psycholpgy, which has been estab- 

 lished in the office of the Siirgeon General. 



A number of committees were organized 

 and are now at work on different problems con- 

 nected with the conduct of the war and 

 national efficiency, partly under the auspices 

 of the office of the Surgeon General and partly 

 in the office of the Adjutant General. In- 

 formation concerning the work of the com- 

 mittee on the psychological examination of 

 recruits has been communicated to the press. 

 The members of that cominittee are E. M. 

 Terkes, W. V. Bingham, professor of psy- 

 'chology, Carnegie Institute of Technology, 

 Pittsburgh; H. H. Goddard, director of re- 

 search, the Training School, Vineland, N. J.; 

 T. H. Haines, professor of medicine, Ohio 

 State University; L. M. Terman, professor of 

 educational psychology, Stanford University; 

 F. L. Wells, psychopathologist, McLean Hos- 

 pital, Waverley, Mass.; and G. M. Whipple, 

 professor of educational psychology. Univer- 

 sity of Illinois. This committee met continu- 

 ously for two weeks planning methods and 

 tests. The seven men then separated, went to 

 various parts of the country and applied the 

 methods in actual practise. After making 

 about 500 examinations they gathered again 

 for two weeks and worked over the methods. 



Six weeks after the first gathering of these 

 psychologists, their test sheets, report blanks, 

 etc., were ready for the printer. Arrange- 

 ments were made for a trial of the method 

 under working conditions with large numbers 

 of men. About 4,000 men in regular organi- 

 zation camps, officers' training camps and 

 naval stations, were examined, and special at- 

 tention was given to correlating the ratings 

 from the psychological examinations with the 

 ratings prepared by the usual army methods. 



The results of these thousands of examina- 

 tions were sent to Columbia University, where, 

 under the direction of Professor Thorndike 

 and with the cooperation of Professor Cattell, 



Professor Woodworth and other members of 

 the department of psychology, ten assistants 

 and computers worked a month assembling 

 and analyzing the statistical results. Again 

 the seven psychologists went over their 

 methods in the light of these 4,000 examina- 

 tions to make further improvements. 



The psychological examinations are now in 

 progress in four of the national army canton- 

 ments: Camp Devens, at Ayer, Mass.; Camp 

 Dix, at Wrightstown, N. J.; Camp Lee, at 

 Petersburg, Va. ; and Camp Taylor, at Louis- 

 ville, Ky. There are about 160,000 men to be 

 examined in these cantonments, and each will 

 receive an intelligence rating as a resiilt of 

 the psychological examination. 



The work is undertaken, first, to supplement 

 the medical examination and second, to give 

 line officers estimates of the mental ability 

 and special aptitudes of their men. Eeports 

 of the psychological examinations will be 

 made to the chief surgeon of the camp or the 

 psychiatric officer in order that those mentally 

 incompetent may be considered for discharge, 

 and to the regimental and company officers in 

 order that they may use this additional in- 

 formation concerning their men for the im- 

 provement of the service. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Dr. Otto Klotz has been appointed chief 

 astronomer and director of the Dominion 

 Astronomical Observatory at Ottawa. 



Dr. Salvador Debenedetti has been ap- 

 pointed to the directorship of the Museo 

 Etnografico at Buenos Aires, in place of 

 the recently deceased Dr. Juan B. A m bro- 

 setti. 



Clarence Ebaugh, professor of chemistry 

 in Denison University, is on leave of absence 

 for the year 1917-18, to serve as chairman 

 of the Council of National Defense for the 

 state of Utah. 



Dr. John Preston, superintendent of the 

 State Insane Hospital, Austin, has been ap- 

 pointed by the Medico-Psychological Society 

 to organize neuropsychiatric hospital units 

 to be attached to the base hospitals and other 



