May 9, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



447 



EDUCATIONAL NOTES AND NEWS 



ilR. AND Mrs. WiLLiAii FiTZHUGH have given 

 $12,000 to tlie medical school of Stanford 

 University for the purchase of one gram of 

 radium, for use in the actinography depart- 

 ment of the University Hospital. The net 

 income is to be used for clinic beds for in- 

 digent patients, particularly for those who 

 need either X-ray or radium treatment. 



Theodore Hoo\'er, consulting engineer, has 

 been appointed professor of mining and metal- 

 lurgy in Stanford University. 



Professor W. Lee Lewis, of Northwestern 

 University, has been elected chairman of the 

 department of chemistry to succeed Professor 

 A. Van Eps Young, who has recently retired. 

 Captain Lewis was in charge of Organic Re- 

 search Unit No. 3 of the Offense Research 

 Section, C. W. S. during 1918 and is at 

 present assisting Colonel W. D. Bancroft in 

 editing the researches of the American Uni- 

 versity Experiment Station. 



Dr. George "W. "Wilsox, of the Rockefeller 

 Institute for Medical Research, has been ap- 

 ]x>inted head of the department of pathology, 

 bacteriology and preventive medicine in the 

 Loyola University School of Medicine, 

 Chicago. 



JrLiAN G. Leach, of the University of 

 ^Minnesota, has been apiwinted assistant pro- 

 fessor of botany in the Colorado Agricultural 

 College. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



APROPOS OF THE PROPOSED HISTORICAL 

 SCIENCE SECTION 



In the April 4 nmnber of Scienxe, page 331, 

 Felix Neumann referred to a proposed " His- 

 torical Science " Section of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science 

 If the feasibility of forming such a section 

 is to be seriously considered during the meet- 

 ing at St. Louis it would be of interest to 

 know how the various sciences would probably 

 be affected by this section. As regards mathe- 

 matics, in particular, it is very difficult to 

 say what is historical mathematics and what 

 is non-historical mathematics. 



As early as 1640 the famous French matlie- 

 matician and philosopher R. Descartes wrote 

 as follows: 



I am accustomed to distinguish two things in the 

 mathematics, the history and the science. By his- 

 tory I mean what is already discovered, and is com- 

 mitted to books. And by the science, the skill of 

 resolving all questions. 



Since the days of Descartes the amount of 

 mathematics committed to books has increased 

 a himdredfold and hence the history of mathe- 

 matics up to the present time has outgrown 

 the powers of a single man. 



Successful mathematical investigators must 

 perforce be mathematical historians as regards 

 their fields of investigation. If these fields 

 are extensive the successful investigators 

 therein require an extensive historical knowl- 

 edge. Such men are, however, not commonly 

 known as mathematical historians but as 

 mathematical investigators. The former term 

 is usually reserved for those whose historical 

 studies include details relating to the older 

 developments, which usually have little con- 

 tact with modem advances. 



The historical mathematics which is of 

 greatest interest to the investigator engaged 

 in advancing mathematics is usually based on 

 considerable technical knowledge and hence 

 it would scarcely be treated in a section com- 

 posed largely of non-mathematicians. On the 

 other hand, the historical mathematics which 

 is now commonly known as mathematical his- 

 tory has extensive contact with the history 

 of other sciences and might profitably be 

 treated in such a section. The fact that the 

 proposed name " Historical Science " would 

 be too comprehensive as regards mathematics 

 can scarcely be regarded as a serious objection 

 since the questions which would normally 

 come before such a section would naturally be 

 determined by its membership. 



In a broad way it might perhaps be said 

 that the mathematical history suitable for 

 such a general section might include prac- 

 tically all the useful developments in this sub- 

 ject before the beginning of the eighteenth 



