November 29, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



735 



or more than meet the two years college 

 entrance requirement. 



"When we add to these the eight schools 

 which do not permit research or allow it 

 only in the summer, namely : 



1. Atlanta College of Physicians and Sur- 



geons, 



2. Jefferson Medical College, 



3. McGill University, 



4. University of North Carolina, 



5. University of Pittsburgh, 



6. University of Tennessee, 



7. University of Texas, 



8. University of Toronto, 



we have grouped the lukewarm and nega- 

 tive side of the whole proposition. Not one 

 of this last group requires two years of col- 

 lege work. 



Third Question 

 How do you select men for such work — is it 

 done entirely by the department to which they 

 apply or do you have a faculty committee to deal 

 with such applications? 



Tulane University requires that research 

 men, after being passed upon favorably by 

 the department to which they have applied, 

 obtain the consent of the dean and presi- 

 dent of the university. All other schools 

 have the selection in the hands of the de- 

 partments alone. 



"Without going into every answer, it may be 

 given as the strong opinion of all the schools 

 that only certain men should be allowed to 

 undertake original investigation. "Where 

 there are elective hours which may be filled 

 by research, it is always carefully stated 

 that the selection is controlled by "previ- 

 ous standing," "special fitness," etc., so 

 that those who would probably become un- 

 successful investigators are barred from 

 starting and take other elective hours in 

 line with the regular work. The whole pol- 

 icy of furthering undergraduate research 

 is, therefore, levelled at a small number of 

 men, and it is most significant to know that 



many of our greatest schools find it worth 

 while to pursue such a policy. 



My answers to this question emphasize 

 another fact. Research spirit is fostered 

 by example, not by coaxing. Free hours 

 are given which may be filled by research, 

 but permission to so fill them is in the na- 

 ture of a prize. As Dr. Howell says, "the 

 researchers become marked men," and Dr. 

 Christian, 



The medical curriculum should be elastic enough 

 to allow each student a certain amount of time 

 which he may occupy in accordance with his own 

 ideas. Most students will and should occupy this 

 time in studying a little deeper some of their 

 regular subjects. The occasional student will 

 occupy it in some form of investigation. The 

 latter type of student, I ajn inclined to think now, 

 finds time for investigation. [Note, page 55, 

 Harvard gives more chance for such students than 

 any other school except Eush.] You can not cre- 

 ate such students by any rule. Any systematic 

 move to develop research work among the students 

 appears to me, on the whole, to be farcical, because 

 original investigation is not so produced. No stu- 

 dent should be encouraged to neglect his regular 

 work for investigation. The brighter student can 

 do his original work after he has kept pace with 

 his classmates. 



This expresses the view which should be 

 taken of the whole matter. It does not 

 come from a school where undergraduate 

 research is forbidden nor where it is made 

 an ornament of the catalogue, but from one 

 which furthers it in every way in the right 

 men. That is the inevitable conclusion 

 from this study — not unlimited, uncon- 

 trolled-hours, which is the meaning of the 

 word elective to most people, but controlled 

 and counted hours for men who must 

 justify their selection or suffer from their 

 failures, just as men must suffer who do not 

 do their work in any one of the prescribed 

 courses. 



Question Four 



Do you believe that the original work turned 

 out by these men justifies the time that they have 

 taken from their course? 



