July 6, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



17 



hopes, fears and prejudices held at that 

 time by mankind ; his treatment by the 

 church represented these and cannot be 

 charged to any particular church. But it 

 is a strange commentary on the fallibility 

 of human authority and prejudice. Even 

 now most people have little knowledge of 

 the scientific method of experimentation. 



As affairs are really conducted it is diflB- 

 cult to secure any readjustment of studies, 

 since so much of practical college politics is 

 involved. First it is necessary to secure a 

 vote of the faculty, then the president ap- 

 points a committee, and a majority of the 

 committee divides among itself anything 

 there is in the way of profit. Thus, in 

 the case of some studies a sort of endless 

 chain arrangement has been established, 

 the college requiring the subject for en- 

 trance and after entrance, and in that way 

 being enabled to send out a large number 

 of students to teach it. A number of High 

 School teachers of Astronomy have told me 

 that they were not able to obtain money for 

 apparatus because the subject could not be 

 offered for admission to College. 



It would seem to me that all who had a 

 long enough training ought to be encouraged 

 to come to College, even though they may 

 not have begun with that idea, but may 

 have intended to stop with the High School. 

 Therefore the number of subjects to be re- 

 ceived for admission ought to be a pretty 

 large one, so that the student may use any 

 study that he has taken. The tendency is, 

 I think, in this direction, as well as towards 

 a greater freedom of choice of studies. 



Regarding the Astronomy which is some- 

 what more advanced than the beginning 

 work, as spherical Astronomy and the ele- 

 ments of celestial mechanics, these subjects 

 might be more generally taught than they 

 are at present, both as a part of a liberal 

 education, and looking at them from a com- 

 mercial point of view. I will explain what 

 I mean by this latter phrase by taking the 



case of Latin again. For many students 

 Latin is just as much a technical train- 

 ing as that of a bridge engineer. They do 

 not care for it especially, but expect to 

 teach it as soon as they graduate, and earn 

 money, and they are obliged to look at the 

 subject in that light. 



Taking, then, what might be called a 

 practical standpoint, some Astronomy is 

 necessary in all surveying and geodetic op- 

 erations, and a number of engineering 

 schools and colleges offer courses in field 

 work. 



Most of the teachers of mathematics and 

 physics in the small colleges are required 

 to give instruction also in astronomy. It 

 would be worth while for them to fit them- 

 selves to do this well, both in the use of in- 

 struments and in some of the mathematical 

 theory. Also, in this present epoch of the 

 function theory and higher algebra there 

 is a real need of men who are qualified 

 to teach applied mathematics. So many 

 mathematical processes have been invented 

 by the masters for the solution of astro- 

 nomical questions, especially in differential 

 equations and theoretical mechanics, that 

 every teacher of applied mathematics ought 

 to have some knowledge of astronomy. 



Extended instruction in celestial mechan- 

 ics is offered in few colleges. Not many 

 men can be found who are qualified to 

 teach it, and perhaps it is hardly advisable 

 for the student to go very far unless he has 

 special gifts in that direction. But it cer- 

 tainly requires a much higher order of abil- 

 ity to make advances in celestial mechanics 

 than to execute what are ordinarily called 

 scientific researches, and colleges that have 

 the means ought to provide for the men of 

 this superior ability. I dwell on this some- 

 what, as the difference is not very clearly 

 understood between ordinary, routine, re- 

 spectable work, and that which involves 

 some distinct progress. Ability to do the 

 latter is a gift with which a very few men are 



