May 12, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



515 



quired by the Hahnemann Medical College of 

 Philadelphia, where it is now deposited. He 

 spared no effort or expense to make it as com- 

 plete as possible. ^ _. 



Gael Hering 



THE TEACHING OF EVOLUTION IN THE 

 BAPTIST INSTITUTIONS OF TEXAS 



The teaching of evolution in the Baptist 

 denominational schools in Texas is being in- 

 vestigated as heretical. The denomination is 

 strong in membership and maintains about 15 

 colleges and seminaries in the state, the chief 

 cf which is Baylor University at Waco. It 

 appears that the trouble arose as the result of 

 the publication in 1920, by the Baylor Univer- 

 sity Press itself, of an "Introduction to the 

 Principles of Sociology," by Grove Samuel 

 Dow, Professor of Sociology in Baylor Univer- 

 sity. The book is based upon the theory of 

 evolution wherever it touches upon the bio- 

 logical aspects of sociology, although the term 

 biological evolution is scarcely or not at all 

 used in the text. At a recent conference of 

 representatives of the Baptists of all parts of 

 the state, such teachings were pronounced 

 heresy, and a sweeping investigation is being 

 made of all of the Baptist schools of the state 

 to determine how much "heresy" is being 

 taught. Professor Dow has resigned his posi- 

 tion. 



A somewhat related situation has existed at 

 Southern Methodist University, Dallas, where 

 the teaching of Dr. John A. Rice, Professor of 

 Old Testament Interpretation, has created the 

 severe opposition of a large part of his church. 

 Dr. Rice's book, "The Old Testament in the 

 Life of Today," looks upon the Old Testament 

 as a series of independent historical papers, 

 each subject to its own interpretation. Many 

 are considered as having been revised by sev- 

 eral authors before they have reached their 

 present form. Each is regarded as a literary 

 production, subject to all of the rules of liter- 

 ary interpretation; this introduces a personal 

 factor into any understanding of the Old 

 Testament, and completely , does away with 

 literal interpretations. Dr. Rice has also left 



his position, to become pastor of a Methodist 

 church in another state. 



S. A. R. 



THE METRIC CAMPAIGN 



Mr. Halset's recent letter in Science is of 

 interest in view of the hearings that have been 

 held during the past few months on the Britten- 

 Ladd Bill. It was made clear in these hearings 

 that wire, for instance, is readily defined as a 

 2 millimeter wire (2 mm in diameter) or, by a 

 less convenient method, as a wire 0.079 inch in 

 diameter. An inferior method is to refer to 

 such a wire as a No. 46 Stubs' wire (2.01 mm 

 or 0.079 inch) or a No. 14 Birmingham 

 (Stubs') wire (2.11 mm or 0.083 inch). There 

 are at least three other gages that have been 

 used to a greater or less extent. It was shown 

 in the metric hearings that if this convenient 

 metric method continued to prevail, certain 

 gage manufacturers would lose the advertising 

 value connected with the use of their gages. 

 It furthermore developed that it was a gage 

 manufacturer who had organized what opposi- 

 tion he could in order to fight the metric sys- 

 tem, had contributed $1,000 from his firm and 

 had brought about the employment of Mr. 

 Halsey in his metric fight. Mr. Halsey had 

 profited by his anti-metric efforts in the past. 

 His own words in this controversy were "We 

 have killed the metric system before and we 

 will kill it again." We have no objection to 

 Mr. Halsey's attempted slaughter of the metric 

 system. Readers of Science, however, may be 

 unaccustomed to his method of argument. In 

 his recent letter, for instance, he endeavors to 

 make it appear that Professor E. C. Bingham 

 of Lafayette CoUege is "naive" and ignorant 

 regarding weights and measures, and that there- 

 fore he should not be encouraged in the suc- 

 cessful campaign to secure the use of metric 

 weights and measures throughout the industry 

 in which he is an expert. Professor Bingham's 

 many friends and acquaintances do not need to 

 be told that he is unusually well informed and 

 proficient in his work. 



Mr. Halsey's use of the title "Commissioner" 

 is also of interest. This has led a few people to 

 believe for a time that Mr. Halsey in some 



