358 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1055 



VNIVERSIIY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 The committee on education of the House 

 of Representatives has reported favorably a 

 bill establishing a National University in 

 Washington. According to the bill an initial 

 appropriation of $500,000 would be made. The 

 university would be devoted to research and 

 graduate work and no degrees would be con- 

 ferred. 



In its annual report to the board of educa- 

 tion of New York City, Superintendent Max- 

 well urges the need of appropriating ten mil- 

 lion dollars for elementary school buildings 

 in order that all children may be accommo- 

 dated. There is also said to be immediate 

 need of buildings for high schools and for vo- 

 cational schools. 



Estimates for 1915 appropriations for the 

 Massachusetts College and Station have been 

 submitted for $313,300 for maintenance and 

 additional appropriations as follows : Micro- 

 biology laboratory, $6Y,500; for the comple- 

 tion of the agricultural building, $122,500; 

 new dormitory, $40,000; enlargement of the 

 power plant, $30,000, and minor improve- 

 ments, $10,000. 



In view of the diiEculties of foreign travel 

 no fellows will be appointed by the Kahn 

 Foundation for the year 1915-16. 



Dr. Horace Grove DeminGj for the past 

 three years associate professor of chemistry in 

 the Philippine College of Agriculture, has 

 been appointed professor of chemistry and 

 chief of the department in the University of 

 the Philippines, filling the vacancy occasioned 

 by the death of Dr. Paul Caspar Preer. 



Dr. Andrew Hunter, formerly assistant 

 professor of biochemistry in Cornell Univer- 

 sity, has resigned the position of biochemist, 

 U. S. Public Health Service, in order to accept 

 the chair of pathological chemistry in the 

 University of Toronto. 



DISCUSSION AND COSSESPONDENCE 

 THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



To THE Editor op Science: I desire to ex- 

 press my hearty commendation of Dr. Libby's 



paper in the "History of Science," published 

 in Science for November 6, 1914. His paper 

 is one of the pioneers in this new and interest- 

 ing field of thought, and the expression of such 

 ideas needs further encouragement. 



It is apparent that the time is fairly well 

 upon us to give some definite consideration to 

 the value and place of the study of the 

 " History of Science," in the curricula of our 

 universities, colleges and technical schools. 



That this study represents a strong reac- 

 tionary movement from the over-materialistie 

 and specializing tendencies of the age in all 

 departments of human progress is evident, and 

 this is especially true in the sciences them- 

 selves. This reaction finds its development in 

 the present idealism in the German school of 

 science, where the historical method in the 

 study of the sciences, theoretical and empirical, 

 has been practised. 



Two other notable and interesting papers 

 in the past have contributed valuable sugges- 

 tions, emphasizing two essential pedagogic 

 points of view. The first treated the cultural 

 or intellectual values derived from the intimate 

 understanding of the problems of nature 

 through the scientific method, and the second 

 the historical perspective in the study of the 

 sciences. Dr. Geo. H. Mead,i of the depart- 

 ment of philosophy, lays special emphasis upon 

 the cultural aspect in the history of science. 

 In the last paragraph of his article he says: 



There is certainly no agent that can carry more 

 profound culture than the sciences, but our science 

 curriculum is poor in what may be called cultural 

 courses in the sciences, and the import of science 

 for culture has been slightly recognized and parsi- 

 moniously fostered. 



The value and importance of history as a 

 subject, and as a method, in the ordinary cul- 

 ture courses can not be denied; therefore the 

 study of nature or science with the historical 

 basis is equivalent to a power twice as great. 

 And when education as an instrument of prog- 

 ress emphasizes the cultural element, educa- 

 tion then becomes a potent force in making 

 and maintaining the civilization of the future. 



1 Science, N. S., Vol. XXIV., September, 1906, 

 pages 390-97. 



