OCTOBER 6, 1899. ] 
‘Moreover, the typical business man cannot, 
in the nature of the case, be successful in such 
a post. His standards of success are the re- 
verse of educational. Underneath the tempor- 
ary appearance of external prosperity which 
such a president might bring, there is almost 
certain to be the dry rot of educational neglect. 
The more important the college or university, 
the more surely it needs expert educational 
supervision. For this there is no possible sub- 
stitute. Like a city school system, a college or 
university needs someone in its administration 
who knows and understands its educational ac- 
tivity in every part, who can distinguish real 
teaching from sham teaching, and the force of 
whose personal inspiration will be felt in every 
department. Those who remember the ad- 
ministration of President McCosh of Princeton, 
well understand what this means. 
“The four new presidents are men of this 
type. They are men of strong personality, and 
each will leave his mark for good upon the in- 
stitution which has honored him, All four are, 
in a large sense, men of affairs, and may be ex- 
pected to relate their institutions more closely 
than ever to the life and thought of the time. 
This new impulse is particularly needed at 
Yale, where what we believe to be an unfortu- 
nate and dangerous policy of educational isola- 
tion has long been pursued. To overcome that 
isolation, and to restore Yale to its legitimate 
place as a progressive educational influence are 
likely to be two of the most noteworthy 
achievements of President Hadley’s administra- 
tion.”’ 
THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 
THE Commissioner of Education, of the Pub- 
lic Schools, of the State of Rhode Island, Thos. 
B. Stockwell, has issued the following circular : 
To THE SCHOOL OFFICERS AND TEACHERS OF THE 
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND : 
I desire to call your attention to the efforts now 
being made in this State by the Audubon Society for 
the preservation of our native birds. From reliable 
statistics it is evident that unless some active meas- 
ures are speedily taken, their number will be very 
much reduced and some varieties will become extinct. 
The value of the birds, from various points of 
view, is incalculable. Asa protection to the farmer 
against the ravages of countless forms of insect life, 
SCIENCE. 
501 
as a source of joy and satisfaction to every loyer of 
nature, they minister both to our material and our 
eesthetic interest. Indeed, it was not till within a few 
years that the Department of Agriculture, through a 
loug course of accurate observations, determined be- 
yond a question the economic value of almost every 
native bird in his relation to the various forms of veg- 
etation ; and it is no longer debatable whether the 
inroads of certain pests destructive to certain forms 
of vegetation are not due quite largely to the scarcity 
of the birds. 
Asany improvement in this matter must be brought 
by imparting more correct information about the 
birds, it is evident that the public schools, and es- 
pecially those of the country sections, afford the most 
effective means for the dissemination of the facts, and 
the awakening of a life interest in the protection of 
bird life. The new movement towards Nature Study, 
which has recently been manifested and is spreading 
quite rapidly through the schools, furnishes the 
natural channel by means of which instruction and 
information on this subject may be readily brought 
before the children, and through them to the people 
generally. 
The more our children are brought into the right 
touch with nature, and especially with such beautiful 
creatures as the birds, the more certain it is that their 
minds and hearts will be filled with right sentiments 
and feelings, and that their characters will be moulded 
aright. 
To that end then I bespeak your cordial interest in 
this general subject, and your codperation with the 
plans of the Audobon Society for the protection of 
our feathered friends. 
THE COMPANIONS OF POLARIS. 
Proressor W. W. CAMPBELL, of Lick Obser- 
vatory has made the following statement in re- 
gard to his discovery that Polaris or the North 
Star is a triple system : 
The observations of Polaris were made with 
the Mill’s spectroscope attached to the thirty- 
six-inch telescope. From the well-known 
principle of the shifting of the lines in the spec- 
trum of a star, we can determine whether the 
star is approaching or receding from the obser- 
vers and how rapidly. For most stars the 
velocity is constant. For some stars the veloc- 
ity is variable, due to the attractions of com- 
panion stars. 
The recent observations of Polaris at Lick 
Observatory show that its velocity is variable. 
It is approaching the solar system now with a 
