June 5, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



815 



department would soon reveal his error and 

 thereafter he could also see the situation in 

 the true light. 



In the small colleges a teacher will be in- 

 clined to call the attention of his students 

 to points of view which appear to be an im- 

 provement over those set forth in the text. 

 In fact, they will often call attention to 

 other text-books in which special subjects 

 are treated in a more satisfactory way. In 

 the future large universities under consid- 

 eration there are no temptations to indulge 

 in any speculations which would imply 

 that the text-book could be improved ex- 

 cept perhaps as regards typographical 

 errors or mistakes in the answers. 



The fifty teachers using the same book 

 are not tempted to waste their time and 

 energy by comparing other text-books with 

 the one in use. They are not tempted to 

 discuss with each other in a free way such 

 trivial questions as those involved in a 

 study of the order in which various parts of 

 the subject should be treated. All of these 

 questions have been settled for them by the 

 text-books which they are practically com- 

 pelled to use and they have plenty of time 

 for thoughts along other lines. 



One of the main advantages of this situ- 

 ation still remains to be mentioned. The 

 students are highly impressed by the fact 

 that local men are wise enough to write such 

 books as they are using. They actually 

 have seen once or twice the authors of their 

 text-books, and the university which has 

 such men on its faculty secures thereby a 

 strong claim for eminence and useful serv- 

 ice. This fact naturally appeals to the uni- 

 versity administration and helps to block 

 the way towards reform. 



Finally, a hopeful element appears in 

 this situation. Some crank begins to call 

 attention to the fact that injustice is being 

 done. Being a crank he keeps on enumera- 

 ting such things as follows : Is it reasonable 



to suppose that an elementary text-book 

 written by the administrative head of a de- 

 partment including fifty teachers should 

 meet the views of these teachers as well as 

 one selected by them from all the others on 

 the market? Would it not be well to ex- 

 clude by law text-books written by local 

 men in those cases where a considerable 

 number of different men are expected to 

 teach classes by means of the same text- 

 book? 



Statements like these, and conditions 

 enumerated above, naturally appeal to peo- 

 ple whose sensitiveness to questions of graft 

 has been greatly increased through de- 

 cades of newspaper agitation, and our crank 

 has an easier task than one might have sup- 

 posed. He receives newspaper support, 

 and legislative support follows. Laws are 

 enacted which restore the freedom of dis- 

 cussion of text-books even in these lai^e fu- 

 ture universities. In view of the fact that 

 these laws are enforced, this text-book graft 

 becomes a thing of the past. As a result, 

 the really meritorious college text-book lives 

 longer axid is consequently sold to the stu- 

 dent at a more reasonable price. 



Whether this glimpse into the future 

 university is justified by the present trencS 

 can not be considered here. Our aim was 

 to call attention to the dangers whose seri- 

 ousness naturally appeals to us in different 

 degrees. It is scarcely necessary to add 

 that these dangers are national in scope. 

 Whatever view we may have of them it 

 seems clear that we should consider their 

 bearings as behooves those engaged in re- 

 search. 



Text-book writing is sometimes attended 

 at present by a feature which appeared to 

 be too imjust to attribute to our future 

 large university. It has often happened in 

 large undergraduate classes that mimeo- 

 graphed notes which could scarcely be 

 deciphered by the students were substituted 



