May 20, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



785 



twenty-five years of service? If disabled or 

 incapacitated the foundation makes such re- 

 tirement a possibility, and doubtless a wel- 

 come one to some few to whom fate has been 

 or may be unkind. But the average professor 

 after twenty-five years of service is at his best 

 as regards maturity, solid productive ability, 

 and influence over youth through the poise 

 and weight given by years and experience. 

 Personally, I should hate to retire after 

 twenty-five years of work, though I admit that 

 the power thus to enjoy one's otium cum dig- 

 nitate as a well-earned reward, and the possi- 

 bility of doing just the work one likes best 

 without hampering scholastic duties appeals 

 strongly to universal human nature, and con- 

 fess that it might conceivably appeal very 

 strongly to me. 



I know of several men, personally in one or 

 two cases and by hearsay in other cases, who 

 had hoped to take advantage of the twenty- 

 five-year provision within a few years. As 

 far as I know, they are all doing good and 

 valuable work, are all in good health, are 

 under fifty-five — in one case by a considerable 

 margin — and I do not believe that they are 

 worked too hard. All are thoroughly honor- 

 able, upright men, and are honest with them- 

 selves in believing that they are justified in 

 trying to take advantage of this provision. 

 Personally, and perhaps wrongly, I feel that 

 their retirement at this time would be to some 

 extent a misuse of the foundation, and 

 amounts almost to a desertion of their post 

 of duty. Were we in a Utopia where all, 

 business men, mechanics, professors and sci- 

 entists, could rest and play after reaching 

 fifty, we as a world might be much happier. 

 By " rest and play " I mean working hard at 

 the work we love best. Till we reach that 

 Atlantis, however, our thanks for the bless- 

 ing of work as long as we can work. 



Doubtless the men to whom I have referred 

 will continue their productive work, though 

 one had no definite plans other than retire- 

 ment to his farm. Now I may not know all 

 the circumstances which prompted these men 

 to seek retirement after twenty-five years of 

 service, but I can not feel that the purposes 

 of the foundation would have been strictly 



adhered to should this be granted them. I 

 can not feel that the withdrawal of the priv- 

 ilege of retirement after twenty-five years 

 works any injustice; the error came in lack 

 of foresight in announcing this provision at 

 the start. We need vigorous, young, enthusi- 

 astic men, but the more respected, well-poised, 

 experienced men between fifty and sixty-five 

 plus we can keep on our faculties, the better 

 for our institutions. Z. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 The Gulich Hygiene Series. By Luthee 

 Halsey Gulick. Book One: Good Health. 

 By Frances Gulick Jewett. List price 

 40 c. Book Two : Emergencies. By Char- 

 lotte Vetter Gulick. List price 40 c. 

 Book Three: Town and City. By Frances 

 Gulick Jewett. List price 50 c. Book 

 Four: The Body at Work. By Frances 

 Gulick Jewett. List price 50 c. Book 

 Five: Control of Body and Mind. By 

 Frances Gulick Jewett. List price 50 c. 

 Boston, Ginn and Co. 



The editor states the objects and general 

 plan of these books as follows : 



The objects of this series of books on hygiene 

 is to teach the fundamental facts of health in 

 such a way that the teaching shall result in the 

 formation of health habits by the children. . . . 

 In order to maintain the interest and avoid the 

 deadening effect of the annual review of identical 

 subjects, I have endeavored to supply each year 

 some distinctive and separate line of thought in 

 hygienic directions. . . . The style of the series 

 is rather that of the story than that of the text- 

 book. 



In four respects we have attempted in this 

 series to do what so far as we know, has not been 

 attempted before. ( 1 ) We have endeavored to 

 present to children a series of texts in which the 

 central theme shall be hygiene. The current text 

 books treat of physiology and anatomy primarily. 

 ... (2) It is the purpose of this series to treat 

 each subject in a purely scientific as distinguished 

 from a philosophical manner. ... (3) We have 

 presented a new point of view in each volume. 

 ... (4) These little volumes have been prepared 

 with the same kind of utilization of original 

 works as if they had been intended for adult 

 scientific workers. 



