Mabch is, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



415 



that the word " disability " was already to be 

 found in ordinary English dictionaries in the 

 year 1906.) " It was believed," says President 

 Pritchett, " that the number of teachers who 

 would avail themselves of retirement under 

 such conditions would be confined almost ex- 

 clusively to those who were physically im- 

 paired." 



In accordance with this retroactive con- 

 struction of the original rules and announce- 

 ments — a construction nowhere sanctioned by 

 anything in the language of them — the presi- 

 dent of the foundation reflects severely upon 

 the twenty-eight persons who, without disabil- 

 ity, accepted service pensions. 



The expectation that this rule would be taken 

 advantage of almost wholly on the ground of 

 disabilities has proved to be ill-founded. . . . The 

 correspondence . . . indicates that a number of 

 teachers have persuaded themselves that they are 

 specially intended for research. Some of these 

 have a small income, which, even with the mini- 

 mum pension, promises a safe, if not ample, sup- 

 port. Others are " tired of teaching." It seems 

 that this rule offers too large a temptation to 

 certain qualities of universal human nature. 



From this and other recent statements it 

 appears not only that no one is assured of 

 actually receiving the retiring allowances 

 which the foundation by its rules at any given 

 time announces it will grant, but also that 

 those who are granted pensions upon terms 

 which seem to be clearly understood, and to 

 be sanctioned by the foundation at the time, 

 may thereafter be subject to censure frora the 

 president of the foundation for having taken 

 the pensions which were offered them. This 

 is not a situation wholly calculated to increase 

 the attractiveness of the foundation's pension 

 system, or " to dignify and strengthen the 

 calling of the teacher."" It certainly affords 

 conclusive evidence, which should be pondered 

 by professors and governing boards in " ac- 

 cepted institutions," that the apparently plain 

 language of the foundation's rules gives no 

 clue whatever as to what the officials of the 

 foundation may subsequently announce that 

 they have previously been anticipating. 



' First Report, p. 31. 



The recent report also mentions, among the 

 chief reasons for the abolition of the service 

 pension, " the tendency of the teacher assured 

 of a retiring allowance to become ultra-critical 

 toward the administration " of his university. 

 This seems to mean, if it means anything, 

 either that an important proportion of the 

 members of the profession are kept in order 

 only through their fear of losing their posi- 

 tions, and that, if assured of an independent 

 competency, they would forthwith behave in 

 an unreasonable manner ; or else it means that, 

 whether the criticism that might proceed from 

 professors were reasonable or not, they should, 

 in any case, be kept silent and subservient by 

 a mild form of terrorism. I can not think 

 that the publication, by a person holding the 

 position of the president of the Carnegie 

 Foundation, of such views as this concerning 

 the average character and self-respect and the 

 proper status of the members of our profes- 

 sion, is likely to improve the public standing 

 of that profession. There seems to be grave 

 reason to conclude that it is time for the rank 

 and file of the teaching body to demand that 

 the management of the Carnegie Foundation 

 shall be altered in whatever manner is neces- 

 sary in order to protect them against the sort 

 of deception and the sort of indignity to which 

 they have been subjected in the recent admin- 

 istration of this potentially beneficent insti- 

 tution. 



Arthur O. Lovejoy 



Columbia, Mo. 



the norwood " meteorite " a fraud.' how 

 meteoritic evidence may be 

 manufactured 

 To THE Editor of Science: As a result of 

 continued investigation of the supposed Nor- 

 wood " meteorite," I am now able to state 

 definitely that the whole thing is a cunningly 

 devised fraud. In order that investigators 

 may be on their guard against similar decep- 

 tions, it seems to me desirable to put the facts 

 on record. I will first state the apparent facts. 



1 See Science, N. S., Vol. XXXI., No. 787, Jan- 

 uary 28, 1910, pp. 143 and 156. 



