Apbil 15, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



579 



more lasting than the transitory initial pupil- 

 lary constriction, and for this reason I said in 

 my brief notes that the mammalian pupil 

 shows " chiefly " dilatation during asphyxia. 



From the above it will be seen that there 

 was no occasion for the surprise nor the orig- 

 inal communication of Drs. Guthrie, Guthrie 

 and Eyan. John Auer 



The RocKEFEiiER Institute 

 FOE JIedicai Eeseaech 



FREE PUBLIC MUSEUMS 



In an interesting note in the February 11, 

 1910, copy of Science, Mr. Baker calls atten- 

 tion to the commendable policy of the Chicago 

 Academy of Sciences, while commenting on 

 Mr. Ward's statement of the liberal practise at 

 the Milwaukee Public Museum, of having its 

 museum open freely to the public, and shows 

 that while the Milwaukee institution has been 

 free to the public since 1905, the Chicago 

 Academy of Sciences has been following that 

 plan since 1894. 



The Illinois State Museum of Natural His- 

 tory has been accessible to the public without 

 charge for the last half century, thus preced- 

 ing the afore-mentioned museums in this good 

 work by many years. It now remains to hear 

 from some museum which has been free to the 

 public for a century. 



Doubtless the time is speedily approaching 

 when museums will be as free and as acces- 

 sible as our libraries. The hours during 

 which museums are commonly open, from 

 nine to five, should doubtless be extended in 

 order that working people might be accom- 

 modated. With the disappearance of the 

 candle light period there is no insurmountable 

 obstacle toward making the museums as at- 

 tractive during the evening hours as during 

 the day time. 



The Illinois State Museum is visited pos- 

 sibly more largely by the people from the sur- 

 rounding villages and towns than by the citi- 

 zens of Springfield. Previous to the last four 

 months the number of visitors were simply 

 estimated, but during the last three months 

 count has been kept and the number has aver- 

 aged about 1,500 monthly. The highest at- 



tendance was recorded during the first week 

 in last October, when within five days 11,866 

 people visited the museum. 



When the state properly cares for this in- 

 stitution which has had so long and useful a 

 history, and which has a mission of untold 

 value to perform, it will be extensively patron- 

 ized and amply justify the expenditure neces- 

 sary to make it one of the most valuable of 

 the free public institutions in the state. 



A. E. Crook 



PACTS vs. THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE 



In his vice-presidential address before Sec- 

 tion L, Professor Dewey took as his text the 

 failure of science teaching to fulfill the proph- 

 ecies of its priests ; and he referred this failure 

 to the custom of teaching science as informa- 

 tion rather than as that method of using the 

 mind which is necessary for the manufacture 

 of knowledge. Both elements are essential 

 parts of science ; it is, however, important that 

 we keep clearly in mind which aspect we mean 

 when we speak of science-teaching, or of the 

 advancement of science. 



We all know that there can be no true sci- 

 ence that does not rest solidly upon facts. 

 But the thought must often occur to many of 

 us that there is some danger, especially among 

 the younger scientists, that we may become 

 obsessed with an exaggerated sense of the 

 value of facts as such. Is there not too much 

 emphasis laid by many professors in charge of 

 research students on the mere accumulation 

 of observational, statistical or experimental 

 facts, with too little attention to that side of 

 science which concerns itseK with those 

 analytical and synthetic processes that con- 

 vert facts into valuable ideas ? It seems to me 

 that this latter kind of work needs at the 

 present time at least as much encouragement 

 as the other. Of course, there is the possibil- 

 ity for " thinking " to degenerate into profit- 

 less speculation ; but we are certainly as much 

 in need of the results of thinking about the 

 facts abeady accumulated as we are of more 

 facts. 



It was especially noticeable at the meeting 

 of the association that the younger men pre- 



