January 5, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



11 



would like to ask? By the heads of de- 

 partments in whom is vested the absolute 

 power of removal? The expression, per- 

 sonal knowledge of the heads of depart- 

 ments must, in the case of scientific em- 

 ployees, be taken to mean indirect rather 

 than direct knowledge, since they are not 

 themselves scientific men and must prac- 

 tically obtain their knowledge of one scien- 

 tific subordinate from other subordinates, 

 and this is an additional reason why, when 

 it is a question of removing a scientific man, 

 he should be allowed to state his case to 

 the head of the department and, if he is 

 charged with misdemeanors of any kind, be 

 informed by whom the charges have been 

 made. It is evident that the new order 

 has caused some criticism, since what was 

 said in the message was not merely ex- 

 planatory, but also in the nature of a 

 defense. It is sincerely to be hoped that 

 this order, embodying as it does a principle 

 which may in practise cause injustice, may 

 be revoked and something more specific 

 and less sweeping be substituted for it. It 

 i's useless to say that there is no danger 

 that the rule will be applied except in cases 

 where the incompetency or indiscretion is 

 quite plain. ' So long as it exists, knowing 

 the weaknesses of human nature, there is 

 always a danger that it may be applied in 

 a way to cause injustice. 



Turning to the universities and other 

 similar endowed institutions we also find 

 very perplexing conditions, but they have 

 been discussed so frequently in print that 

 the public is tolerably well "informed in 

 regard to them. If in the government 

 departments the political atmosphere pre- 

 vents the highest development of scientific 

 life, in the universities the air is chilled, 

 as far as scientific men are concerned, by 

 the widely spread heresy that too much 

 athletics is a good thing for a university. 

 So long as a coach receives a higher salary 

 than any professor, one is warranted in 



asking whether learning is too cheap or 

 athletics too dear. Certainly on pay day 

 professors would be glad to be classed as 

 coaches. Is the craze for spectacular ath- 

 letics ever going to pass away? Appar- 

 ently not, for athletic contests, theatrical 

 and similar non-academic diversions, are 

 naturally more interesting than learning 

 of any kind to a by no means small pro- 

 portion of those who form the body of stu- 

 dents. It is certainly a weak point in our 

 universities that there have to be taken 

 into account two different classes of men; 

 those whose primary object is study and 

 those whose interests are mainly or exclu- 

 sively athletic and social. It will be said 

 that the line between the two is not a sharp 

 one, but in the interest of learning it seems 

 to me best that a line should be drawn, 

 even if it has to be somewhat arbitrary. 

 One should avoid, in general, making dis- 

 tinctions without differences, but, on the 

 other hand, it should not be forgotten that 

 irf some cases the moral effect of making 

 a distinction is to bring out the fact that 

 there is a real difference. It would cer- 

 tainly be advantageous for scientific men, 

 using the word in its broad sense, if the 

 public could be given to understand clearly 

 that in the universities a real distinction 

 is made between the genuine student and 

 the student pro forma. They would prob- 

 ably feel that the money they give is well 

 spent if spent on the genuine student, while 

 on the other hand they might be sceptical 

 about the good of spending money on those 

 who do not care to study more than they are 

 forced to do to keep in college. To have it 

 suspected that the universities are of a sort 

 of Jekyl-Hyde nature, at one time all ath- 

 letics, at another all study, would obscure 

 their true position. It is of great impor- 

 tance that the standard by which the value 

 of a professor is estimated should not be 

 the size of his classes and the number of 

 his lectures. This method of estimating 



