December 21, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



957 



universities in the United States. Unless 

 otherwise indicated, these statistics repre- 

 sent the registration at the respective uni- 

 versities on November 1, 1900. 



Variations in the standard of admission 

 and of required work, in the interpretation 

 of technical designations given to different 

 departments and school of divers institu- 

 tions, in the practical classification of stu- 

 dents, and in matters of educational admin- 

 istration are so divergent that any attempt 

 to squeeze the statistics of sixteen institu- 

 tions into a rigid form that may meet with 

 the requirements of one or of several of the 

 institutions considered, is manifestly ab- 

 surd, or at least unwise. It would obviate 



in mind these facts, we offer the figures 

 which have been received in the approxi- 

 mate form in which they were sent. Uni- 

 formity in this matter must, therefore, be 

 relative, not absolute. After all, in the ab- 

 sence of universally accepted stated defini- 

 tions and requirements which for compara- 

 tive statistical purposes it would be a happy 

 circumstance to have all universities respect 

 and obey, figures of this character function 

 merely as probable hints, not as basic facts. 

 We would call attention to a few matters 

 in connection with the table. In every in- 

 stance an endeavor has been made to as- 

 certain the increase or decrease in the 

 various departments as compared with the 



some of the misinterpretations which a com- 

 parison of the statistics of the accompanying 

 table may entail, if space permitted a suc- 

 cinct statement of the institutional varia- 

 tions above alluded to. However, bearing 



I ? Statistics of November 12th.. Registration not 

 completed, particularly in agriculture, the courses of 

 ■which open late in the term . 



nil Statistics of November 15th. 



°° Exceptional increase due to first session of Sum- 

 mer Schools in 1900. 



registration of 1899. Such increase or de- 

 crease where obtainable is represented by 

 the figures in parentheses. Unfortunately, 

 returns are not at hand from several other 

 representative institutions in which there is 

 a common interest. However, the scope 

 of country represented by the institutions 

 herein enumerated is undoubtedly sufiB- 

 cient in extent to indicate the general status 

 and progress of higher education in the 

 United States. Geo. B. Gbrmann. 



