894 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 939 



one of English, and electives, and the re- 

 quirements for admission to advanced 

 standing were further advanced. Again, 

 the tuition fee was raised to one hundred 

 and fifty dollars from a fee ranging from 

 one hundred to one hundred and forty dol- 

 lars. This increased tuition fee affected all 

 entering students either for the first year 

 class or for advanced standing. Under this 

 new requirement the registration for the 

 entering class dropped to 5 and the num- 

 ber received to advanced standing dropped 

 to 8, although 69 applied for advanced 

 standing and a very great number for ad- 

 mission to the first-year class. As a result 

 of the changes in the medical school, the 

 registration dropped in three years from 

 185 to 68, and the number will probably 

 decrease next year, as the last of the larger 

 entering classes on the old basis will pass 

 out. The registration of the college, where 

 the admission requirements have remained 

 the same, shows a fair increase. 



Western Reserve. — In 1911-12 the law 

 school became, as the medical school has 

 been for some years past, a graduate school. 



Wisconsin. — Of the 802 students in agri- 

 culture, 50 are graduate students, and of 

 the 728 in the engineering school, 20 are 

 graduate students. The figures for pharm- 

 acy are inclusive of 26 students enrolled in 

 the two-year pharmacy course, which does 

 not require four years of high school prep- 

 aration. The 5 students listed under 

 "other courses" are enrolled in the Wis- 

 consin library school, and are also counted 

 in letters and science. In addition there 

 are 31 students enrolled in the library 

 course, which does not require four years 

 of high school preparation. The figures 

 are also inclusive of the students enrolled 

 in the short courses in agriculture and in 

 dairying. Last year there were 424 in the 

 former and 133 in the latter. 



Yale. — The decrease in the enrollment in 



the law and medical departments is due to 

 the continued application of the recently 

 increased requirements for admittance to 

 these departments. The present general 

 requirement for admission to the Tale law 

 school is a bachelor's degree from a college 

 of approved standing. The general re- 

 quirement for admission to the medical 

 school is a college degree or evidence of 

 completion of at least two years of regular 

 college work. The registration in the first 

 year classes of the law school and medical 

 school is greater than the final registration 

 in the first-year classes of these schools for 

 last year. 



EuDOLP ToMBO, Jr. 



TEE FVB SEAL CENSUS 

 Ever since the fur seal herd of the Pribilof 

 Islands came into the possession of the United 

 States, through the purchase of Alaska, in 

 1867, one of the most important practical prob- 

 lems in connection with its management has 

 been the making of some sort of enumeration 

 or estimate of its numbers. The first attempt 

 was made in 1869 by Captain Charles Bryant, 

 first agent in charge of the herd. He esti- 

 mated that the animals occupied 18 miles of 

 shoreline to an average depth of 15 rods, 20 

 seals to the square rod, giving a total of 3,265,- 

 000 breeding seals and young. He did not 

 estimate the number of non-breeding seals, 

 animals of three years or under of both sexes. 

 A second attempt was made in 1872-74 by 

 Mr. Henry W. Elliott, a special agent of the 

 Treasury Department. He followed the same 

 method of gross estimate, refining somewhat 

 upon Captain Bryant's work, as it were, re- 

 ducing to feet and inches what his prede- 

 cessor had expressed roughly in miles and 

 rods. His breeding area differed radically 

 from that of Captain Bryant— 6,386,000 

 square feet instead of 23,500,000. He, how- 

 ever, assigned only 2 square feet to each indi- 

 vidual animal, whereas Captain Bryant gave 

 14 square feet. These over- and underesti- 

 mates practically balance each other and leave 



