1006 
search to the educational organizations of 
the District of Columbia, but with the re- 
cent rapid growth of the Department of 
Agriculture, a considerable number of stu- 
dents have been given opportunity for 
study and practical training. Secretary 
Wilson has taken the lead in actually 
bringing qualified students into the Jabora- 
tories of a Government department and 
setting them to work. He has inaugurated 
a new class, called ‘ student assistants,’ and 
has demonstrated its practical value. In 
his report for 1898 he says :* 
George Washington, by his will, left property to 
be devoted to university education in the District of 
Columbia. There is no university in the land where 
the young farmer may pursue post-graduate studies 
in all the sciences relating to production. ‘The scien- 
tific divisions of the Department of Agriculture can, 
to some extent, provide post-graduate facilities. Our 
chiefs of division are very proficient in their lines ; 
our apparatus the best obtainable ; our libraries the 
most complete of any in the nation. We can direct 
the studies of a few bright young people in each di- 
vision, and when the department requires help, as it 
often does, these young scientists will be obtainable. 
They should be graduates of agricultural colleges 
and come to the Department of Agriculture through 
a system of examination that would bring the best 
and be fair to all applicants. The capacity of the 
department is limited, but something can be done 
that will indicate to Congress the value of the plan. 
The department often needs assistants to take the 
place of those who are tempted to accept higher sal- 
aries in State institutions. The opening of our lab- 
oratories to post-graduate work would provide an 
eligible list from which to fill vacancies as they oc- 
cur, supply temporary agents, and be a source from 
which Siate institutions might get assistance in scien- 
tific lines. 
The Department of Agriculture naturally 
turns to the professedly agricultural col- 
leges for its student assistants, but if other 
institutions gave their students such in- 
struction as would qualify them for the 
work of that department, there seems to be 
no good reason why they should be dis- 
criminated against. 
* Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture,’ 
1898, pp. 18, 19. 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. XIII. No. 339. 
As the development of the work pro- 
eressed in the scientific bureaus, it be- 
came impossible to find men qualified 
for the permanent positions open to them. 
Graduate students were obtainable, but 
they were without practical training for 
the work. The Civil Service Commis- 
sion was called on, but it had no eligi- . 
bles on its lists. The only way out of the 
difficulty seemed to be for the heads of 
the scientific bureaus to select bright, well- 
educated young men and train them; this 
they have been doing for several years. In 
the Geological Survey graduate students, 
being the best men available for temporary 
field assistants in both geologic and topo- 
graphic work, are given preference. The 
Survey cooperates with such institutions of 
learning as are willing to give the advanced 
instruction necessary to fit students to en- 
gage in the several special lines of investi- 
gation. This cooperation consists mainly 
in the employment of graduate students 
and instructors. A high standard is main- 
tained by the character of the examina- 
tions held for selecting temporary em- 
ployés. For example, in the examination 
for temporary geologic assistants held April 
23 and 24,1901, the applicants were obliged 
to meet the following requirements : 
First. To write an essay of more than a thousand 
words, setting forth either the course and results of 
an original geologic investigation by the applicant 
or the main features of the geology of some State. 
Second. To answer satisfactorily seven questions, 
so selected as to test the applicant’s knowledge of the 
science of geology in general. 
Third. To select one of the five specialties, stra- 
tigraphy, petrography, paleontology, physiography, 
and glaciology, and make clear the possession of an 
adequate knowledge thereof. 
The weight given to the various subjects 
was as follows: 
Geological essay, including compo- 
sition and drawing.................++ 30 per cent. 
General Geology.........ccecesereeeeeaeees 15 per cent. 
Special geology..............:.sssseeeseaee 25 per cent. 
Education and experience 30 per cent. 
