812 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1014 



otherwise develop into gross irreg'ularities. 

 High ideals as regards public actions are 

 not likely to prevail in a society where the 

 discussion of public practises is in disfavor, 

 since fear of exposure is one of the most 

 useful instruments to regulate public prac- 

 tises. 



One of the most common university prac- 

 tises which is at least closely related to graft 

 is inefficient teaching. Too many of us 

 neglect our obligations to our students. 

 These obligations include a vigorous schol- 

 arly development on the part of the teacher. 

 In the eases where an instructor gives grad- 

 uate courses these obligations also include 

 a vigorous growth in research ability, but 

 they are not confined to such development 

 and growth. This is, however, the side to 

 which we shall pay most attention on this 

 occasion. 



Probably one reason why many of us do 

 not consider more seriously our obligations 

 to our students is based on the fact that 

 there has been a rapid improvement during 

 recent years as regards the teaching duties 

 of the American university instructor. Too 

 many of us have not learnt to use our free- 

 dom as rapidly as it has come to us. When 

 an instructor has been oppressed with fif- 

 teen or twenty hours of instruction per 

 week, in addition to directing graduate 

 work, and finds this yoke of oppression 

 gradually lifted, he does not always as- 

 sume promptly the new obligations which 

 this freedom implies. 



It is, however, important for the younger 

 members of our profession, and especially 

 for those who are just now entering our 

 ranks, to realize that holding a university 

 position unworthily is a kind of scholarly 

 graft which might perhaps be kno'mi as the 

 incompetency graft. It seems verj' likely 

 that with the improvement of conditions 

 there will come higher ideals, and that in 

 the future a higher degree of efficiency will 



be demanded than could reasonably have 

 been demanded in the past. 



A kind of scholarly graft which is still 

 too common is connected with the assign- 

 ment of subjects for graduate theses. Some 

 instructors, on meeting a problem which in- 

 volves an unusual amount of drudgery, 

 seem to regard it as legitimate to lay such 

 a problem aside until they can find a stu- 

 dent who will take it as a thesis subject. 

 There is no surer way to kill all research 

 ambition on the part of the student, nor is 

 there a surer way to secure his permanent 

 disrespect for the teacher and the subject. 



It is simply another expression of the ig- 

 noble spirit Avhich leads some men to re- 

 gard the young and helpless as their legiti- 

 mate prey. The teacher who does not do 

 his best to find attractive and far reaching 

 theses subjects for his graduate students is 

 certainly not ideally qualified for a position 

 in the graduate school. The use of gradu- 

 ate students to promote the interest of the 

 teacher is simply a type of scholarly graft 

 which we may call the promoter graft. 

 Moreover, it is one of the most despicable 

 types in existence in view of the fact that 

 it aiifects those who have not yet formed 

 strong scholarly habits. 



The promoter graft presents itself in 

 many other forms. One of the most com- 

 mon of these is an undue emphasis on the 

 work done by the teacher himself. What is 

 still more pernicious is to offer courses 

 mainly with a view to learning a subject or 

 with a view to writing a paper on a partic- 

 ular subject. It is difficult to prescribe 

 proper limits along these lines. Research 

 enthusiasm can generally be conveyed to 

 students most effectively by the man who is 

 himself profoundly interested in his sub- 

 ject, and who knows exactly how far the 

 subject has been developed. Work along 

 the border line between the known and the 

 unknown has the greatest fascination, espe- 



