December 21, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



797 



ing the university sessions. The remainder of the 

 students found their lodgings in Oakland, San 

 Francisco, and other nearby cities and towns. 

 During the past twelve years the proportion of 

 students lodging in Berkeley has increased 

 steadily. In 1905-6, 78.6% of the under- 

 graduate students and 75.4% of the graduate 

 students had their lodgings in the University 

 town. This great increase took place in spite of 

 the fact that during these twelve years there were 

 remarkable improvements in the means of inter- 

 urban transportation in this vicinity. One might 

 have supposed that this increased convenience in 

 transportation would have induced a relatively 

 larger number of students to live in Oakland or 

 San Francisco or Alameda. Happily for the soli- 

 darity of university life and spirit, no such result 

 has come about. 



During the weeks following the earthquake and 

 fire in April last, many thousands of people from 

 San Francisco made their homes in the suburban 

 towTis, including Berkeley. For a time it seemed 

 as if the students of the summer session would 

 not be able to find lodgings in Berkeley. Even 

 more strongly it was feared that accommodations 

 for the 2,500 or more students who were to be 

 registered during the regular session beginning in 

 August, would be far from adequate. There were 

 not wanting prophets who declared that it would 

 be necessary for the students to live in tents or 

 portable houses or to find rooms in Oakland or in 

 settlements miles from the university. It is 

 found, however, that the number of under- 

 graduate students who have taken lodgings here 

 in Berkeley this year is two per cent, greater 

 than one year ago. As for the graduate stu- 

 dents, the relative increase in Berkeley residents 

 is 5.1%. 



For the student who finds it necessary to 

 economize, the cost of comfortable board and 

 lodging in Berkeley is estimated to have in- 

 creased not to exceed 10%, which increase is 

 doubtless a temporary condition following the 

 influx of San Francisco residents in and after 

 April last. In many of the students' clubs and 

 fraternities there has been no increase at all in 

 living expenses. 



Perhaps the most distinctive new feature of 

 our university life during the past year has been 

 the series of university symphony concerts, given 

 in the Greek theater under the direction of Pro- 

 fessor J. Frederick Wolle, who began his work 

 in the university as professor of music in Sep- 

 tember, 1905. The first series of symphony con- 

 certs was begun in February and continued until 



May. The maximum attendance at any one per- 

 formance reached 7,000 and at no time fell below 

 4,000. A second series is now being given and 

 will be continued until late in November. 



One of the most notable acquisitions of the 

 past year is the Bancroft historical library of 

 50,000 volumes and 125,000 manuscripts, which 

 has recently become the property of the univer- 

 sity. Following the installation of this library, 

 there has been established an academy of Pacific 

 Coast history. 



As for the University of Chicago, atten- 

 tion has been called to the fact that it is 

 very difficult to compare the enrollment at 

 Chicago with that of other institutions, 

 on account of the four-quarter system in 

 vogue at the former institution, during 

 each or all of which a student may be in 

 residence. ^ To quote from the Boston 

 Evening Transcript of October 20: 



To enable an exact comparison of student at- 

 tendance with that of other institutions having 

 the customary three-quarter (equal to nine 

 months) system, the attendance of students is 

 usually reduced to the three-quarter system. A 

 student in residence one-quarter equals one-third 

 of a imit; in residence two-quarters equals two- 

 thirds of a unit; in residence three-quarters 

 equals one unit; and in residence four-quarters 

 equals four-thirds of a unit. On this three- 

 quarter basis the total enrollment for 1905-6 

 would be 3,205. The attendance during the sum- 

 mer quarter of 1906 was the largest in the his- 

 tory of Chicago summer quarters. The total 

 registration for the first term of the summer of 

 1906 was 2,385, as against 1,999 in 1905, showing 

 a gain of 19.3%. The attendance the second 

 term was 1,583, as against 1,347 last year, a 

 gain of 17.5%. The total number of different 

 students for the entire summer of 1906 is 2,702; 

 the total number of different students in both 

 terms in 1905 was 2,293, showing a gain of 17.8%. 

 Gains were distributed rather uniformly through 

 the different schools and colleges, the largest 

 percentage of gain, however, being in the divinity 

 school; the college of education also showed a 

 large increase in attendance. Of the total num- 

 ber of students in the different schools, 2,702, 

 it may be added that 1,308 were men and 1,394 

 were women. 



An inspection of the accompanying table 

 will show that there has been a slight de- 

 crease in the total registration of Columbia 



