Mat 27, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



819 



gets us into trouble, for it is not easy to 

 make a student who has fulfilled the resi- 

 dence requirement understand that he has 

 not earned his doctor's degree. Such uni- 

 versal action has been taken to prevent the 

 conferring of honorary degrees of this 

 type that I presume scientific bodies need 

 not emphasize it further. But in certain 

 quarters there is still prevalent the corre- 

 spondence method, by which the student is 

 exempt from residence or scientific work 

 of any type. It is baldly a reading degree, 

 with an essay based upon the reading. 



The chairman has suggested a subject 

 that seems to me well worth consideration. 

 We know that there are tremendous dif- 

 ferences in the subsequent history of those 

 who have received the doctor's degree, but 

 there has been no method of differentiating 

 them. I do not Imow how large a percent- 

 age of those who actually achieve the doc- 

 tor's degree are never heard from after- 

 wards. There ought to be a distinction be- 

 tween these stiU-born doctors and those who 

 continue to live. I can not propose any 

 method, but the chairman has suggested 

 that Sc.D. might be reserved for this pur- 

 pose and conferred upon those who have 

 continued to investigate and have become 

 real members of the scientific fraternity. 

 Of course, one may say that these men are 

 known already, but we are considering the 

 subject of conferring degrees, not the sub- 

 ject of their abolition. 



The Chairman: 



Possibly an extract from another letter 

 that I have here may come in rather ap- 

 propriately here. The gentleman, whose 

 name I will not read in connection with 

 the letter, wrote this in response to a 

 letter that I sent him some time ago : 



* * * My own opinion is that degrees take 

 their value from the man who receives them, and 

 not vice versa. I have a Pli.D. as an assistant 

 who is a valuable helper but can't spell the Eng- 

 lish language in an ordinary letter, and I know 



several others who have gained the degree by 

 passing the required examinations and writing a 

 thesis, but of whom science will never be a gainer; 

 BO the excessive anxiety of some of our friends 

 as to the bestowal of the degree upon those who, 

 though not college men, are known over the world 

 as contributors to knowledge, seems to me rather 

 silly. However, ' many men, many opinions.' 



The plan of the executive committee has 

 been to have the gentlemen who have thus 

 far spoken to you this afterUoon speak with 

 the knowledge that they were to be called 

 upon for short addresses; but it is con- 

 sidered very desirable that when possible 

 these annual discussions before the Ameri- 

 can Society of Naturalists shall partake 

 really of the character of discussions, and 

 I trust that in the next fifteen minutes — 

 because we do not need to adjourn before 

 a quarter after four in order to hear Pro- 

 fessor Rutherford's lecture— some of the 

 gentlemen who have not come here pre- 

 pared to speak may favor us with some 

 remarks. The matter is before the society 

 for discussion. 



President Jordan: 



I think that all granting of honorary de- 

 grees is subject to great abuses. To use it 

 for spectacular purposes is to destroy its 

 dignity. Governors, senators, donors often 

 merit it, but sometimes they turn it into a 

 farce. The honorary degree of LL.D. is 

 only rarely conferred upon professors, the 

 class of men most worthy of such honors, 

 whereas a college president expects to re- 

 ceive it every time he puts on his gown 

 away from home. It is safer to use degrees 

 only as certificates of fruitful residence. 



The Chairman: 



I think that possibly before allowing 

 other speakers to claim the floor, I may 

 read extracts from another letter, the sig- 

 nature of which I will not read, but it is 

 particularly pertinent to the subject. This 

 gentleman says: 



