Mabch 14, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



251 



too good a psychologist to attempt to 

 "sell" this idea to an academic audience. 

 In a time when many things seem un- 

 certain, and there are some reasons for 

 grave anxiety, hope and courage are found 

 in the idea of the iiniversity, a center of 

 research, of scientific idealism, of pro- 

 fessional pride, and of loyalty to the com- 

 munity entering the field of public health. 

 Here men and women are to be trained to 

 serve their fellows, to help to bring in a 

 better social order in which health shall be 

 interpreted in ever wider and nobler ways. 

 We cling still to the dream of Francis 

 Bacon, the \ision of a people served by a 

 brotherhood of scholars who give them- 

 selves gladly that knowledge may enrich 

 and bless the lives of all. May the Ameri- 

 can univei'sity strive always to deserve the 

 verdict of the citizens of the New Atalantis 

 upon Salomon's House, "the noblest foun- 

 dation, as we think, that was ever upon the 

 earth, and the lantern of this kingdom." 

 George E. Vincent 



THE MEASUREMENT AND UTILIZA- 

 TION OF BRAIN POWER IN 

 THE ARMY, II. 



Military Applications of Mental Ratings. 

 — The sample distribution curves of Fig. 1 

 indicate the value of mental ratings for the 

 identification and segregation of different 

 kinds of military material. The illiterate 

 group of this figure was examined by 

 means of Beta, all other groups by means 

 of Alpha. 



Comparison of various military groups 

 distinguished from one another by actual 

 attainment in the service shows that the 

 psychological tests discriminate between 

 these groups with definiteness. This point 

 may be illustrated by reference to the per- 

 centages of men of different groups making 

 A and B grades in Examination Alpha: 

 officers, 83.0 per cent.; officers' training 



school candidates, 73.2 per cent. ; sergeants, 

 53.4 per cent. ; corporals, 39.7 per cent. ; 

 literate privates, 18.8 per cent. The com- 

 parison of measures of central tendency 

 reveals equally striking differences. More- 

 over, within the officer group itself sig- 

 nificant differences appear for different 

 branches of the service. 



The relation of success or failure in 

 officers' training schools to intelligence rat- 

 ings is exhibited by Fig. 2, in wliich it is 

 to be noted that elimination through failure 

 in the school increases rapidly for ratings 

 below C -}-. Of men rating above C +, 

 8.65 per cent, were eliminated; of those 

 below C +, 52.27 per cent. The data for 

 this figure were obtained from three 

 schools with a total enrollment of 1,375 

 men. 



Similarly Fig. 3 shows the relation be- 

 tween success or failure in non-commis- 

 sioned officers' training schools and intelli- 

 gence ratings. The elimination increases 

 rapidly for grades below C -\-. Of men rat- 

 ing above C, only 18.49 per cent, were 

 eliminated; of men rating below C, 62.41 

 per cent. The results presented in this 

 figure were obtained from four schools 

 with a total enrollment of 1,458 men. 



Increasingly extensive and effective use 

 has been made of the psychological rating 

 as an aid in the selection of men for 

 officers' training schools, non-commissioned 

 officers' training schools and other lines of 

 training or service which require special 

 ability. It has been convincingly demon- 

 strated that the data of psychological ex- 

 aminations can readily be u.sed to diminish 

 the necessary elimination during training 

 and thus to increase the efficiency of the 

 schools. 



The extreme differences in the intel- 

 lectual status of army groups are fairly 

 indicated by Fig. 4, which presents the 

 data for groups whose military impor- 



