July 22, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



101 



tension has undergone radical changes. 

 The work has ceased to depend solely upon 

 a staff of lecturers who must combine the 

 qualities of teacher, organizer, public 

 speaker, scholar and philanthropist. We 

 no longer subscribe to the epigrammatic 

 proposition of Mr. Lyman W. Powell (one- 

 time extension secretary at the University 

 of Wisconsin) who said of university ex- 

 tension, "It is not a system; it is a man." 

 Significant as is the element of truth in 

 this terse characterization, the time has 

 passed when it expresses the whole truth 

 or even a large proportion of the truth. 

 If to-day we desired to express educational 

 extension in a single word, that word would 

 be University. 



One of the most widely known and 

 gifted extension lecturers in our country 

 wrote a year or two ago of this phase of 

 educational development : 



Like all ideas and movements, it has ' fulfilled 

 itself in unseen ways. It is no longer an occa- 

 sional and accidental phase of university work; 

 it is an organic part of it. It is no longer con- 

 cerned merely or primarily with short lecture 

 courses; for without neglecting the lecture work 

 that appeals to general audiences, it aims to reach, 

 like any other part of the university, a student 

 body — the very large body of partial or non- 

 resident students. 



The words of this passage are taken 

 from a recent report of the department of 

 extension teaching in Columbia Univer- 

 sity. The work offered by this institution 

 to the "partial or non-resident student 

 body" referred to embraces courses of col- 

 legiate grade; professional and technical 

 courses for teachers ; evening technical and 

 evening commercial courses; and short 

 lecture courses. The instruction is carried 

 on in late afternoons, evenings and Sat- 

 urdays at the university buildings, at 

 Teachers College, Morningside Heights 

 and at other places where local centers may 

 be established. These courses are intended 



to give to men and women who can spend 

 only a portion of their time in study an 

 opportunity to gain a liberal general edu- 

 cation or one applicable to their vocations, 

 and to make progress if they so desire 

 toward an academic degree, or a teacher's 

 diploma. 



Courses of university grade may be 

 taken for credit or not as desired. If for 

 credit, the applicant must fulfil all condi- 

 tions for entrance to the university. If 

 credit is not desired, no further qualifi- 

 cation is required than the ability to sat- 

 isfy the instructor that the course can be 

 taken to advantage. 



Of those students who were engaged in 

 extramural courses last year, 1,206 took 

 credit work and 11,719 non-credit work. 

 Those who took credit work in extension 

 courses in the university buildings num- 

 bered 2,032. Of these 224 matriculated. 

 Credit work was carried on at seven cen- 

 ters in and about New York City and in- 

 cluded twenty courses with a total of 615 

 lectures. Non-credit work was carried on 

 in fifteen centers. 



What more striking example can be 

 shown of the present tendency to utilize 

 the machinery of a great institution for a 

 much larger student body than that quali- 

 fied, by educational attainments and other 

 conditions, to matriculate? 



In preparation for a report of the status 

 of university extension at the present time, 

 inquiries were sent to 75 universities, col- 

 leges and other agencies for extension 

 teaching. Responses were received from 

 65 institutions and of these, 54 reported 

 participation in extension work of some 

 form. 



It is to be regretted that the limits of 

 this paper do not admit of detailed de- 

 scriptions of the growth and present mag- 

 nitude of agricultural university extension. 

 It would be necessary, in order to give 



