SCIENCE 



Friday, August 16, 1912 



CONTENTS 

 A National Vniversity, a National Asset; an 

 Instrumentality for Advanced Besearcfi: 

 President Chables Bichard Van Hise . . 193 



The National University: President Edmund 

 J. James 202 



Scientific Notes and News 210 



University and Educational News 2l3 



Discussion a/nd Correspondence : — 



The Corrosion of Iron and Steel : Dr. Aller- 

 TON S. CusHMAN. Itonidw vs. Ceddo- 



Dr. C. T. Brues 214 



Scientific BooTcs: — 



Williston on American Fermiam Verte- 

 brates: Professor Eichaed Swann Lull. 

 Marshall's Microbiology for Agricultural 

 and Domestic Science Students: Professor 

 H. W. Conn 216 



Special Articles: — 

 Studies on the Wilt Disease, or ' ' Flacheria ' ' 

 of the Gypsy Moth: R. W. Glaser, J. W. 

 Chapman. The Prolificness of Oamhusia: 

 Dr. H. M. Smith 219 



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

 review should be sent to the Editor of Science, Garrison-ou- 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, A NATIONAL 



ASSET; AN INSTRUMENTALITY FOR 



ADVANCED RESEARCH^ 



GUIDING PEINCIPLB 



At the outset the guiding principle may 

 be laid down that at Washington there is 

 no necessity for a university of a type 

 which exists elsewhere, no need of an addi- 

 tional university like the great endowed 

 and state institutions of the country. One 

 who advocates a national university at 

 Washington with the idea that it shall be 

 a larger Harvard, Tale, Columbia, Cornell 

 or Chicago, a larger Michigan, Illinois, 

 Wisconsin, Minnesota or California, will 

 fail in his advocacy, because he can not 

 give to congress a sufficient reason for the 

 expenditure of public funds for another 

 university of a kind of which there is a 

 sufficient number. Not only would such an 

 advocate be met by the above fact, but by 

 the fact that in Germany, where universi- 

 ties are most highly developed, they are 

 state, not national, institutions. 



If then it is not desirable to establish a 

 bigger Harvard at Washington, what is 

 the aim of those who are advocating a na- 

 tional university? It is to make available 

 for the advancement of knowledge the un- 

 paralleled facilities of Washington to grad- 

 uate students. 



At Washington are the Congressional 

 Library, the National Museum, the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, the Geological Survey, 

 the Bureau of Mines, the Naval Observa- 

 tory, the Public Health and Marine Hos- 

 pital Service, the Army and Medical Mu- 



' Prepared for the meeting of the National Edu- 

 cation Association, held in Chicago, July 6-12, 



1912. 



