April 3, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



491 



evening primroses. The extensive studies 

 which I have made on the pollen and spore 

 conditions in the higher plants from the 

 mosses upwards, which will be detailed and 

 illustrated elsewhere, make the conclusion 

 apparently unavoidable, that the Onagracese 

 in general and the genus (Enothera in par- 

 ticular, are peculiarly subject to spontaneous 

 hybridization in nature. It follows of course 

 that no genus or group of plants could have 

 been more unfortunately chosen to illustrate 

 the origin of species by mutation or saltatory 

 evolution. Obviously we must in the light of 

 the considerations advanced above, interpret 

 the variability of the seedlings of QHnothera 

 species, particularly of those of 0. lamarck- 

 iana of De Vries, as evidence of ancestral 

 hybridization, on the evidence of the very 

 significant pollen conditions revealed both by 

 the genus under discussion and by many mem- 

 bers of the family to which it belongs. 



The mutation theory of De Vries appears 

 accordingly to lag useless on the biological 

 stage and may apparently be now relegated to 

 the limbo of discarded hypotheses. The zeal, 

 industry and insight of the distinguished plant 

 physiologist of Amsterdam can not be too 

 highly appreciated. Even although his hy- 

 pothesis must apparently be given up both on 

 morphological and genetical grounds, it has 

 nevertheless been the cause of a great deal 

 of valuable work, which will remain after the 

 motive of it has disappeared. The present 

 refutation has been undertaken in the inter- 

 est of biological progress in this country. It 

 is now high time, so far as the so-called muta- 

 tion hypothesis, based on the conduct of the 

 evening primrose in cultures, is concerned, 

 that' the younger generation of biologists 

 should take heed lest the primrose path of 

 dalliance lead them imperceptibly into the 

 primrose path to the everlasting bonfire. 



Edward C. Jeffrey 



Harvard University 



DEMOCRACY IN VNIVEESITY ADMINIS- 

 TBATIOm 



A DISCUSSION of the topic assigned to me in 

 this conference might be as brief as the fam- 



ous chapter on snakes in the Natural History 

 of Iceland, or, to use a more modern instance, 

 as a review of Mr. Taft's activities in sub- 

 version of the courts and the constitution. 

 There is no democracy in university adminis- 

 tration. But we can consider the conditions 

 and the remedies. 



The situation of a teacher has aspects in- 

 herently undemocratic. He has arbitrary au- 

 thority over the conduct and intellectual life 

 of his students, and is paid by superior ofBcials 

 to discipline and teach as they prescribe. The 

 professor may lecture to his classes " als dictirt 

 euch der heilig' Geist," and in other academic 

 relations may realize that silence is silver and 

 flattery gold. To be half tyrant and half 

 slave does not strike the average of a free 

 man. The pedagogue may be expert in his 

 narrow field, while he is segregated from the 

 larger life of his fellow men. His salary is 

 safe and small; his clothes are black and 

 threadbare; he is very respectable, but only 

 half respected. The inevitable difficulties we 

 emphasize by providing on the one side a 

 system of education which does not carry its 

 own appeal and must be enforced by examina- 

 tions, grades, degrees, compulsory attendance 

 and the like, while on the other side a system 

 of administration has developed which puts 

 the professor in a position of personal depend- 

 ence. He is not only unfree in the sense of 

 the domestic servant, whose wages, work, com- 

 pany, habits and Saturdays off are set by the 

 employer, but he is also unfree in the sense 

 of the slave in that he is held to his place by 

 forces that he can not resist. This may be in 

 part caricature, like the typical professor of 

 the novel or play who hunts beetles, while his 

 daughter or wife engages in flirtation, but a 

 caricature may depict and enforce the truth. 



A less obvious but equally undemocratic 

 aspect of the academic career is due to the 

 fact that the university professor earns his 

 living by teaching and the conduct of aca- 

 demic routine, while society depends on him 



1 Bead at the conference on ' ' The Relation of 

 Higher Education to the Social Order, ' ' arranged 

 by the council of the Religious Education Asso- 

 ciation, Tale "University, March 5, 1914. 



