July 1, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



existing conditions, we shall get for all who 

 study it the best possible teaching of phys- 

 ics in the brief time allotted to this subject. 

 This is not an easy problem, since it in- 

 volves the reorganization of a large body 

 of subject matter on a new basis— instead 

 of being a logical system, it must be a 

 teachable system. The emphasis must be 

 shifted, so that it falls less heavily on the 

 traits assigned above to Section B and more 

 heavily on those ascribed to Section L. 



The solution of this problem will take a 

 long time and require much experimenting 

 and much scientific study. It involves a 

 careful study of how we obtain clear no- 

 tions of physical principles— what part do 

 our motor reactions and what part does our 

 reason play in this process? We certainly 

 do not come to understand a subject like 

 acceleration by learning definitions and 

 formulse and solving never so many unreal 

 numerical problems. In Germany much 

 attention has been given recently to the 

 experimental solution of this problem 

 by Frey, Seyfert, Verworn, Remus^ and 

 others, not to mention their celebi'ated 

 Unterrichtskommission. But in America 

 nothing has as yet been done in this direc- 

 tion. America showed Germany the neces- 

 sity of having laboratories for high schools ; 

 must we learn from her how to use them 

 for the best educational results? Are we 

 not competent to study this problem on our 

 own account, and to solve it for ourselves 

 in a way that will suit our own peculiar 

 conditions 1 



Therefore, the partnership that has been 

 started between B and L is an auspicious 

 event, because both are parts of a scientific 



* Frey, 0., " Arbeits unterricht," Leipzig, Wun- 

 derlich, 1907. Seyfert, R., " Die Arbeitskunde," 

 Leipzig, 1902. Verworn, M., " Beitrage zur Frage 

 des naturwissenschaitlichen Tjnterrichts an den 

 hoheren Sehulen," Leipzig, Teubner, 1906. Remus, 

 K., " Der Dynamologische Lehrgang," Leipzig, 

 Teubner, 1906. 



organization where all problems are solved 

 in a scientific way. Certain it is that as 

 suggestions for change are tried out in 

 practise, as hypotheses are tested and sub- 

 mitted to scientific scrutiny and criticism, 

 and as educational theories are verified by 

 experiment, the points of view of the two 

 sections will gradually approach each other. 

 Who knows but that they may some day 

 coincide ? 



C. R. Mann 

 The Univeksity of Chicago 



PROFESSORIAL ETHICS 

 When I was at a university as an under- 

 graduate — I will not say how many years 

 ago— I received one morning a visit from a 

 friend who was an upper classman ; for, as 

 I remember it, I was a freshman at the 

 time. My friend brought a petition and 

 wished to interest me in the case of a tutor 

 or assistant professor, a great favorite with 

 the college boys, who was about to be sum- 

 marily dismissed. There were, to be sure, 

 vague charges against him of incompetence 

 and insubordination; but of the basis of 

 these charges his partizans knew little. 

 They only felt that one of the bright spots 

 in undergraduate life surrounded this same 

 tutor; they liked him and they valued his 

 teaching. I remember no more about this 

 episode, nor do I even remember whether 

 I signed the petition or not. The only 

 thing I very clearly recall is the outcome : 

 the tutor was dismissed. 



Twice or thrice again during my under- 

 graduate life did the same thing happen 

 — a flurry among the students, a remon- 

 strance much too late, against a deed 

 of apparent injustice, a cry in the night, 

 and then silence. Now had I known more 

 about the world I should have understood 

 that these nocturnal disturbances were 

 signs of the times, that what we had heard 

 in all these cases was the operation of the 



