June 1, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



839 



description of New England which he wrote 

 in 1772 : "I thought often of the happi- 

 ness in New England, where every man is 

 a freeholder, has a vote in public affairs, 

 lives in a tidy, warm house, has plenty of 

 good food and fuel, with whole clothes 

 from head to foot, the manufacture per- 

 haps of his own family. Long may they 

 continue in this situation!" Such was 

 Franklin's conception of a free and happy 

 people. Such was his political philosophy. 



The moral philosophy of Frantlin con- 

 sisted almost exclusively in the inculcation 

 of certain very practical and unimagina- 

 tive virtues, such as temperance, frugality, 

 industry, moderation, cleanliness and tran- 

 quility. Sincerity and justice, and resolu- 

 tion — that indispensable fly-wheel of virtu- 

 ous habit— are found in his table of virtues; 

 but all his moral precepts seem to be based 

 on observation and experience of life, and 

 to express his convictions concerning what is 

 profitable, prudent, and on the whole satis- 

 factory in the life that now is. His philos- 

 ophy is a guide of life, because it searches 

 out virtues, and so provides the means of 

 expelling vices. It may reasonably deter- 

 mine conduct. It did determine Frank- 

 lin's conduct to a remarkable degree, and 

 has had a prodigious influence for good on 

 his countrymen and on civilized mankind. 

 Nevertheless, it omits all consideration of 

 the prime motive power, which must impel 

 to right conduct, as fire supplies the power 

 which actuates the engine. That motive 

 power is pure, unselfish love — love to God 

 and love to man. "Thou shalt love the 

 Lord thy God with all thy heart * * * and 

 thy neighbor as thyself." 



Franklin never seems to have perceived 

 that the supreme tests of civilization are 

 the tender and honorable treatment of 

 women as equals, and the sanctity of home 

 life. There was one primary virtue on his 

 list which he did not always practise. His 

 failures in this respect diminished his influ- 



ence for good among his contemporaries, 

 and must always qualify the admiration 

 with which mankind will regard him as a 

 moral philosopher and an exhorter to a 

 good life. His sagacity, intellectual force, 

 versatility, originality, firmness, fortunate 

 period of service, and longevity combined 

 to make him a great leader of his people. 

 In American public affairs the generation 

 of wise leaders next to his own felt for him 

 high admiration and respect; and the 

 strong republic, whose birth and youthful 

 growth he witnessed, will carry down his 

 fame as political philosopher, patriot and 

 apostle of liberty through long generations. 

 Charles W. Eliot. 



AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF COLLEGE EN- 

 TRANCE EXAMINATIONS. 



Every one who is acquainted with the 

 present arrangements for admission to col- 

 lege through entrance examinations recog- 

 nizes the need for accurate information 

 concerning the exact function served by 

 them. The expenditure of energy by stu- 

 dents and teachers in the course of specific 

 preparation for these examinations, by 

 students and their parents in worry before 

 and after, by college admission boards in 

 preparing, giving, scoring and recording 

 such examinations is obvious. The opin- 

 ions of supposedly equally competent ob- 

 servers range from certainty that such ex- 

 aminations have no correspondence with 

 intellectual merit to equal certainty that 

 they are a reliable measure of fitness for 

 college and a chief safeguard of the stand- 

 ards of collegiate work. The practises of 

 the fifty most efficient colleges in the coun- 

 try vary from a practically absolute re- 

 quirement of such examinations as the con- 

 dition of entrance to the freshman year to 

 an exemption of almost every candidate 

 from any such examination. 



The present report will not offer any 

 opinions concerning the general rationality 



