December 21, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



'99 



Universiiy in comparison with last year, 

 the decrease being due primarily to losses 

 in several of the professional faculties. 

 Columbia College shows a considerable in- 

 crease over last year, the registration in 

 this faculty having reached the high-water 

 mark. There will no doubt be forty or 

 fifty new students in February, which 

 would bring the total registration at the 

 close of the year to about 650, as against 

 589 for 1905-6. The entering class in the 

 College is the largest in its history. Bar- 

 nard College continues to show an increase 

 and the figures will probably pass the 400 

 mark before the close of the year. The 

 graduate faculties of political science, phi- 

 losophy and pure science all have practi- 

 cally as many students as they had last year. 

 This year for the first time the period of 

 registration was reduced considerably, and 

 as a result a number of students who did 

 not report at the university in time failed 

 to register altogether. The faculty of ap- 

 plied science again shows a decrease over 

 the preceding year, although the number 

 of new students is equal to that of last year. 

 The requirements for advancement in this 

 faculty have been increased considerably, 

 and as a result a number of students who 

 were unable to maintain their standing 

 found it desirable to leave the institution. 

 There has, accordingly, been a considerable 

 improvement in the quality of the material, 

 from the standpoint of scholarship. Under 

 the faculty of fine arts, the school of archi- 

 tecture shows a decrease, due to the in- 

 creased requirements for entrance — two 

 years of college preparation — to the course 

 leading to the degree. The law school 

 shows a slight falling off this year, although 

 the entering class is much larger than that 

 of 1905. To the 92 students in the first- 

 year class should be added 22 men from 

 Columbia College enrolled also under the 

 law faculty. The requirements for ad- 

 vancement in the law school have been 



strengthened considerably, and this ac- 

 counts to a certain extent for the decrease 

 in the second-year and third-year classes. 

 All four classes of the medical school are 

 classes that entered under the increased 

 requirements, whereas last year there were 

 only three such classes. The probabilities 

 are, therefore, that the attendance at the 

 medical school has reached its minimum 

 this year, and from 1907 on there should 

 be a gradual increase in the size of the 

 entering class. Conditions at the College 

 of Pharmacy are similar to those in the 

 medical school, inasmuch as both of the 

 present classes entered under the increased 

 admission requirements, whereas last year 

 one large class which had entered the year 

 before the strengthened requirements be- 

 came operative still remained. The in- 

 crease in the number of graduate students 

 at the College of Pharmacy is very en- 

 couraging. In spite of the fact that the 

 first-year class at Teachers College has been 

 abolished, this school shows an increase in 

 primary registration of fifty-one over last 

 year. In 1905 and the years preceding, 

 Columbia and Barnard students who were 

 also candidates for a diploma in teaching 

 were included under Teachers College, but 

 if the primary registration only is counted, 

 it would show an increase from 667 in 1905 

 to 718 in 1906. 



In connection with the development of 

 material equipment, attention may be 

 called to the fact that the Chapel and 

 Hamilton Hall (a half -million-dollar build- 

 ing for the use of the undergraduate col- 

 lege for men) are ready for occupancy and 

 that the corner-stone of Brooks Hall, a 

 dormitory for Barnard College— the un- 

 dergraduate department for women— has 

 been laid. Among other important devel- 

 opments may be mentioned the establish- 

 ment of a faculty of fine arts, comprising 

 schools of architecture, design and music, 

 the courses in design to be conducted in 



