456 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1004 



such cases a footnote can readily be added call- 

 ing attention to the actual state of affairs. 

 Where the enrollment at a summer session is 

 included, the item of double registration giv- 

 ing the number of students in attendance on 

 the summer session who returned for work in 

 the fall is of course unavoidable. 



So far as the individual tables of statistics 

 prepared by the oiEce of the registrar are con- 

 cerned, I consider the geographical distribu- 

 tion figures as among the most valuable, espe- 

 cially in view of the fact that these are not 

 prepared by the Commissioner of Education. 

 In the preparation of these statistics it should 

 be borne in mind that students are often in- 

 clined to enroll from the town or state in 

 which the institution in question is located, 

 instead of from their actual home. A distinc- 

 tion should be drawn, for example, between the 

 Chinese student who spends four years in this 

 country and returns to his native land, and the 

 student from Germany who enters one of our 

 professional schools and contemplates remain- 

 ing in this country. Statistics of birth are 

 also valuable, although rarely compiled. This 

 applies also to statistics indicating the voca- 

 tions of the students' fathers. 



In connection with tables illustrating 

 changes in enrollment covering a period of 

 years, attention should also be called to the 

 percentage of increase (or decrease), which is 

 usually more valuable in connection with 

 comparative statistics than a mere statement 

 of growth in student units. 



So far as tables illustrating specific items 

 of registration are concerned, I would respect- 

 fully recommend the suggestive tables and 

 diagrams included in the recently published 

 annual report of the registrar of the University 

 of Illinois,. which possess the merit of simplic- 

 ity and clearness. 



In my opinion the wide distribution of uni- 

 versity statistics is just as valuable as the 

 dissemination of statistical material compiled 

 by the census office, only it must always be 

 borne in mind that in connection with an edu- 

 cational institution size is by no means a 

 primary consideration. Entirely as much 

 fault may be found with an overgrown de- 



partment, school or university, as with an 

 overgrown boy, city or potato. It is always 

 necessary, in the case of comparative figures, 

 to read between the lines, although there is no 

 doubt of the fact that not infrequently the 

 large enrollment in a particular school is due 

 to the well-deserved reputation which this 

 school enjoys, as witness the Harvard Law 

 School, the Johns Hopkins Medical School 

 and the Columbia Graduate School. Any at- 

 tempt, however, especially on the part of over- 

 zealous alumni, to overemphasize size at the 

 expense of efilciency, should be deplored. In 

 this connection the following paragraph in the 

 last annual report of President Butler will be 

 of interest: 



The popular mind is easily impressed with size, 

 and particularly with large numbers. The faet 

 that Columbia University has under its Influence 

 and instruction many thousands of students is an- 

 nually heralded in the public press as entitling it 

 to claim precedence over other institutions at home 

 or abroad. Within the university itself no such 

 feeling prevails. The growth in numbers so 

 marked in recent years, is, of course, gratifying in 

 so far as it indicates that the curriculum, the 

 equipment, and particularly the teachers and in- 

 vestigators of Columbia are sought on their own 

 account. But we deplore growth in numbers unless 

 it were accompanied by a steady increase in the 

 quality of the students. . . . What should con- 

 cern us is the quality, the character and the 

 homogeneity of the several units of which the 

 total is composed. Eudolf Tombo, Jr. 



Columbia Univeksitt 



ARTHUR EENRY FIERCE 

 Ahthur Henry Pierce, for fourteen years 

 professor of psychology at Smith College, died 

 of pneumonia, after a brief illness, on Febru- 

 ary 20, at Northampton, Mass. He was born 

 in Westboro, Mass., July 30, 1867. He gradu- 

 ated at Amherst in 1888 and for two years 

 thereafter taught mathematics in the college. 

 His post-graduate studies in psychology were 

 pursued at Harvard, where he received the 

 master's degree in 1892 and the doctor's degree 

 in 1899, and at the universities of Berlin, 

 Strassburg and Paris, which he frequented in 

 the years 1894-1897. He was the first holder 



