Mat 27, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



813 



was that of the classical colleges. The B.S. 

 degree arose, as President Eliot has said 

 in his letter, because those interested in the 

 studies leading to the A.B. degree were 

 not willing to accept work in science as 

 equivalent to the traditional curriculum. 

 It is comparatively recently that science 

 work has been generally recognized as of 

 equal cultural value with mathematical 

 and classical studies; only recently that 

 many institutions have come to the point 

 of placing all liberal studies upon the same 

 basis with reference to the A.B. degree. 

 This came about when it was seen either 

 that there must be a degree for every group 

 of studies, or one degree for any group of 

 liberal studies. This was not at first ap- 

 preciated, and various degrees were intro- 

 duced for different groups of studies. 

 But when the logical result of this practise 

 was understood, various institutions turned 

 to the A.B. degree for all work of a gen- 

 eral ciiltural nature. 



But President Eliot holds that coux'ses in 

 chemistry, architecture, and by implica- 

 tion all coiirses in applied science, should 

 also receive the A.B. degree. I do not 

 know that I am prepared to go so far as to 

 say that technical training in applied sci- 

 ence should lead to this degz'ee. Certainly 

 recent development in this country has 

 not been in this direction. It is now the 

 practise, at least at many large technical 

 institutions, to give the B.S. degree in ap- 

 plied science. This is illustrated by the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



Applied science is taught in a some- 

 what different way, with a different spirit 

 and a different purpose from the general 

 cultural studies of the college of liberal 

 arts. Feeling this difference, various in- 

 stitutions which have gone so far as to 

 give the A.B. degree for all pure cultural 

 woi'k, including science, still give the B.S. 

 degree for applied science. It is at least 

 a question whether there is not a sufScient 



difference in the method and purpose of 

 the college of liberal arts and the college 

 of applied science to warrant a distinction 

 in the degrees conferred by them. Cer- 

 tainly the colleges of applied science are 

 generally using the B.S. degree. They 

 wish to retain it as a stamp showing that 

 their men are trained in science to a 

 definite end. They do not desire the A.B. 

 degree for the courses in applied science, 

 since they feel that this degree does not 

 express what they desire to say in reference 

 to graduates of agriculture and engineer- 

 ing. It, therefore, appears to me that, 

 for the present at least, the use of the two 

 degrees mentioned is pretty well fixed in 

 this country, i. e., the A.B. degi-ee for 

 courses in the liberal arts and the B.S. 

 degree for applied science. 



If for all work in liberal arts the bac- 

 calaureate degree is A.B., then for ad- 

 vanced graduate work of a grade showing 

 power of productive scholarship and in- 

 vestigation there should be a single degree, 

 and for this place the degree Ph.D. is pref- 

 erable, since it is the one in common use 

 both in Germany and this country. 



The Chairman: 



These letters that I have seem to fall in 

 very nicely with the speakers this after- 

 noon. I have a letter from President 

 Schurman of Cornell which I will read 

 now, if I may, as being quite appropriate to 

 the remarks of President Van Hise. 



It seems to me that the whole question depends 

 entirely upon the point of view from which 

 one looks at it. A distinction might also be 

 drawn, I believe, between baccalureate and ad- 

 vanced degrees. 



If we are to consider, as I believe we should, 

 that graduation from the college of arts and 

 sciences (or corresponding department) of a uni- 

 versity signifies, regardless of the nature of the 

 studies pursued previous to such graduation, the 

 attainment of a certain stage of liberal culture 

 rather than the completion of a course of pre- 

 paration for a specific walk in life, then, it seems 



