1014 
hospitals, at each of which clinical instruc- 
tion is given. 
Congress has enacted that these vast col- 
lections and resources shall be available for 
higher education and research, but it has 
not provided the machinery for making 
them practically available. Asin the case 
of the grants of land to colleges, Congress 
provides facilities and indirectly the means, 
but it leaves to other agencies the task of 
devising ways and means to make them 
practically useful. 
The Government is obliged to train most 
of its specialists. Opportunities for post- 
graduate study and research exist at a few 
of the strongest universities, colleges and 
technical schools of the country, but at best 
the training given, except in a few branches, 
is of a preparatory character. Most Ameri- 
can youth who are ambitious to pursue 
higher study and research have little oppor- 
tunity, owing largely to the fact that the in- 
structor’s duties leave him scarcely any time 
for research and practical work with the stu- 
dent. Post-graduate students seek instruc- 
tors distinguished for research, even to the 
extent of undergoing many privations and 
leaving their country. In the city of Wash- 
ington the Government has assembled the 
largest body of original investigators to be 
found in any one place in the world. Most of 
these investigators are willing to train suit- 
ably qualified students, because of the as- 
sistance the students can give them in the 
work they have in charge, the method being 
to have the students do actual, practical 
work, and not to instruct them in the ordi- 
nary sense of the word. An unofficial in- 
quiry indicates the following as a possible 
number of instructors and students in the 
various departments and bureaus at Wash- 
ington : 
Instrue- Stu- 
tors. dents. 
1. History and diplomacy...:........,.... 1 5 
2. Historical research..,.......1...ssseseeee 5 10 
3. Library administration and methods 5 15 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. XIII. No. 339. 
le SVPRIAELSCS| can, concdonnacaonasehconceaxsosanone 2 5 
Os MaonetisM\icescsscceesensseskssenss== esas 1 2 
6. Meteorology.........c...csccsecscceeeseeers 5 15 
To AUNGIRS <cercraccconnosocoancobsonncotasnsonocosar 1 2 
8. National Standards (Bureau of )...... .... eee 
9. AStLONOMY «......0:.2cccsesecsseesearennees 3 8 
NOS, ay FHC esn0000encnoc0qca0poscq009000 000305000 2 3 
11. Hydrography .........:..ccecsncceeeeeaeees 5 10 
12. Cartography, et¢................0.scecuee 2 5 
13. Topography ..........ccsecnesseceeeseueees 10 20 
TEL, (UNE TUTETAY = sno0c0coonehacansneccacnosoocacod 6 10 
15. Mineral resOurces............scseeeeeeees 1 5 
UG, COE -coonsnnace qosecoocseosnneoosnecasen5 10 17 
17. Paleontology. ........c...secssecesceeceee 5 7 
18. Animal industry..............-........+0 10 25, 
19. Anthropology and ethnology......... 4 13 
QOF ZOOS Y, sn cvcnccsscrsnsreresssrscesneecseens 34 50 
OF. WOE Kcrcasoncooabsaaces cocadedonsacosndond 11 25 
PP), IAEA fsooscossssdos noccasoonooonosonOIOe 10 20 
133 272 
With the development of a well-consid- 
ered plan, just alike to the student and to the 
officers of the Government, the number of 
students—or, more strictly speaking, stu- 
dent assistants—would increase from year 
to year. Most of the students would natu- 
rally come from institutions of learning ; in 
all such cases the student should be certi- 
fied to the director of the Washington Me- 
morial Institution, and finally certified back 
to the parent institution after completing 
his work, such certificate to be based on 
the work done and the proficiency made. 
In the case of individual students not 
connected with any institution, let each 
prove his capacity to profit by the oppor- 
tunities, and then accredit him to the special 
officer who has charge of the field of work 
in which he may wish to study ; on satisfac- 
tory completion of the work undertaken, 
the certificate of the Washington Memorial 
Institution might be addressed ‘ Zo whom- 
soever it may concern.’ Students working in 
Government laboratories, museums and li- 
braries would be subject to the rules obtain- 
ing therein. 
It is the belief of many acquainted with 
the educational system of the country that 
