June 12, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



325 



"Phantasms of the Living," I., 63-71) — answers which 

 he says were foreign to the conscious intelligence of either 

 of them, and which contained an attempt at deliberate in- 

 vention rather than plead guilty to total ignorance. If, 

 under suggestion, a hypnotic subject were told to jump over 

 a house, he would not be able to do it, but he would jump 

 as high as he could. 



Among miscellaneous questions one only is worth record- 

 ing. It was, "Are you the spirit of my grandmother ? " 

 This was the only time the idea of spirits was introduced, 

 and as it was obviously put jestingly, it did not convey any 

 real suggestion of their agency. The answer accordingly 

 was, "No, I was in "; and here followed a remarka- 

 bly well-executed outline map of Africa, such as few persons, 

 and certainly not C, could have drawn from memory ; every 

 important bay and promontory being — as we found on com- 

 parison with the atlas — correctly shown, and in due propor- 

 tion. At one point only was it in error. 



The explanation was not that C. was guided by some de- 

 funct geographer or Africander, but that she had been getting 

 up the geography of Africa that morning with the aid of the 

 map ; and thus had the pictorial memory of the passive per- 

 sonality, unconsciously to herself, recorded, and reproduced 

 this complicated observation, which she had made without 

 effort, and which was merely incidental to her task. 



Such are the few and slight experiments which I have 

 ventured to lay before the society. I have done so mainly 

 for two reasons ; first, the hope that sufficient interest may 

 be aroused in those who hear of them to induce other and 

 more important essays in this interesting method of investi- 

 gation ; and, second, to indicate the lines on which it may, 

 I think, be most profitably pursued. It would seem that 

 nothing is ever really forgotten, though the bygone memories 

 evoked by pencil, or crystal, may appear so new and strange 

 that we fail to recognize them as ever having been included 

 in our experience. 



EXTENSION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING. 



The American Society for the Extension of University Teaching 

 was founded in response to a deeply felt want for a national asso- 

 ciation which might assist in promoting the work of university 

 extension. 



The friends of popular education feel that the time has come for 

 a better utilization of the facilities for instruction which are to be 

 found in our existing educational institutions. 



Our common schools, academies, high schools, colleges, and uni- 

 versities offer good opportunities for an education to those who 

 are able to attend them for twelve or fifteen consecutive years. 

 But the persons able to do this in our communities form a very 

 small fraction of the population. The average child can attend 

 school only four, or at most five, full years, — a period barely 

 sufficient to make a beginning in the rudiments of an education. 

 This is a significant fact, and it justifies the statement that the 

 great mass of the community are in large part cut off from any 

 direct participation in the higher branches of science, for the cultiva- 

 tion of which our advanced institutions of learning are organized. 



The credit of recognizing this fact in all its significance, and of 

 determining to change it, if possible, is due to the English univer- 

 sities. In order to test whether it were not practicable to utilize 

 the magnificent facilities of the old English centres of learning for 

 the purposes of popular instruction, a movement was organized to 

 which the name of " University Extension " was given, and nhich 

 involved sending out lecturers and professors from the universities 

 to give courses of instruction at various places throughout the 

 country. The effort was crowned with success, and has attracted 

 universal attention. 



Among the first communities to recognize the possibility for 

 such work in the United States was the city of Philadelphia. For 



the purpose of testing whether there was a general demand for 

 university extension, a call was issued for a meeting of those citi- 

 zens interested in the movement. As a result, a local society was 

 organized in order to make an experiment in and around Phila- 

 delphia. Having assured itself of the co-operation of the professors 

 of the colleges and universities in or near the city, including the 

 University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Bryn Mawr, 

 Haverford, Rutgers, and Swarthmore, the society sent its secretary 

 to England to study the movement there and make a report, and 

 submit plans of organization. 



The services of Mr. Richard G. Moulton of Cambridge, England, 

 were secured, and, aided by professors from the above institutions, 

 systematic instruction was undertaken at several different points 

 in November, 1890. The success far exceeded all anticipations. 

 Over forty courses of instruction, embracing two hundred and fifty 

 lectures, were given, with an aggregate attendance of over .50,000, 

 thus surpassing all English records. The demand for courses from 

 a distance was so great that it could not be met. 



As a consequence of this experience it was determined to estab- 

 lish a national society to aid in the inauguration and prosecution 

 of this great work, and to do, as far as possible, for the country at 

 large, what the local society has done for Philadelphia. The co- 

 operation of a large number of representative institutions was 

 assured from the outset, and the number of institutions committed 

 to the movement is rapidly increasing. 



The American society proposes to collect information as to the 

 experiments now going on in this work in the various parts of the 

 world, and make it accessible to all who are interested in this 

 movement. It will, as far as possible, form branch societies to 

 take up and push the work in and around their locaUties. It will 

 try to secure a staff of persons trained by actual experience in 

 organizing and lecturing, who may be placed at the disposal of the 

 local societies to assist them in organizing and prosecuting the 

 work. It will strive to make every college and university in 

 the country a centre of university extension. ■ . 



It is confidently believed that university extension will not 

 only aid greatly the progress of popular education by affording 

 vastly increased facilities for study, but will also benefit the col- 

 leges and universities by exciting a wide-spread interest in the 

 work. 



The association proposes to publish a journal, to be called Uni- 

 versity Extension, which will serve as a medium of communica- 

 tion between the national society and the local branches, and will 

 give full information as to the progress of the work in all parts of 

 the country. . 



To dp this work eflSciently wiU require large funds. The only 

 sources of income at present are the fees of members (.$.5 annual 

 fee, |50 life-membership fee) and the voluntary contributions of 

 friends of the movement. The membership fee and all other con- 

 tributions may be sent, payable to the order of Frederick B. Miles, 

 Treasurer of the American Society for the Extension of University 

 Teaching, 1602 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. All other com- 

 munications should be sent to the General Secretar}', George Hen- 

 derson, 1602 Chestnut Street. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Beqikning with the class entering in September, 1893, the regular 

 course necessary to obtain the degree of M.D. at the Harvard Medi- 

 cal School will be four years. A similar change in the course of 

 medical study is proposed at the University of Pennsylvania. 



— Mr. James E. Keeler has been appointed director of the 

 Allegheny Observatory, succeeding Mr. S. P. Langley, secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, who recently resigned the direc- 

 torship of the observatory. 



— The Kenwood Physical Observatory, Forty-sixth Street and 

 Drexel Boulevard, Chicago, wiU be dedicated on Monday evening, 

 June 15, at eight o'clock. Addresses will be delivered by Profes- 

 sor C. A. Young of Princeton, Professor G. W. Hough, and oth- 

 ers. 



— A special inquiry was made in the census of last year as to 

 the vital statistics of the Jews in this country. Returns were re- 

 ceived from 10,618 Jewish families, representing 00,630 persons. 



